FORT KNOX, Ky., – Cadets from the 4th Regiment, Advanced Camp, faced their fears and rappelled down the 64-foot rappel tower at Fort Knox, Ky., June 21, 2023.
The purpose of the rappel tower training is to provide Cadets with the ability to overcome their fears, know how to safely rappel for the future, and build team cohesion.
Cadet Kelly Godsey, University of New Mexico, felt ready to conquer the rappel tower.
“I felt excited,” Godsey said. “I love rappelling, and I love doing things outside, just doing physical things, so I was really excited to do it.”
Godsey has prior experience going down a rappel tower; her university’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program has prepared her.
“The University of New Mexico is right outside of an Army Reserve post on Kirtland Air Force Base, and they have a pretty high rappel tower,” Godsey said. “We went down that for our FTX [field training exercise], and then, just rock climbing. You get used to the dynamics of the air and controlled falling.”
Although Godsey has experienced a rappel tower before, she knows that not all Cadets felt confident with the height of the tower.
“I was really excited for my friends that were even afraid of heights because I knew they were going to do it,” Godsey said. “They’re going to show themselves that ‘oh, just because I’m scared of it, it doesn’t have to be scary.’”
Godsey’s fellow Cadets and the Cadre showed their support during the rappel tower training.
“It felt amazing,” Godsey said. “People were encouraging, everyone was instructing you on exactly what to do, how to do it, where to put things. It felt super safe; it felt super organized. It was just overall a good time.”
The rappel tower is a good exercise to show Cadets that they can overcome the things that scare them in order to step up as Soldiers and leaders.
“It’s a definite team building exercise, but it also shows that those of us that have a fear about things, that are out of our comfort zone, are able to push through it and do it,” Godsey said. “Leadership in and of itself might be out of your comfort zone, so being able to go pass that and push through the fear. This is just a physical exercise to prove to ourselves that we can do it.”
Godsey was influenced to serve in the Army by her family. Her mother retired from the Army, and her father and sister served in the Army, as well.
“They were my biggest role models,” Godsey said. “Everyone’s out, but they have very fond memories, all three of them.”
Godsey graduated from the University of New Mexico this past spring with her nursing degree.
“I joined Army ROTC because I have seen my whole life how Soldiers are treated in the Army, and what Soldiers do, and I’m going to be a nurse in the Army after this,” Godsey said. “I have seen the medical care that Soldiers get; you know, we’re not at war right not, but if we ever are, they need people to help them when they’re down. I want to help support the people who are supporting us on land, so I thought nursing was a good way to do it.”
Godsey is an end-of-camp commissionee, which means that she will become a commissioned officer in the Army when she graduates from Advanced Camp in four weeks.
“I chose my career path, but my career path happened to also be an offered career path in the Army, and I thought, ‘why not? I live in a country that has people that fight for me; I want to fight for them, too.’”
