Cadet Loretta Williams, a senior biology major at Prairie View A&M University, who is also in PVAMU’s Army-ROTC program, is going places. Post-graduation, she wants to be a pilot. She also wants to defend our country on the front line in the infantry.

“I have always been passionate about wanting to give back to the community and help people in any way I can,” said Williams. “Serving for our nation is a grueling job, and it will challenge me in every way. But, I can’t wait to do it.”

To prepare, Williams volunteered to represent PVAMU at the United States Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia over the summer, and unlike so many people who attend the school every year, Williams passed.

“One of the main reasons I volunteered for Jump School was to show other girls they can do it, they can be paratroopers too,” said Williams. “When people look at me, they don’t see your average cadet. I’m friendly and I’m super girly, but I did it. Plus, it was an awesome experience and a great peek into Army life.”

Airborne School is divided up into three weeks: ground week, tower week, and jump week. Each week is extremely dangerous and challenging.

“Ground week teaches you how to land properly after jumping out of a plane,” said Williams. “It’s basically throwing your body at the ground over and over and over for the entire week. The second week, we focus on how to properly exit a plane and control our parachutes, on top of learning how to land correctly. Jump week is basically the grand finale – we get to jump out of planes. I talked to my mom on the phone right before that week, and she told me later that she was worried the whole time.”

Students completed five jumps in total. Three times “Hollywood Style,” with no equipment, and two times with combat equipment.

“When the door opens, your mind and your body can’t judge the distance and how far up you are in the air,” said Williams. “You just follow the person in front of you, jump out of the plane, and let physics do the rest. There’s no time to think.”

In the midst of practicing how to jump out of a plane and actually jumping out of a plane, students completed four long distance runs as well.

“It was in the middle of the summer, so it was hot, and it was miserable, but we had to do it as part of our training,” said Williams. “Despite what you see in movies, there’s nothing glamorous about being a paratrooper. It hurts. But I’d have to say, everything I experienced was worth it. It was awesome.”

In the future, Williams plans to attend the U.S. Army Air Assault School and Ranger School, which, by the way, is one of the toughest training courses for which a soldier can volunteer.

“There have only been three women in the Army to get Ranger tabs, and I want to be the fourth,” said Williams.

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-This story by Marchita Shilo originally appeared in Academic Insights.