Antaki Earns Military Excellence Award at Recruit Training Command

GREAT LAKES (NNS) – Seaman Emry Antaki graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, earning the Military Excellence Award (MEA) Oct. 8, 2026.

Antaki, of Massapequa, New York, spent most of her life taking the safe route. She came to boot camp to find out what she could do without it.

"When I got here, I didn't even know this award existed," Antaki said. "I came to boot camp striving to better myself, not realizing I was standing out in the process. Winning it made me proud. It showed me that as long as I keep pushing myself and striving to be better, I can keep aiming for the top."

The Military Excellence Award is presented to the recruit who best demonstrates enthusiasm, devotion to duty, military bearing and teamwork throughout training. As part of the recognition, recipients receive a flag letter of commendation.

For Antaki, enlisting meant walking straight into the thing she'd spent years avoiding.

"I grew up second-guessing myself and taking the safe route for everything," Antaki said. "For a long time I never thought the military would be my path, until my family helped me realize I'm stronger than my greatest fear. I joined the Navy to push myself and see what I'm truly capable of. Your mind is the strongest thing about you, and if you set it to something, you'll achieve it."

That resolve was tested the moment she arrived, and the people who steadied her became the heart of her boot camp experience. Her second RDC, Petty Officer 1st Class Chase Krohn, pushed her harder than she thought she could be pushed.

"Petty Officer Krohn believed in me before I believed in myself," Antaki said. "His teaching style was tough, but it made me stronger and more disciplined. He pushed me to strive for number one every single day."

The steadiest voice came from a place close by. Her rack mate, Seaman Recruit Guzman-Rodriguez, became something like a sister over the nine weeks, and the person who convinced Antaki she belonged at the top.

"She reminded me every day that I'm capable of anything I set my mind to," Antaki said. "When I was made educational petty officer, I kept telling myself I wasn't the right person for the job, and she wouldn't let me believe that. She's one of the reasons I realized I deserved this award, because of how hard I pushed myself and how much I helped my division. She's like a sister to me."

The hardest adjustment of training had nothing to do with any single evolution. It was learning to stop thinking of herself as an individual.

"The toughest part was realizing you're no longer held to individual expectations. Your division is a team, and you succeed and fail together," Antaki said. "What helped me was realizing the people around me aren't my competition. They're my family. You don't have to like everyone to work well with them. That's what boot camp is really about."

For anyone back home weighing the same leap she almost didn't take, Antaki's advice comes down to mindset.

"The hardest thing about boot camp is adjusting your mentality," she said. "Boot camp is as hard as you make it. If you look at a situation and tell yourself 'I've got this' instead of 'why am I here,' it goes by so much faster. Be proud of yourself just for getting off that plane. This is only the start of your career. Don't let your mentality be the reason boot camp is hard."

Her RDCs were Chief Petty Officer Karimah Figueroa, Petty Officer 1st Class Chase Krohn and Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Burkett.

Following graduation, Antaki will report to Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Intelligence Specialist "A" school.

Training at RTC is approximately nine weeks long, and all enlistees in the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy's only boot camp.

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