Alaska State Troopers celebrate 75 years with annual reunion

CHUGIAK — Most years, the Fraternal Order of the Alaska State Troopers holds its reunion in Las Vegas.

But this year’s celebrates 75 years of the AST, and called for a gathering bigger and closer to home.

“We have a real camaraderie and appreciate each other as a brotherhood and sisterhood,” said Carl Wright, who retired from the troopers in 1998. “We have a love for each other and appreciation for each other. We like to meet people we haven’t seen in a while and tell stories.”

Reunion festivities included golf and dinner in Anchorage on Friday with a competitive shooting competition at the Birchwood Outdoor Recreational shooting range.

“A golf course is just a waste of a good rifle range to some of us,” joked Lt. Jeff Hall, a retired 21-year veteran of the force. “(The shooting competition) was a good chance to renew old acquaintances with a little friendly competition. We invited all peace officers, retired or active duty, from all agencies across the state.”

Plenty of active AST officers made a weekend of it, including Capt. Barry Wilson, a 26-year veteran.

“This whole weekend is an opportunity for us to celebrate 75 years in which we’ve gone from Territorial Police to State Police to State Troopers,” Wilson said. “It’s the core of who we are and what we do for a living.”

State police everywhere considers themselves a breed apart from their city and county brethren in the shield, but that distinction is all-the-more celebrate among Alaska State Troopers, given the unrivaled breadth of land they’re left to cover, often with no help in sight, and none on the way.

“I retired out of Bethel, and there were 56 villages and six troopers to cover those villages; I had six,” Wright said. “I went by airplane or snow machine or boat.”

The staggering rate of acreage-per-officer has made the AST legendary, and the subject of a National Geographic reality show. Wilson said other law enforcement officers have as much difficulty grasping the concept as the civilian public. He illustrates it in the story of one Trooper who won a national law enforcement award for going above and beyond to arrest a dangerous group of burglars.

“He went to go arrest these guys, grabs a couple of (civilians) to go arrest these five guys armed to the teeth, and he rents a helicopter to go do it,” Wilson said. “Tell that to a law enforcement officer in the lower 48 that he rented a helicopter and they won’t believe it. But that’s what we do every day.”

Wilson said the the heavy caseloads and lack of backup, especially in times of state budget cuts, can be frustrating, but he wouldn’t trade the Alaska Trooper’s life for anything.

“I guarantee you I’d do this job another 26 years than be in the middle of Houston or L.A. with 47 guys backing you up,” he said. “But none of those guys would come do our job, either.”

Next year, Wright said, the annual reunion will return to Las Vegas. He makes sure to savor each one.

“Three troopers from last year’s reunion have died,” he said. “This might be the last one you get to see someone… and at least get to say goodbye.”

Contact editor Matt Hickman at 352-2268 or matt.hickman@frontiersman.com.