FORT KNOX, KY. – Gathered around, sitting on wooden planks, Cadets assigned to 1st Regiment, Basic Camp, painted their faces with camouflage as they listened to instructions from Cadre. Cadets were being taught how to move in team and squad sized elements. 

For some Cadets, it was review; they learned this information at their schools, but for Cadet Adriana Anderson, Cameron University, it was all brand-new. 

Anderson just recently decided to join her school’s ROTC program and Basic Camp is her first time doing anything with ROTC. It’s been a bit of a culture shock and she had to adapt to the new environment. Anderson is an independent woman. She is used to doing things on her terms and when she wants to.

“Coming into this environment and someone telling me what to do every single day, every hour, has been my biggest challenge,” she said. 

Anderson was not expecting to experience such a culture shock coming to CST. She worked at Fort Sill, Oklahoma before joining ROTC, so she interacted with Soldiers and felt familiar with the culture of the military. Anderson was a sales representative for the Military Star Card. Once she arrived at CST, Anderson realized she didn’t know as much as she thought.

“You don’t understand what it’s like to be a Soldier unless you walk in these boots,” Anderson said. 

She admits that even still, there’s so much she doesn’t know. It’s not the first time in her life that Anderson has faced uncertainty. Growing up, her father was not around. Her mother remarried when Anderson was 5-years-old and then got divorced again when Anderson was 10-years-old. 

“My childhood was, I wouldn’t say normal,” she said. 

Anderson watched her mother struggle growing up. After her mother got divorced, Anderson went from having her own room to having to share one with her mother.  

“That was a culture shock to me,” she said, “and it made me realize, oh we’re poor.”

Her mother eventually became more stable, which allowed Anderson to play softball and basketball in high school, but her life still lacked discipline and structure in a lot of areas. Anderson’s mother made her go to school and do her homework, but that’s where her mother’s control stopped. It’s part of the reason Anderson wanted to join the Army. She’s seeking the structure and discipline she lacked in her childhood through the Army. 

Each day at Basic Camp, Anderson finds a little more of it through whatever she does. Learning how to quietly move through the woods as team and squad was how she found it today.