Greensburg Salem grad commanding region's Naval operations support center

When Christine Komoroski was an outside hitter on Greensburg Salem’s volleyball team in the mid-1990s, she was so good she received a recruitment letter from the Naval Academy to attend its elite volleyball camp.

It was an invitation that set her on a different career path and a journey in life she still is traveling.

“It just sort of changed everything. I went to the academy and it impressed me. I saw the plebes arriving,” and when she returned to her Salem Township home, she knew that was where she wanted to go.

“It was the challenge that drew me to the academy. It was an organization so much bigger than myself.

“The stars aligned for me to go to the Naval Academy,” from which she graduated in 2000.

Going to the Naval Academy gave her the opportunity to see the world and serve her country.

And she saw the world, visiting countries such as Malta, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Djibouti and Spain while deployed aboard the USS Iwo Jima and visiting the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Aqaba, Jordan, and Turkey while aboard the USS Winston S. Churchill.

Now, closer to home, Cmdr. Christine Komoroski Brashear, 42, is head of the Navy Operational Support Center at the Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station in Moon Township. She took command in August and has orders to serve as the commander for three years.

As commanding officer, she is responsible for the administrative readiness of more than 300 Navy Selected Reservists, to ensure they are prepared to fulfill operational missions if they are mobilized.

“Our goal is to maintain 100 percent mobilization readiness of our Reserve sailors,” Brashear said, “to ensure the Navy Reserve Force is able to quickly provide strategic depth and lethality to the operational active Navy component.”

As the nation recently commemorated Veterans Day, Brashear is appreciative of the fact that “the community is so supportive of the veterans and the service they rendered.”

This is the first time Brashear has been stationed in the Pittsburgh region, giving her the opportunity to be closer to her family.

Brashear, who lives with her husband, Tom, and their three children in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, grew up in Salem Township, the daughter of Judith and Walter Komoroski. He was a state police trooper who worked out of the Greensburg station.

She serves her country, like her paternal grandfather, who trained as a naval pilot during World War II and her maternal grandfather, who was part of the legendary 10th Mountain Division that fought against the Germans in Italy.

“What resonated most to me was how proud they were of their service and the look they had in their eyes when they talked about their experiences serving our country,” Brashear said.

Growing up, she had an affinity for volleyball and the challenge of competitive sports.

“She was an excellent volleyball player (an outside hitter) and her work ethic was incredible,” said Lynn Jobe, her coach at Greensburg Salem.

Jobe recalled that Brashear “performed very well in state competition.” Her team played an important role in setting the stage for a successful volleyball program, culminating in a state championship in 1998, Jobe recalled.

But, Jobe said, the player she knew as “Kiki” is an even better person.

“Kiki served as the role model for the younger girls. She set the standard high,” said Jobe, who recently retired as Greensburg Salem’s athletic director.

Jobe is not surprised that Brashear rose through the ranks in her Navy career.

“Her moral compass always pointed true north,” Jobe said.

Brashear continued her volleyball career at Navy, juggling the demands of playing against NCAA Division I competition and her rigorous schedule of classes.

When Brashear entered the Naval Academy as a plebe in 1996, it was 20 years after President Gerald Ford’s mandate that the Naval Academy and Military Academy at West Point enroll women.

Brashear said she has not experienced gender discrimination in the military. There were times, when she was deployed to Africa and the Middle East, that she was among only a handful of women aboard the ship.

“I have found that I have not been sidetracked because of my gender.

“I feel the Armed Forces as a whole, respects the person, regardless of their race, gender and religion,” Brashear said.

In commanding men and women, “I feel I’ve always had the respect and support up and down the chain of command,” Brashear said.

As the mother of two young daughters and a son, ranging in age from 21/2 to 8, Brashear said she would be fully supportive if they wanted to follow their parents into a career in the military.

“Of course, I would want them to go into the Navy,” she said with a smile.

Brashear has not decided what she will do when she has completed her three-year orders.

When she does retire from the Navy, sometime “down the road,” she has not decided what path she wants to follow. She has human resources experience as the force information assurance officer for Navy Reserve Forces headquarters and has professional human resources certification.

“I really love working with people and solving problems,” Brashear said.