Amanda Turcotte wakes up for a 12-mile ruck march at Onondaga Lake at 3 a.m. She doesn’t get back to her dorm until around 7:30 a.m. After removing her weighted backpack, she hops in the shower to get ready for class like any other college student, which she is, except for when she attends ROTC classes.
Outside of ROTC, Turcotte, a Syracuse University freshman, is also a member of Delta Delta Delta and the Syracuse University cheerleading team, which she’s fit into her schedule alongside her other commitments. Given that cheerleading practices are typically at night, Turcotte can commit her mornings to the Army, she said.
Saoirse O’Leary, a member of ROTC, could’ve chosen to be like any other freshman, but joining the ROTC program was non-negotiable for her. Being raised by a father who was in the Marine Corps, honoring her familial roots was why she joined.
At first, O’Leary felt like an outsider as an ROTC participant, especially because her roommate and many of her friends weren’t in the program. The summer before joining the program, freshmen military students, or MS1’s, were put into groups. Eventually they began DM’ing each other on Instagram to get familiar with one another, O’Leary said. So far, O’Leary said it’s worked.