Wow, first blog post on my own site guys! What follows is a short article I wrote for my Air Force ROTC Public Affairs cadet mid-November of 2014. It’s definitely ROTC heavy, but the principles apply to many aspects of our lives, not just #TheCadetLife, and I will probably wind up blogging about said principles again. I’ve made some edits so that hopefully this makes more sense for my non-ROTC readers. It’s an interesting experience for me going back and reading this months later after having a particularly difficult semester. I’ve concluded I need to take my own advice more, at least in this case! But, I want to acknowledge that it’s harder to maintain a good mindset under less than ideal conditions than to write about it, but it’s possible. All I can say is: believe in yourself, recognize many difficult things are temporary, develop a good support system and good coping mechanisms/stress relieving activities, and know that the reward of making it through hard times to reach your goals is a sweet, sweet victory. 

Ideal Conditions

“Everyone can be a cadet under ideal conditions.” This is what Cadet Sturniolo told me and the other new Air Force ROTC cadets at the beginning of my first semester as a cadet. It’s something that has (obviously) stuck with me many months later as I write this. It’s something he probably didn’t think much about at the time, just one sentence spoken in a talk given to help us succeed in the program. It’s something that has shaped how I’ve approached being a cadet, and influenced me to think differently about other areas of my life and how I approach them.

The ideal conditions in which to be a cadet would look something like the following: I have a great semester with good (and relatively easy) classes with interesting and passionate professors. I’m physically fit from playing sports/working out before I even become a cadet, and have drill and other experiences through the Civil Air Patrol or JROTC that helped prepare me. I have a supportive family and no family issues going on. I have no money issues either because I’ve saved money for school, my parents pay for it, or I’m on a scholarship. Livin’ tha dream, right?

Except, this doesn’t happen for anyone though. I have yet to meet a single cadet (or student) who has an ideal life. And yet, somehow upon entering school we tend to think that things will go as planned. We planned it, after all, and not too much outside of a natural disaster can happen to that plan as long as we follow it, right? Unfortunately this isn’t the case. Nothing always goes 100% according to plan, especially when we involve so many moving parts. Our classmates, fellow cadets, family, and professors all play a role in our plans, and not usually a role we can control. We can’t change that harsh professor, the student who sabotages our group project, or the flight leader who won’t seem to put out polls/learn to drill/fill in any flight leader complaint here.

In the several months leading up to ROTC, I worked out. I was bad at running (having previously broken an ankle), so I focused more on that. I couldn’t seem to shake getting shin splints though, and finally, just before starting ROTC, I had a doctor visit that led me to being in physical therapy three times a week through the semester and some of my summer.

This semester, I got a sinus infection, which further interfered with my physical performance. This is just my story though. Another cadet I know had a back injury. Another one has parents who do not support their decision to be in ROTC, and yet another has spoken of serious family issues. A cadet I know has a nightmarish professor, and an extremely difficult class load this semester. Another cadet has a foot injury. Older cadets are working on their thesis, senior projects, planning weddings, graduations, etc., all on top of their normal school load. I could easily continue (again, no has those ideal conditions). But this simply illustrates that life doesn’t always go according to plan, and those factors out of our control can throw us off track sometimes.

What we can do though is control how we approach our lives, and how we respond to situations outside of our control. Making a plan and sticking as closely as we can to it is good; it helps us know what we’re supposed to do, be intentional about our goals, and stay on track to the best of our ability. But our mindset is more important to our goals, our determination more of a factor, and our attitudes often more impactful on the outcomes then those things outside of our control. We can’t allow ourselves to become unfocused and our goals to unravel because stuff happens. Ideal conditions only exist in theory, and Murphy’s Law tends to happen far more often than we’d like. But goals worth aiming for aren’t easy, and that includes school and ROTC. And, difficult doesn’t equal bad. We might be the victims of trying, or even terrible, circumstances, but WE choose to remain so or not, and while we can get discouraged by the things not in our control, ultimately it’s up to us to push through and realize our goals, and to help each other realize them. See this guy?

He may have been the victim of a terrible car crash, or maybe an armed assault, and I don’t actually know. But he chose not to let it determine whether or not he would be fit or continue to work out. He chose to overcome. Murphy’s Law is a part of life, and we can learn from challenges, or allow them to beat us down. Anyone can be a cadet if it’s easy. Anyone can be a cadet under ideal conditions.