National Guard Sergeant Honored for Service to Country, Community

The fifth annual University of Alabama Online Legendary Service Award has been awarded to Alabama National Guard Sergeant First Class Pete Taylor of North Carolina.

The award recognizes Taylor’s 23 years of exemplary service in the U.S. Marine Corps and Alabama National Guard 20th Special Forces Group, as well as his ongoing commitment to his community.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected out of the many men and women who have served,” Taylor said.

As Taylor continues his service as a Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor with the Guard and works as a full-time emergency department nurse, he is pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice with a Family Nurse Practitioner concentration through UA Online.

Dr. Amanda Ingram, executive director of Online and Continuing Education, said, “Sgt. 1st Class Taylor exemplifies what it means to be a Legendary Service Award winner through his lifelong commitment to service, both in uniform and in the community. Through his dedication to advancing care through UA Online’s DNP program, he’s shaping the future of health and leadership.”

He will be presented with the Legendary Service Award on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium during the Nov. 22 football game, when the Crimson Tide meets the University of Eastern Illinois Panthers. He also receives a tuition grant equal to one semester of courses through UA Online.

Service Defined by Prevention

Taylor followed his parents and grandparents into service, enlisting in the Marines upon graduating from high school in 2002. As an infantryman, he saw the threat to fellow soldiers from roadside bombs and became a scout sniper to prevent those threats to major troop movements, reconnaissance and surveillance.

After one tour in Afghanistan and three in Iraq, Taylor still felt there was more he could do. He read military books for inspiration and found it in the Green Berets and their work with training local militaries and populations. It’s what turned his mind toward medicine.

“I love people, so I want to be a nurse practitioner,” he said. He particularly looks forward to working with his community and taking care of people.

In 2008, family duty pulled Taylor home to care for his grandfather after his grandmother’s passing.

“My grandpa was one of my heroes. He was a Marine, a World War II vet, a Korean War vet, a football coach and history teacher. He was a really awesome man, and I spent all my summers with him.”

While caring for his grandfather through prostate cancer, Taylor began nursing school at a local university but found it difficult to adjust to the slower pace. After his grandfather’s death, Taylor resumed the role of soldier, this time with the U.S. Army Special Forces.

Taylor has been a Special Forces Medical Sergeant for 14 years, deploying multiple times to Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. His new role brought him closer to helping people directly in life-giving ways — providing medical care to rescued child soldiers in Central African Republic, working to reduce infant mortality rates by educating women to be midwives in a village, and training Iraqi Special Operations medics to be better prepared to care for themselves medically.

Upon returning to the U.S. and reviving his traditional education and career outside of the military, Taylor needed to earn civilian credentials to find a job.

“I wanted to go to the best program. Who’s going to help me succeed and launch my career? UA Online is very military friendly and seemed the best with their programs and the people who helped me through. We do have a lot of alumni within 20th Group. They’re smart, well-educated, articulate and have nothing but great things to say. I didn’t even apply to anywhere else … because this is what I want. I just want to Roll Tide.”

Moving Prevention Forward

Taylor is making preventive medicine his personal mission. He plans to open a holistic care clinic after graduating from UA Online’s DNP program. The clinic will have a gym with a dietitian, strength coach and physical therapist on staff to treat health issues at their root through sleep, diet, exercise and stress management.

“I want to help my community, to be able to optimize people’s lives by getting them healthy. I think everybody has the right to live free and healthy. And the goal is to take care of our fellow Americans, our fellow community. We have to have a strong community that builds a stronger nation.”

He and his wife, Lt. Col. Amanda Taylor with the 82nd Airborne, are excitedly preparing for their seventh child. After a cumulative 6 years of deployment, Taylor is ready to stay home, but he isn’t done with his military service. He’ll continue teaching and motivating others through his role in the Alabama National Guard, knowing that the lessons he shares will continue to have an impact through his fellow soldiers’ work. It’s what he appreciates most about the professors at UA.

“Here, the professors are legitimate working professionals. That’s awesome. I want to see people who are still in the game, so I can have an educated discussion. Or when I have a question, the answer is coming from people who are on the ground.”