{"id":45296,"date":"2017-09-16T13:31:59","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T13:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/16\/beloved-command-sergeant-major-left-his-mark-on-soldiers-army\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:39:15","slug":"beloved-command-sergeant-major-left-his-mark-on-soldiers-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2017\/09\/16\/beloved-command-sergeant-major-left-his-mark-on-soldiers-army\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved command sergeant major left his mark on soldiers, Army"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He never planned to be a career soldier, but his service left an indelible print on those he served with and led.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His soldiers remember him as a salty, tough leader, but one who always took time to ask even the newest private how they were doing. He lived the ethos of the Army but still made time to be a loving husband and father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster, the senior enlisted soldier for U.S. Army Garrison Fort Campbell, Kentucky, died Sept. 1 at his home. Army officials have not released information on the cause or manner of his death, saying it is under investigation. He was 48.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A teenage Foster joined the Army in 1988 and landed in the infantry. He expected to do his tour, maybe a second one to get him stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, back near home. From there he would become a state trooper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on Dec. 1, 1990, he was at a country bar near Fort Campbell where he and some friends bumped into girls near the music stage. He asked a girl named Lanette to dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks later, they were married. On Dec. 31, he deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm with the 101st Airborne Division\u2019s 2nd Brigade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first of multiple combat deployments, his wife said in a recent phone interview with Army Times, that he didn\u2019t talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe said there were things I didn\u2019t need to know about,\u201d Lanette Foster said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple would move from Fort Campbell to drill sergeant duty at Fort Benning, Georgia, to assignments at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Irwin, California. Foster rose in the ranks but stayed at the heart of the infantry, working his way through air assault school, jumpmaster school, French commando school and Ranger school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He would receive numerous awards, including the Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, and the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t