Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak joined the Coast Guard specifically to make others' lives better, she says. Twelve years later, she has distinguished herself as an officer who can not only gets the job done, but who takes charge to ensure the professional, physical and even mental well-being of her shipmates.

In her two years as an investigating officer at Coast Guard Sector Miami, Drewniak left her mark, from running the unit's mentoring program, to opening a free on-base CrossFit gym and to stepping in to help when a fellow Coast Guardsman in a personal crisiswas on the edge. For her tireless volunteer work and the lasting impact she's made on those she works with, Drewniak was selected as the 2016 Navy Times Coast Guardsman of the Year. 

"I've really, truly — out of all the places I've been — that was probably some of the most memorable highlights of my career," she told Navy Times of her time in Miami. "I was able to really feel like I made a difference in people's lives, both within the Coast Guard and out."

There she could be found several days a week leading her chain of command in a workout of the day or organizing mentoring events for the sector.

"She was just one of those people that people felt very comfortable with," Cmdr. Bradley Clare, her former department head, told Navy Times.

Drewniak, 36, was a waitress with a biology degree in the early 2000s, working at a restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island, that overlooks Coast Guard Station Castle Hill.

Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak is someone who helps fellow Coast Guardsmen anytime, on-duty or off. Drewniak was known as an overachiever and a motivator at Coast Guard Sector Miami in 2015. She created the sector’s mentorship program and specifically its women's leadership program, bringing in speakers to inspire her female shipmates, and volunteered off-duty as a fitness instructor to help fellow Coast Guardsmen get in shape. Her reputation served her well last year, when a fellow Coast Guardsman at Sector Miami dealing with alcoholism and suicidal thoughts reached out. (Coast Guard photos)

Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak, a mother of two, mentors other women in how to balance their careers with their family life.

Photo Credit: Coast Guard Photo

"I would just kind of watch day in and day out what they would do, and found it really interesting," she said. "What really drew me in was the humanitarian mission."

After earning her commission at Officer Candidate School in New London, Conn. and selecting the prevention career field, which includes waterways management and marine investigations, she headed straight to Coast Guard Station San Francisco, with her Army veteran husband in tow. Within two years they had two children, and Drewniak was finding her way as a Coast Guard officer and a new mom.

"I definitely got a lot of pressure from some of the folks that I worked for when they found out that I was having a child and I was pretty junior," she said. "I wasn't going to change the path that I wanted to be on."

San Francisco was followed by the service's Leadership Development Center in New London, Connecticut, then up to Coast Guard Sector New England in Portland, Maine, and down to Sector Miami in 2014.

The winners of our 16th annual Military Times Service Members of the Year awards did not seek honors for the outstanding work they performed on the job and in their communities.

That is what makes this award so special: They were nominated by peers and commanders inspired by serving alongside troops who truly went above and beyond the call of duty. In shining a spotlight on the 2016 Service Members of the Year, we salute all who have volunteered to serve their nation in uniform.

This year's winners will be honored July 14 at a Capitol Hill gala with members of Congress and other VIPs. 

Stepping up

She had volunteered has an after-school tutor and court-appointed special advocate for children in the foster system, but in addition to her job, her family and her community volunteer work, Drewniak picked up a couple more duties in Miami that caught the eye of her leadership.

Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak is someone who helps fellow Coast Guardsmen anytime, on-duty or off. Drewniak was known as an overachiever and a motivator at Coast Guard Sector Miami in 2015. She created the sector’s mentorship program and specifically its women's leadership program, bringing in speakers to inspire her female shipmates, and volunteered off-duty as a fitness instructor to help fellow Coast Guardsmen get in shape. Her reputation served her well last year, when a fellow Coast Guardsman at Sector Miami dealing with alcoholism and suicidal thoughts reached out. (Coast Guard photos)

Drewniak started a military gym and volunteered as a fitness instructor to help fellow Coast Guardsmen get in shape. She also motivated shipmates to participate in activities like the obstacle race BattleFrog in Miami.

Photo Credit: Coast Guard Photo

"I've had the really great fortune of being surrounded by some really great people who took the time throughout my career to really mentor me and motivate me," she said of her inspiration to get involved. "I think about that every day."

She created a women's leadership program to supporter her fellow Coast Guard women, bringing in speakers and offering her own expertise as a wife, mother and service member with long-term ambitions.

"As a female, I think there's a pressure to try and do all of it well," she said.

She also met a master chief at the command who shared her passion for fitness. They weren't big fans of the on-base gym, she said, so they came up with the idea to convert a racquetball court to a space for a high-intensity interval training, with the two of them leading workouts for others on the base.

"We noticed more people were joining, and it kind of just caught fire from there," she said of the gym they dubbed Green Water CrossFit.

The command agreed to buy equipment for the space and send Drewniak to get a CrossFit instructor certification. She also added a boot-camp style cardio program, she said.

Soon her classes were filling up with all kinds of shipmatesmembers, from those looking to lose a few pounds to get within regulations to her department head and executive officer, giving her the rare opportunity to bark orders at them. chance to shout orders at them instead of the other way around.

"They were all really such down-to-earth people that I didn't really ever feel worried about, goodness, if I try to motivate this person, push them to work harder, that that would be strange in our relationship," she said.

Drewniak's leadership also applauded her for stepping in when a fellow member shared a secret battle with alcohol and suicidal thoughts.

"She relentlessly followed up with the member to ensure they had sources of support, were involved in positive activities, underscored reasons to live and safe people to call and places to go," according to her nomination. "Her intervention and assistance, along with the assistance of others, helped save the member's life, brought them from rock bottom and on the road to recovery."

She had known the fellow Coastie member her whole career, Drewniak said, so it was apparent when something had gone wrong. She used her training to help them through, she added, trying to find the balance between being involved without being so intrusive that the member shut down.

"We're all provided those tools, but it was about really taking the opportunity in a busy environment to use those tools," she said.

Today, Drewniak is thousands of miles away from Miami, working ast a staff member and Coast Guard liaison at the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. There she uses her environmental management expertise to oversee the maritime safety and environmental administration program.

"Right at this moment, I am really, truly enjoying doing something completely different," she said. "When I get back to the states, I'd like to become an XO at a marine safety unit. Ideally we would love to head to Alaska."

Beyond that, she added, she'd love to make sector commander and eventually retire from active-duty.

"I'm staying in as long as I'm having fun and they let me stay," she said.

Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.

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