TACOMA - Veronika Munoz grew up with the Army.

As an only child she listened as her father, Raul Munoz, talked about work but didn't understand what he was talking about. The family moved to various Army installations before settling at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

While a sophomore at Lakes High School in Lakewood a friend of Veronika's talked her into joining the school's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC). Lakes' JROTC team has its final drill meet of the year at Stadium High School in Tacoma Saturday.

Raul was serving a tour in Iraq in 2007 when he received an email from his daughter that said she had joined the Army JROTC program.

"(Army) is all I knew," Veronika said. "He was shocked when he heard I was doing it."

Raul was excited for his daughter, but he was nervous at the same time because he didn't know about the JROTC program.

"It was surprising," Raul said. "I knew she wanted to follow in my footsteps in some way or form, whether it was Air Force, Marines or something like that."

When Raul returned home Veronika asked her father to help the team with the physical fitness test.

During his 25-year Army career Raul was a master fitness trainer. He started to attend practices at Lakes, where he selected team captains and came up with PT plans. Raul retired from the Army July 1, 2008 and has been a volunteer coach at the high school ever since.

"I noticed the connection I made with all the kids and I started mentoring, coaching and giving them the feeling that they are strong and great kids," Raul said.

Raul stresses the importance of proper fitness and nutrition to the cadets and has them do PT exercises that includes sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and various team activities.

"I'm not pushing them like I used to push Soldiers," Raul said. "I understand these are kids because I have a daughter."

Veronika admits it cramped her style having her father at school with her when she was a young teenager. But as she grew older she saw the value in her dad's mentorship and passion for guiding young cadets into their own.

"He coaches and at the same time you can tell he really cares about the kids, too," Veronika said. "He'll ask about their schoolwork and if they want to go to college. It's not just PT all the time. They look up to him."

And in much the same way the young cadets at Lakes now look up to Veronika who went on to join the ROTC program at Pacific Lutheran University on scholarship. The college sophomore is a psychology major and is looking into pursuing a career in military intelligence.

Veronika sees how her father balances family, his position with the Directorate of Logistics at JBLM, volunteer coaching at Lakes, evening classes at Pierce College, and coaching softball during the summer.

"I look up to him. He can organize his time, I can organize my time," she said.

While Veronika looks up to her father, Raul can't hide how proud he is of his daughter. He uses her story to inspire cadets that they too can pursue higher education. Sometimes he lets Veronika do the talking.

"I back up and let her mentor and that touches my heart," Raul said. "In a few years she's going to be leading troops, heading to wherever God takes her to."