A former Jones County Greyhound has traveled the world for the past 30 years, serving his country in the U.S. Marine Corps while steadily moving up the ranks.
CWO5 Jason A. Foster retired from the military May 16 in a ceremony held at Camp Lejeune, N.C. His retirement was attended by his parents, Alton and Ester Foster of Jones County.
The retiree is a decorated officer whose personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with gold star, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with gold stars and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with gold star.
Foster has been married to the former Marlyn Brillante Corpez from Bicol, Philippines, since 2000, and they have three children — Jalyn Smith, Aaron and Isaac — and one granddaughter, Lily May Smith.
He entered the delayed entry program in July of 1993 and joined the Marine Corps in June of 1994, 17 days after he graduated from JCHS.
After basic training and communications school, PFC Foster attended additional electronics training in Biloxi, Miss. LCpl. Foster was sent to Okinawa Japan for two years and then deployed to Australia.
Cpl. Foster was again assigned to Okinawa for a four-year tour, during which he participated in exercises across Japan, South Korea and Thailand, and in May of 2001, Sgt. Foster was assigned to Camp Lejeune, serving in various capacities.
SSgt. Foster helped plan and execute a six-day, 70-plus mile company hike across the Great Smokey Mountains National Park that was also a high frequency radio check exercise. His next deployment was in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Camp Blue Diamond, Ramadi, Iraq.
The staff sergeant was headed back to Okinawa in 2006, serving as the Tactical Automatic Switching Section Head. Then it was back to South Korea.
In January of 2009, GySgt. Foster reported to Quantico for a Warrant Officer Basic Course. After graduation, WO Foster returned to Okinawa as the Battalion Communications- Electronics Maintenance Officer on Camp Schwab.
During that tour, he was deployed to Thailand and Indonesia. CW02 Foster became part of lengthy intelligence and military police fusion exercise at Fort Pickett, Va.
CW03 Foster received orders back to Okinawa in 2015 for a four-year tour, during which he conducted 53 analyses for units spread across Hawaii, South Korea, Australia and mainland Japan.
CW04 Foster served as the Intermediate Maintenance Activity platoon commander and Calibrations platoon commander in 2019. He reported to his final post at Camp Lejeune in July of 2021.
In a recent interview, Ester Foster said her son Jason was born in Macon, but the family moved to Jones County for the schools. He attended Jones County schools from kindergarten to graduation.
“He always loved the military. There was never a doubt that was what he was going to do,” she said.
