FORT KNOX, Ky. – Low to the ground, Cadets assigned to Delta Company, 4th Regiment, Advanced Camp, adjusted their weapons as they listened for enemies to advance through thick trees during the Grizzly phase of Field Training Exercise on Fort Knox, Ky., July 13, 2025.

The FTX requires Cadets to utilize everything they have learned throughout Cadet Summer Training as they spend a total of nine days split into three phases, Wolverine, Panther and Grizzly, each increasing in difficulty.

Put through complex combat simulations, Cadets must complete missions and overcome challenges as the days progress, but for Cadet Faith Parks, Appalachian State University, not a day goes by that she is not thinking about her mother. Her mother, a Lt. Col. at Fort Bragg, is the one who inspired her to join.

Parks was 17 when she enlisted into the Army and was sworn in by her mother, who plans to commission her as well.

“Every step I take in her footsteps is a huge thing of pride for me,” Parks said. “Knowing that someone back home knows exactly what I’m going through is comforting because I don’t have to explain, she just gets it.”

Parks believes one of the keys to working as a strong team is patience and understanding.

“Everybody learns differently, everybody executes differently and the mesh of ideas, they (all) clash sometimes,” she said. “We had to figured it out like a trial by fire, but we’ve figured a way through each time.”

At the end of camp, Parks hopes to branch into military intelligence. As a political science major, she is fascinated by human-to-human interactions and how intel is shared.

Cadet Camille Bond, University of Akron, has always wanted to serve others, the only thing that has ever changed is how.

She had once dreamed of becoming a police officer, but after her uncle, a Navy Seal, passed away, she decided she wanted to become the kind of person others could come to in their moments of need.

“He really inspired me to push myself to be better,” Bond said. “That’s what drives me to continue going and be the best I can be for everyone else.”

Fueled by her compassion, Bond keeps herself approachable and open, determined to keep smiling.

“At the end of the day, if anyone needs to talk, I’m always there for them,” she said. “If I had nobody to go to, I would not be like this. So, I’m happy to be there for them like this.”

Determined to be the best comrade she can, Bond ties leadership and patience together.

“If you’re not letting a person understand their ideas and make sure it works and just throwing in all of yours, the patience will go,” she said. “If they have ideas, we need to help them and let them lead.”

Despite being in a grueling exercise meant to test the minds and leadership of her company, Bonds outlook remains unwavering.

“You’re trying to take out the enemy to make sure your team makes it through,” she said. “Keeping that mindset in training as you do in the real Military helps to make sure you are the best you can be for you and your team.”

Influenced by those they hold close, Parks and Bond tread carefully through the woods, each determined to bring their best selves to the team.