Naval Science Instructor

I am originally from South East Butler County, just north of Pittsburgh, PA. My lovely bride is Allison Powell-Foust from Canton, OH. I am a father of four, and we have one grandchild. So I have an idea of what some of the parents are going through or thinking. I retired from the active duty ranks of the United States Marine Corps in September 2007 completing 20 years of service to our nation. From 2001 to 2004, I was a Marine Corps Recruiter serving in Alaska, to include Service High School. The grandeur of Alaska and former supporting church community are what I love and the allure has brought me back to this great state. The opportunity to assist with molding and mentoring the minds of the youth of America is what attracted me to the position as the Naval Science Instructor (NSI). As your NSI, my goal is to allow my leadership style, personal traits, and developed skills to assist and enable each Cadet to develop their own leadership style. And the ability towards working in a professional environment, yet still being able to have fun. While I am sure there will be many challenges (physically and mentally) while in our program, they will be mild compared to the success that new Cadets achieve. The old adage of “change is inevitable,” definitely holds true for the first year cadets. Each Cadet’s willingness to learn, desire to strive for academic excellence, and individual efforts to be apart of this Unit proves that we have some of the best students Service High has to offer. I have no doubt this year and years to come will be some of the best experiences for the Cadets to reflect on throughout life. My challenge to each Cadet is to create individual goals towards developing leadership, professionalism, and academic excellence. For this is a key to success in our program and to the overall success in school and life. I look forward to the challenges ahead and find pride in knowing that with all of our Cadets hard efforts, Cougar Company will remain one of the top NJROTC units in the Nation. Yut!