Royal City native USCG Person of the Year

PORTLAND — Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew Piper, formerly of Royal City, was recently named the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Portland active-duty Enlisted Person of the Year.

Piper, 33, has been in the Coast Guard for 12 years. He is the engineering department supervisor and manages all naval, civil, and facility matters at Sector Portland and subordinate commands, according to a spokesperson.

Piper said he was forewarned that he’d be receiving the award and he was grateful to have received the award but would have happily avoided the spotlight.

“I don’t like to do those (spotlight) kinds of things,” Piper said. “But I wasn’t going to argue with them.”

Senior Chief Ronny Jackson said anyone can be recommended for Enlisted Person of the Year and once recommendations are made, all the senior chiefs gather to review those recommendations.

“Compared to the other packages, (Piper’s) qualifications exceeded everybody else’s accomplishments within the Coast Guard and within this command,” Jackson said.

In the 2009 fiscal year, Piper supervised 21 contracts that equated to $1.45 million in improvements to the Sector and subordinate commands and involved 58 companies, 21 prime contractors, 58 subcontractors, and over 180 civilian workers.

Piper said he hopes to remain in the Coast Guard long enough to retire. He will be moving to his next post, Port Angeles, soon. Piper is the son of Bud and Leslie Piper of Royal City.