Master Sgt. Matthew Crown was named the Equal Opportunity Advisor of the Year for U.S. Army Medical Command on Dec. 4, during the command's Human Capital Distribution Plan conference in Washington, D.C.

As equal opportunity advisor for the Southern Regional Medical Command, he is responsible for advising one division, three brigade and nine battalion-level command teams, as well as nine warrior transition units and two community-based warrior transition units.

He processes formal equal-opportunity complaints within the region, trains other EO advisors and provides staff-assistance visits to division-level organizations.

"It's important that we assure everyone is given fair treatment, based on their potentials more so than on what they look like or where they come from or what religion they practice," Crown said.

"I've learned a lot from this job," he commented. "It's nice knowing you have an effect on Soldiers that may be going through some hard times or have some issue. It's nice to know you can be a part of that fix."

He assisted in creating and publishing the MEDCOM EO Advisor's guide and conducting the first MEDCOM EOA conference which offered MACOM-specific guidelines and tools. He organized ethnic special observations that featured the first Hispanic chief justice, the local Asian-American Chamber of Commerce president and a former U.S. ambassador for the United Nations.

Crown also served as a member of a Lean Six Sigma project at the Army level that focused on improvements to the EO complaint system.

Crown enlisted in 1996 and has served as a civil-affairs NCO on deployment to Kosovo and a respiratory therapist in Iraq. He was on the Commandant's List during the Basic NCO Course and was Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Equal Opportunity Advisor's Course. He has earned the Expert Field Medical Badge, Parachutist Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.