Voices of Veterans: Lieutenant Laura Koerner shares story of service with US Navy
Jul. 19—AUSTIN — Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dr. Dawn Buckingham Friday introduced the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, the service of Lt. Laura Koerner who served in the U.S. Navy is highlighted.
At only 17,and having never been to the ocean, Koerner attended the United States Naval Academy and was at the top of her class throughout her time in school. She received a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering and went on to earn a Master of Science in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining a combat fleet.
When laws were changed to allow women to serve in combat roles in 1993, Koerner was one of the first women to serve on destroyers and aircraft carriers. She served as a Surface Warfare Nuclear Officer onboard the USS Mahan and the USS Enterprise.
Koerner spoke about how her fellow members of the U.S. Navy treated her with respect, which was not always true of sailors on foreign merchant ships who were unaccustomed to speaking to or even seeing women at sea. Though she could usually be found cloistered in the belly of the ship as an engineer, Koerner got all the character-building the U.S. Navy has to offer. She remarked that having a large amount of responsibility at a young age prepared her to be a leader in any situation.
When asked about her favorite part of military service, Koerner spoke about comradery, patriotism, and trust.
"I always felt like I was doing something of purpose and defending our country. There's no higher purpose I could think of...everyone was on board with that, and everyone wanted to do their best... Having the structure that we had, you had just trust in everyone around you. Their lives are in your hands... everyone was part of that mission. Everyone had their one part... all of us had to do our part in there to make everything work."
After leaving the service in 2003, Koerner married her husband, who was also in the U.S. Navy, and they have two daughters. She continues to give back to Veterans and her community as the Chairwoman of the Texas Veterans Commission, a Blue & Gold Officer with the U.S. Naval Academy admissions department, a Texas Veterans Cemetery Committee member, and a councilwoman for the City of Fair Oaks Ranch.
Click here, to listen to Lt. Laura Koerner tell her story.
