Alaska Air National Guard officer visits Service High NJROTC students

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON — Alaska Air National Guard 1st 176th Force Support Squadron Force Development and Education Officer Lt. Laurel Foster visited Robert Service High School to share her story of military service with Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets Monday, April 15.

According to a press release from the Alaska National Guard, Foster talked to the cadets, shot archery, and retired the school’s flags with the cadet color guard during her time at the school.

Foster is an alumnus of the school’s NJROTC program and was inspired to join the military through her experience in the leadership curriculum.

She enlisted in the Alaska Air National Guard as a Security Forces law enforcement Airman, where she served as a Combat Arms Training and Maintenance marksmanship instructor and deployed to Iraq where she operated as a .50-caliber machine gunner before reclassifying as a paralegal with the Judge Advocate General. She was commissioned as a Security Forces officer before transferring to the 176th Force Support Squadron as a personnel officer.

According to the press release, retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Tom Foust, Service HS NJROTC naval science instructor and Service High School’s riflery team coach expressed how impressed he was with Foster’s ability to quickly learn how to shoot a bow despite having no archery experience as he talked to the cadets between sets.

“To put things into perspective, Lieutenant Foster never touched a bow before today,” Foust stated in the press release. “But by applying her past marksmanship instructor experience, she quickly mastered archery.”

According to the press release, Foster attended the Northwest Leadership Academy in San Diego where she gained valuable skills such as sailing, rappelling, and rubber rafting with the Navy SEALS and other Navy Sailor instructors while she was a cadet at Service High School.

During her visit on April 15, she encouraged the Service High School NJROTC cadets to savor the unique experiences they will gain through the program.

“My advice is to take advantage of every opportunity that you can while you are in JROTC,” Foster stated in the press release. “Because you don’t get many of those opportunities even when you come to the active duty or National Guard worlds."

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com