Fort Knox, Ky.- It’s a tale as old as time….You can always find the beauty in the beast and that’s exactly what Cadets did when they took on the Rappel Tower and Confidence Course.
6th Reg Advanced Camp take on Rappel Tower. July 2nd. Photo by Josh Shortt
Today 6th Regiment Advanced Camp went to the Rappel tower and the Confidence Course. For the Rappel Tower, Cadets started on a 20-foot starter wall before conquering the 64-foot wall. The 20-foot wall gives the Cadets a small taste of what the 64-foot wall will be like. It also helps familiarize Cadets with the technique required to successfully get down the wall. The 20-foot wall is perfect for ensuring Cadets are coming down the wall correctly, delivering the correct verbiage needed when communicating with other Cadets, and ensuring that they can stop/break at any time during their rappel.
6th Reg. Advanced Camp conquer Confidence Course. July 2nd. Photo by Josh Shortt
The Confidence course has 8 different stations that Cadets must maneuver through. One station that has been named the “Tough One” is easily the hardest task given to Cadets throughout the course. Cadets must start with climbing up a rope, then walking across 8 wooden logs to climb up more wooden logs, then flip their bodies over those logs to then climb down a net. The other 7 tasks include crawling on your back in sand, and swinging on a rope to a wooden log. They are all challenging and take quite a bit of strength to get through. This course is definitely no walk in the park.
“It was my first time on Rappel, and I loved it, it was a lot of fun but it was scary”, said Cadet Emma Gutzman of Georgetown University.
The Rappel tower and the Confidence Course are both challenging, but also beneficial. These two courses are great for building future leaders and Cadets showed that they are ready for anything that comes their way. The Rappel tower teaches Cadets to trust their equipment, to trust their fellow Cadets, and to trust themselves, while the Confidence Course teaches Cadets self-assurance and teamwork. Both obstacles can bring out fears within Cadets but that fear doesn’t stop them from being successful and finding their happy ending.
