4:30 AM...

Most people are still sleeping. College students call this "the middle of the night" because they still have about three and half hours until they have to wake up for that dreaded 8 am class.

This is the time that I wake up for Physical Training or PT. This is my first Tuesday/Thursday class of the day.

PT only, officially, starts at 5:50 am, but living in the scenic West Halls, I have to take a "hike" to the Multi-Sports Facility or MSF which is right next to the Bryce Jordan Center.

How do I wake up every other weekday like that?

You probably think that you would sleep through your alarm if you had to do that every week for 15 weeks and then another 15 weeks after winter break.

My answer to that is my friends that I have made in ROTC. There are about 6 other people in West Halls that have to wake up the same time I do. At 5:30 am, outside of the MSF, you have about 60 other cadets that came out in the cold to be at PT. Then, even more cadets trickle in closer to the start time. Over the past few weeks, new cadets have bonded through exercises in PT and through most of the time being utterly confused at ROTC events.

We have to deal with what most people would call "bull", but through that we come out stronger.

Never have I had so many people around me who want to be running and doing freedom twists at 5:50 am for the same reasons I want to do them.

Not to mention that our connections not only show themselves in PT and other ROTC events, but outside of ROTC as well. Many upperclassmen help underclassman with homework in classes they are struggling with.

As a freshman, we eat in the dining commons a lot since all of us do not live off campus. Many of us end up sitting alone (especially in West Commons), originally, but then we all find each other and sit together. We do not talk about ROTC that much, we just talk about life and other "crap" that has been going on in our lives.

ROTC is a brother/sisterhood. In ROTC, in order to get through the program, you must build connections with people pretty quickly. I have never witnessed friendships being built so quickly (except, maybe, in the East Halls bathrooms). People without those connections in ROTC have dropped out already. Being in the Air Force we try to be a wingman to everyone, so they will never fail.

Flag Unfurling/Beaver Stadium Selfie With Some Other AFROTC First Year Cadets

4:30 am...

The time when most people are sleeping, but you are not most people. You can see your breath as you slowly move yourself to the bus stop in hopes that the Red Link will come at a reasonable time.

5:30 am...

The time you realize that you never want to leave ROTC, because you realize the people around you are all in this for the same reason you are.

6:00 pm...

The time you are sitting alone at a table in the dining commons on a Thursday night. One of those people, you so sleepily saw at 5:30 am, asks to sit with you and suddenly, a quick meal becomes an hour and half later.


TIFFANY N. SEIBERT, C/4c, AFROTC