Out of the frying pan and into the fire, the Cadets of 5th Regiment got off the bus at Fort Knox, KY on June 12th, 2021 ready to begin the trials of their summer training.
With these Cadets coming from all walks of life and all parts of the country, they were very out of their element as they got their things in order and fell into formation, however they seemed to greet the situation with an optimistic determination, and a desire to seize the day.
“I’m just ready to meet new people, maybe pick up some skills and tricks, become a great officer at the end of the day,” said Cadet Ryan Morrissey from Gannon University, “Just ready to kick some butt and enjoy CST [Cadet Summer Training] 2021.”
Most arriving Cadets had never done training of this scale before, and many can’t help but have their own set of expectations for the summer.
Cadet Jason Holcombe of Norwich University expressed that he had a few things to be nervous about, but: “If anything, I’m more excited to work with my peers and just tackle camp.”
Many Cadets seemed to have concerns about certain training events that they were going to encounter down the road, but all knew that their purpose on base was to learn and improve. They all knew to count on their Cadre and their previous training to get them through to graduation.
For some Cadets, such as William Lindner from Texas A&M University, this was a moment that was long in the making, being from an Army family. “It’s a little bit surreal because I’ve always followed my dad’s career path and followed him around as a kid, and now I’m here at Knox for the first time out of my own volition, and putting in my own work to better the Army and continue that.”
One thing they all seemed to have in common was a willingness to bond with their new comrades. They might have been strangers on arrival, but after spending the days supporting each other through training exercises, and the nights sleeping in bunk beds – or the middle of woods – they have little choice but to become a family.
