FORT KNOX, KY. – Laborious breaths, footsteps and the occasional chatter broke through the silence in the still of the night as 3rd Regiment Advanced Camp Cadets passed by. They stepped off on their six-mile ruck march at 5 a.m. from Smith Fitness Center and finished near Steeles Range. Cadets walked at their own pace, but still needed to complete the ruck within two hours in order to meet the standard. 

Some Cadets had higher expectations for themselves. They were striving to finish the ruck in under 90 minutes to meet the RECONDO standard. The RECONDO badge is earned for a superior performance during Advanced Camp. Each event the Cadets are graded on has its own RECONDO standard. 

Finishing in about 85 minutes, Cadet Sarah Greening, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, met that standard for today’s event, but she did not step off with the intent of meeting the RECONDO standard. She did not think she would be able to do that. Even during the ruck, she had no idea she was on her way to meeting the higher standard. Greening thought that she was walking a 16-minute mile pace. She didn’t know she met the standard, or even close to meeting it, until she crossed the finish line. 

“I was actually a little surprised,” Greening said.

Most people probably wouldn’t think rucking six miles, especially in the heat and humidity so early in the morning, would be fun, but Greening did. She walked with one of her friends and they talked about their favorite books, explaining the plots to each other. 

“It made it fly by,” Greening said.

By talking about her favorite books, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Running Dream”, Greening was able to distract herself from what she was actually doing. She wasn’t thinking about the pain or how much further she had to go. 

“The storytelling made it easier to not focus and then go fast,” Greening said.

Greening seems to have an affinity for paper with her love of books and also, paperwork. Once she commissions, she wants to branch into logistics. 

“I love excel and I love paperwork,” Greening said. 

Branching into logistics is something that she is very passionate about. She loves to organize things, taking something that’s a mess and sorting it out.  

“A little nerdy,” Greening said, “but I love it.”

Once the ruck was completed, it was another short walk to the range Cadets would fire on. Keeping all their gear on, Cadets submerged their arms in ice coolers to cool themselves down before heading onto the firing line. Cadre were yelling at Cadets to further elevate the level of stress in the event. Greening was not very bothered by it all though. She was more stressed at the qualifying range than the range after the ruck. 

“This was an official stress shoot,” she said. “The other one (qualifying) is just shooting, but I’m still equally stressed.”

She was more stressed at the qualifying range because she felt like it mattered more. She wasn’t being graded on how well she shot after the ruck like she was at the qualifying range.

“There’s a lot more riding on it,” she said.

It was supposed to be a stressful shooting environment, but Greening had fun. She had never done an exercise like it before and valued the fact that she had a chance to experience something like it.

“It’s something new,” she said. “It’s something pretty fun.”