As 1st Sgt. John Blue leaves Joint Base Lewis-McChord this week headed for Fort Bliss, Texas and the sergeant major academy, he takes with him another piece of affirmation that his career is on the right track.

Blue was recently given the Sergeant John Ordway First Sergeant of the Year award by the Fort Lewis Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army.

"It means a lot to me," Blue said. "It lets me know that over the course of the last five years (as a first sergeant) I've finally gotten the hang of how to do the job right."

Blue served as first sergeant in A Company, First Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment from 2005 to 2007 before becoming the commandant of the I Corps Warrior Training Academy in 2008.

The two experiences have allowed Blue to see the Army from several different viewpoints.

"(Serving as commandant) gave me another perspective of how the Army works," said Blue, a Lewiston, Maine, native who's been stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord since 1995. "It gives you a big picture of how things run. That allowed me to learn a lot."

While getting a chance to see the bigger picture, Blue has also stayed true to what it takes to be a good first sergeant: paying attention to his troops.

"It's about feeling out different situations," he said. "Each individual solider has a different situation, and that requires handing each differently. It's never the same."

And each situation requires a certain amount of tact.

"You just can't raise your voice and yell," Blue said.