Shaler Area grad receives recognitions as Air Force Aerial Gunner
After graduating from Shaler Area High School in 2011, Liz Krotec joined the Air Force and has been serving her country with distinction ever since.
Ms. Krotec recently achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant and received the Air Force Special Operations Air Warfare Center Aerial Gunner of the Year award in February 2017. But these recognitions were hard earned.
Ms. Krotec started basic training February 2012 following and spent an additional year and a half training to be fully qualified as an aerial gunner on an AC-130W plane.
Ms. Krotec has been deployed twice as an aerial gunner as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in May 2014 and Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria May 2015.
After returning from her second deployment, Ms. Krotec became the first female to be an aerial gunner instructor in the 551st Special Operation Squadron schoolhouse at Cannon Air Force Base, in New Mexico in December 2016.
In May 2017, Ms. Krotec will start her training to be a flight engineer on a UH-1N helicopter. She will be stationed in Washington D.C. once she completes her training and be responsible for transporting presidential or distinguished visitors.
Ms. Krotec is one of 10 siblings and the first in her immediate family to join the military.
Shaler Area grad receives recognition as Air Force Aerial Gunner of the Year
TribLIVE | Local article May 16, 2017