But in 2010, Dole unexpectedly found herself in a new role: caregiver to her husband, the late former Senate Majority Leader and decorated World War II veteran Bob Dole. In the 11 months he spent at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center recovering from knee surgery and repeated bouts of pneumonia, Elizabeth Dole’s eyes were opened to a community of those who silently served: the family members who managed care and met the needs of their veteran loved ones, at great personal cost and often with little support.

“As I spent time around the hospital, I visited with other loved ones quietly looking after their wounded warriors. They shared stories about the emotional shock of their veterans’ injuries, their confusion about the medical decisions now in their hands, their frustration with the bureaucracy of our health system, and, in too many cases, a hopelessness about the future,” Dole, now 89, told Military Times. “As I brought them together for dinners or other informal gatherings, they found a lot of solace and support in spending time together.”

Dole’s establishment of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation brought these caregivers’ service into the national conversation, with celebrity-backed awareness campaigns and programs to support caregivers financially, physically and emotionally.

One of these caregivers was Rachel Clark, who found the foundation in a desperate internet search after being forced to commit her veteran husband to a mental health ward, Dole recalled. Clark later became a Dole Caregiver Fellow, contributing to a community of support for caregivers across the nation.

“Over the last eight years, Rachel and I have grown close as she has made tremendous contributions by sharing her knowledge and experiences with our Foundation partners and national leaders,” Dole said.

This year saw the passage of the Dole Act, which increased home care coverage under the Department of Veterans Affairs and created mental health grants for caregivers, while building and improving an array of benefits to support veterans in need. The legislation aptly illustrates Dole’s legacy of effecting meaningful change through advocacy — from working with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers to pass seatbelt laws in 29 states to achieving tobacco industry reforms while in office.

“That bill is the perfect example of the types of resources and changes that must come from Washington,” Dole said of the Dole Act, crediting the bill’s champions in Congress from both sides of the aisle. “Certainly, not every problem can be solved inside the beltway, but some solutions can only come from the federal government.”

As the 2025 recipient of the Military Times Foundation’s Chairman’s Award, Dole demonstrates the power and impact of a lifetime committed to service.

“My parents and my faith both instilled in me the principle that ‘to lead, is to serve,’” Dole said. “I also grew up in the shadow of the World War II generation, which engendered a spirit of patriotism and the ideal of working together toward a greater good. I can’t necessarily say what drew me to each career decision I have made along the way, but I always knew that whatever I did, I wanted to give back. I wanted to make a positive difference in the lives of others and to help those in need.”

Just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 29, an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 outside Washington, D.C., sending both aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River and leading to the deaths of all 67 people onboard.

Jenish was finishing dinner when she got the call from the unit’s duty officer: a plane had crashed and all available personnel were needed on the water.

The Potomac was freezing, with four to six inches of ice in places, she recalled, and the Coast Guard search-and-rescue boats weren’t designed to operate in those conditions. But the need was urgent, and the Coast Guardsmen went to work, using everything from hammers to weights to break ice around the boat launch so they could enter the water and begin search and rescue. Meanwhile, Station Washington became an incident command post, directing traffic as the river filled with rescue personnel.

“As boats were coming in, I was just using your classic whiteboard, writing, ‘Okay, what boats do we have?’ And then just sending them out and trying to place them,” Jenish recalled, adding that about eight Coast Guard vessels were on the water at a given time. “In those initial six hours that night, my team, we were responsible for taking every Coast Guard asset that arrived and sending them out on the water.”

For their heroic search and recovery efforts, Jenish and her entire Station Washington team are being honored as the Coast Guard Service Members of the Year.

The other team members include: Lt. Craig Oravitz; Lt. Cmdr. Matthew McGarity; Chief Petty Officer Logan Kellogg; Chief Petty Officer Jason Seraphin; Chief Petty Officer Ryan Rawding; Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler McGuinness; Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Russo; Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Smith; Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Wallace; Petty Officer 1st Class James Nugent; Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Williams; Petty Officer 3rd Class Fabian Monorrez; Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Vicars; Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Frigiola; Petty Officer 3rd Class Danielle Zins; Seaman Nathan Cruz; and Seaman Colten McGalliard.

This was the first mass casualty response effort for Jenish and for the young Coast Guardsmen under her command. The tragedy and heartbreak of the event became real, she said, when she got word from the duty officer, about an hour into the operation, that a SAR team had recovered the first victim.

“I had to take a pause, because it just hit me, hearing that my youngest crew members are pulling up a body,” she recalled. “I think my mamma heart just broke for them.”

It would take days for Station Washington, working with an array of local response units, to recover all the people lost in the crash. For another three weeks, the Coast Guard maintained a safety perimeter on the Potomac, keeping boaters out of the wreckage sites and allowing crash investigators to work unhindered.

The unit came together after the mission was complete to process the tragedy with chaplains and a priority on mental health and recovery. But a week later, Jenish said, they were out on the water again, manning their assigned safety zones. Being recognized as service members of the year, she said, will help the unit come together once more.

“What they did that night was extraordinary — willing to take on that warranted risk, and willing to put out that heart, courage and dedication without being told to,” Jenish said. “I don’t know if closure is the right word, but I think this will certainly [play a] big part in their healing journey.”

Moore, 25, began his military career in 2018 in the Air Force as an all-source intelligence analyst supporting remotely piloted aircraft operations. He calls the job his first small introduction to space, as satellite communications supported the work of his team.

But when the Space Force was born as the sixth military branch at the end of 2019, Moore knew he wanted to be in the first tranche of airmen to transfer over and build the new service.

“I knew I joined the military to get a different experience, so I wanted to jump into something new,” he recalled. And the new role delivered: “Standing up, we were working out of trailers, doing all these crazy operations on a dirt lot. So it was like being deployed every day. And that’s what the Space Force provided me.”

Moore was assigned to an electromagnetic warfare unit and completed a six-month deployment to Europe in his new role. When he returned, he had an opportunity to fulfill another dream: to be a military training instructor – a role he’d been inspired by as a high schooler in a summer Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

He put in an application, and in 2024 he learned he’d be headed to the Army Drill Sergeant Academy in Columbia, South Carolina. He’d be the first Space Force Guardian – and the first member of any joint service – to graduate.

Moore didn’t just graduate, though; he dominated the course, finishing at the top of his class with a 99% average grade across all training objectives.

Designated the class platoon first sergeant, he supervised 75 other troops from various services. He even got pulled into an equipment inventory project while in training with the Army, helping the service verify 137,000 items worth a total of $5 million and earning praise from leadership of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Moore said he put a lot of pressure on himself to show up ready, as he knew he’d need to learn another service’s structure and culture as well as the training material.

“Having zero personal Army experience was definitely daunting, so I made my best effort to absolutely prepare beforehand,” he said.

Back at the Space Force Moore is putting the knowledge he gained at the drill school to work, as one of the leads of a project to rewrite the entire curriculum for Space Force basic military training.

While the Space Force has up to this point closely followed Air Force training, Moore is now working to infuse more of the new service’s unique culture, principles and operational needs into the program.

He’s also seeking to be open about his personal struggles along the way. In early 2025, he said, he experienced a mental health crisis that forced him to seek help and reevaluate the pressure he placed on himself to achieve and excel.

“While I did see results from working so hard and doing all these different things, I now realize that you know you can do those things and also have boundaries and take care of yourself,” he said. “And I think it was an extremely important and valuable lesson for me to learn … and it allows me to be a more effective leader.”