Charlie Co. Cadet Julia Tucker, of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, takes her first bound off of the 51-foot high rappel tower at LTC. Tucker said she is hopeful the training will help her overcome her fear of heights. Photo by Heather Cortright/LTC PAO
By Sara Nahrwold
Staff writer
With his rope snapped in his karabiner and his heels over the edge of the 51-foot rappel tower, Charlie Company Cadet Paul Burke leaned back into thin air.
“I was terrified, absolutely terrified,” the Marion Military Institute student said. “My side was burning, and it was hard to keep the rope behind me to brake. Whenever I went down I was going too fast, then I would stop instantly and it would hurt.”
Every Cadet at the Leader’s Training Course has to go down the tower, their fear of heights tested every foot of the way. Cadets have to go down the side of the tower with the wall and also the side without one.
“Within the Army, it’s done as a method of seeing if the individual, in this case the Cadets, can overcome their fears,” said Master Sgt. Shawn Simmons, the non-commissioned officer in charge at the rappel tower. “If they can overcome that fear, they can overcome other fears.”
Cadets go through training before they face the tower. They must learn to tie their Swiss seat — a harness to support them on the trip down — and have on the proper equipment. They also go down slant walls that are about half the height, learning the proper ‘L’ shape position needed to rappel down the wall, as well as how to properly hold the rope for fellow Cadets.
For Charlie Company Cadet Kacie Cox, her fear of heights drove her to push herself to complete the task at hand.
“I hate feeling this scared but I’m so tired of being scared, so if I just start pushing through the fear it will help me gradually stop being so scared,” the Wentworth Military Academy & College student said.
The stairs to the top of the tower feel like a walk of death for Cadets who are most scared.
“I felt like I was going to turn around and run back down,” Cox said. “But it’s one of those things that you’ve already started, and you can’t stop and you have to keep going.”
With cadre and fellow Cadets on top of the tower and below, Cadets found motivation all around them to push past their fears and rappel down the tower.
“All the cadre here is always really good about pushing the Cadets,” Cox said. “They know that you’re scared and push you to do it.’”
Both Charlie Company Cadets were relieved when their boots hit the gravel pit below.
“I was like, ‘Thank God, I’m on the ground,’ ” Cox said. “I’m so happy I just did that, but I don’t want to do it again. I would do it each and every time I was told to, but never by choice.”
Burke said he would like to do it again to improve at rappelling.
Not all Cadets are scared of the tower because they have had similar training or like heights.
“I got to do it at air assault school, so it’s always really fun to get a refresher,” said Bravo Company Cadet Grant Cook of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “I love heights, I love the thrill. I wasn’t even a little bit scared.”
Bravo Company Cadet Rachelle Boucher of Western Kentucky University also had prior experience with the rappel tower and was ready to go.
“You initially look over the ledge, and you’re like, ‘OK, this is pretty high, I really don’t want to fall,’ but other than that you just do what they tell you to and everything works out the way it should,” she said. “I don’t really look down. I just kind of pay attention and concentrate on my break hand and then jump.”
The rappel tower prepares Cadets for facing their fear not only in the moment, but down the road as an officer.
“If you don’t have that ability to overcome your fears, then you’re going to get in a situation where you can’t make a decision, and that’s going to cost Soldiers to get hurt or killed,” Simmons said. “So you have to be able to recognize that you have a fear and develop mechanisms to overcome it.”
Whether a Cadet went down the tower for the first time or the fifth, motivation within themselves was key to their success.
“If you want to be an officer in the Army, you’re there to motivate people,” Cox said. “I wanted to just fall into a leadership role and learn how to motivate myself so I can motivate others.”