Saluting women leading the way

Retirement has been a welcome change for Natalie Starfish, an ‘88 graduate of chemical engineering from Arizona State University. To celebrate, she is visiting her 50th U.S. state, Montana, by way of Amtrak train. Her YouTube channel has kept her busy too, showcasing her quilting skills and challenging herself to new methods and patterns.

Despite a new routine, Starfish still reflects on her time at ASU and the lessons she learned from the university’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps.

“I used to say that I didn't have any discipline at the time, and the military gave it to me in droves,” Starfish said. “I was really impressed by how much discipline the military gave me, but it's really helped me throughout my life, and it gave me a bias towards action that I've been able to use.”

Starfish knew going into college that she wanted to join the military, following the career her father pursued in the United States Air Force. When she started college, opportunities for women in the military were still increasing.

“I got into the program when I was 17 years old. My mom had to swear me in because I wasn't old enough to swear myself into the military,” Starfish said.

In previous years, ASU’s ROTC units had included women through different groups such as the “Kaydettes.” Originally founded as an auxiliary of the Pershing Rifle honor group at ASU, the Kaydettes gradually became integrated fully into the Army ROTC unit on campus. The “Women in the Air Force” program welcomed women to study shorthand military correspondence and typewriting. Today, women make up 20% of all officers in the armed forces.

Starfish became highly involved after joining the Arizona National Guard through a simultaneous membership program with the Army ROTC unit. Prior to graduating, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the military and served in the 222nd Transportation Medium Truck Company and Arizona Army National Guard from 1979 to 1981.

Starfish reflected on her memories serving in leadership roles within ROTC and how it prepared her for post-grad life. Some of her favorite memories centered around her unit’s camaraderie. As a platoon cadet advisor (PCA), she remembered teaching cadets the important lesson of memorization during a training session.

“I snuck behind them and started taking everybody's weapons without them knowing that I had them. I waited and nobody realized that their weapon was gone,” Starfish said. “Once everybody realized they didn't have their weapons, they would come up in line and I would say, ‘What's your serial number?’ and they would say, ‘I don't remember.’ You were supposed to have that memorized.”

“That was kind of a fun memory of being a PCA and knowing I could do that, that the cadres supported me and wanted me to be able to teach them things like that. It didn't just train my guys, it trained everyone.”

Starfish was one of the few women in her class –– out of about 120 people in her ROTC program, approximately 20 of them were women.

Later in her life, she became involved with the I Am Not Invisible Project — originally featuring 20 female veterans from Oregon. Ran by the Center for Women Veterans, the campaign started in 2017 as a way to increase visibility for women veterans who make up around 10% of the total veteran population in the U.S. Since the start of the project, more than 3,200 women have participated.

In 2022, Starfish was invited to share her story in the Veterans History Project through the Library of Congress American Folklife Center by the photographer who previously captured her experiences in the military.

“I felt honored to be invited to participate in the I Am Not Invisible project, and later, in the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. Since then, I’ve been a little braver about letting people know I’m a veteran,” Starfish said. “I also admit I love swapping stories with other veterans because each of us understands how fortunate we are to have come through our military service and to share that bond.”

Starfish transferred many of those skills she learned at ASU to her jobs at the Hoover Dam and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When she served as one of the commission’s headquarters operations officers, those very skills became essential for success.

“We had 12-hour shifts, but we were standing watch. I learned that all in ROTC. How do you stand watch? What are the things that are of concern?” Starfish said. “… What I gained from ROTC, I applied. The ASU program is one of the top ROTC programs in the country; when I went to ROTC camp, it was very evident.”

Over 45 years later, she credits ASU ROTC for making her more inclined to take action and volunteer to do something rather than being told.

“I think there's definitely an Arizona component of that as well. I think we're more prone to action, taking positive steps, making a decision and moving on,” Starfish said.

“Choosing ROTC isn’t a 'hat decision,' where if you don’t like it you can simply change hats. It isn’t a 'haircut decision,' where if you don’t like it, you just wait for it to grow out. ROTC is more like a tattoo decision — permanent and meaningful. It’s one I look back on with a firm smile, knowing I stood watch over my country to help ensure her safety, security and freedom.”

Starfish’s advice to young women considering the same route she took in college? There is no more equitable trade for a college scholarship than the ROTC program. For Starfish, it also brought her a group of brothers and sisters who challenge one another physically and mentally while learning how to lead.

“You receive a scholarship in exchange for training to become an officer — someone who becomes part of our country’s history and a leader in the greatest military in the world,” Starfish said. “ROTC answers the question: ‘How tough are you?’ I know the answer for myself because of that training. Through the experience, I learned that I don’t quit easily. That lesson has carried into every part of my life and contributed to much of my success.”