Sailor in the Spotlight

Name: PS2 Rabi Serna

Department: Personnel Support Activity Detachment

Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.

Every installation’s Personnel Support Activity Detachment has one of the most important support missions— to process pay, personnel records, and travel entitlements. It takes Sailors like Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Rabi Serna to ensure that across the installation, Sailors are getting all of their paperwork and pay processed correctly.

Serna works in the customer service section, one of seven in PSD. His branch processes pay changes, overseas housing allowances and entitlements, and cost of living adjustments. They also update personnel and dependency records. Serna used to work in the education services branch, which is responsible for administering the base-wide advancement exams. He anticipates rotating to at least one other branch while he’s at Sigonella, as PSD tries to train their Sailors on multiple facets of the job.

Outside of his normal duties, Serna recently was appointed to be the assistant lead petty officer, since there is only one first class petty officer at PSD. Serna says that he joined the Navy to get a stable job and picked the PS rate because it seemed like a job that would capitalize on his organization skills. He says that his rate has helped develop his confidence and gotten him out of his shell.

“When I joined the Navy, I wasn’t sure what I was capable of. I was scared of speaking in front of people. Now I feel more confident and enjoy meeting new people,” said Serna.

Serna says that being in the customer service section means that every day, there are unique personnel challenges that need to be solved. He enjoys the challenging of researching each situation to come up with the correct solution.

Sigonella is Serna’s second tour in the Navy and he enjoys it so much that he is planning to make a career out of it, hopefully becoming an officer along the way. But his immediate goals are to advance to the rate of E-6, and his first opportunity is during the September testing cycle.

Serna is also taking advantage of Navy’s education opportunities. He only has three more courses to go before earning an associate’s degree in general studies. After that, he wants to pursue a bachelor’s degree that aligns closely with the PS rate—maybe human resources, business management, or accounting.

Like many other service members stationed at Sigonella, Serna is traveling a lot while overseas. He saw a lot of Western Europe when he was stationed aboard the USS Carney in Rota, Spain. While at Sigonella, Serna has been busy exploring Sicily, Eastern Europe, and the Scandinavian countries.

“I love it here. I believe that you have to make the best of it,” said Serna.