The Signature
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Name: HN Nicholas Walker Department: U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella Hometown: Joplin, Mo.
U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella is one of 36 tenant commands on Naval Air Station Sigonella. USNHS, one of the largest, is made up of many different departments spread across NAS I and NAS II. Its mission is to provide exceptional base operating support and quality of life services that exceed customer expectations and increase operational readiness for deployed U.S. and allied forces, tenant commands, and families. Within the preventative medicine department, it takes Sailors like Hospitalman Nicholas Walker to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to help prevent the spread of disease and illness at Sigonella. Walker doesn’t have a normal schedule at the hospital or even a desk-type job. Instead, he is in charge of going around base and inspecting establishments to ensure that they are meeting sanitary standards.
In order to be a preventive medicine technician, Sailors have to complete additional schooling after completing “A” school, the initial post-boot camp schooling. Having that extra training has allowed Walker to branch out professionally and do things that a normal corpsman cannot. The chance to get a degree and not have hefty student loans when you are done is frequent reason that Sailors enlist. For Walker, that also holds true. “I joined for the Navy primarily for school,” said Walker. “Currently, I am a few credits short of earning my associate [degree] in Public Health. After that I plan on working towards my bachelor’s degree.” Walker’s original plan was not be a corpsman, but to become a gunner’s mate. But after they offered him the specialty “C” school to become a PMT, he decided to become a corps-
man. Walker has been in the Navy for two and a half years and Sigonella is his first tour of duty after completing training. Like many others, Walker says his favorite thing about Sicily is the food; even the pasta tastes better than it does back in the States. He also likes having the opportunity to travel around Europe and see some places he probably wouldn’t have otherwise. “I would say my favorite place that I have been to so far is probably Romania,” said Walker. “We went snowboarding while we were there and it will probably by my last time. We got caught in a blizzard up there and it got a little scary.” Walker isn’t sure yet how far he plans on taking his military career. For now, he is focusing on finishing his contract, which will have him complete one more tour of duty after leaving Sigonella.
