Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10 awarded its annual Sailor of the Year award to Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 1st Class (AW) Tyrone J. Presto of Patrol Squadron 40 (VP-40) for the 2013 fiscal year.

“I am honored to have been selected to represent the sailors of VP-40 and Wing 10 as Senior Sailor of the Year,” said Presto. “I thoroughly enjoy being able to influence and guide our young sailors in the right direction and I strive everyday to be someone they can look up to.”

Presto is the only 1st Class in VP-40 to attain Safe for Flight qualification. He is also the Partners in Education command coordinator, and an Assistant Command Fitness Leader. In addition to all of his work accomplishments, Presto attends college during his time off.

“It brings me a great deal of pride knowing that if you come to work, work hard and take care of your people, your people will take care of you, and you will be rewarded for all your hard work,” said Presto.

“AME1 Presto’s poster perfect appearance and the way he communicates up and down the chain of command represent everything that is good with our Navy,” said Command Master Chief Carlos J. Alamo.

Six active duty sailors from Wing 10 were nominated for this prestigious award. The sailors were hand-picked to represent their individual squadrons, each carrying the title of their squadron Sailor of the Year.

In order to compete for the Wing 10 prize, a package recording the sailor’s accomplishments throughout the year is submitted to the Wing 10 Command Master Chiefs for a board review. After the packages are reviewed, the sailors then go before the board for an oral interview. Once the Command Master Chiefs have finished the interviews, they come together to decide who will receive the Wing 10 honor.

“AME1 Presto is one of those special sailors who you only encounter once or twice in a naval career,” said Alamo. “As a chief petty officer it makes our job easier when we have first class petty officers who step up to the plate and take charge.  We can concentrate on major command events and milestones knowing petty officers like AME1 Presto are taking care of the junior sailors and the day to day operation of the squadron.”

VP-40 is undergoing inter-deployment readiness cycle in preparation for an upcoming deployment to U.S. 7th Fleet.