FORT KNOX, KY. – From the beginning of the day to the end of the night, getting a go or a no-go, succeeding or failing, everything starts and ends. Cadets assigned to 10th Regiment, Advanced Camp reminded themselves of that as they prepared to enter the confidence chamber. 

The confidence chamber is an event that many Cadets dread. They spend the morning learning and being tested on how to properly don mission-oriented protective posture gear. Then, they are pulled in groups to go into the chamber, already filled with CS gas. Cadets spend approximately 5 minutes in the chamber, testing their gear. They are told to rotate their heads, run in place, remove their mask and reseal it, all to learn to trust in their equipment. Finally, Cadets completely remove their mask and breathe in the CS gas-filled air before the door to the chamber opens and they rush outside. The body reacts similarly to CS gas as it does to tear gas. 

Cadet James Jeffers, Virginia Military Institute, spent the morning feeling nervous about going into the gas chamber, but then he understood that there was no point in worrying. 

“I just realized, it’s going to end,” he said. “It’s going to start and it’s going to end.” 

Throughout CST, he’s continued to remind himself of that. When they had to spend all day long on the range, Jeffers couldn’t wait to get off the range and get out of the heat. He just reminded himself that just as the day started, it would end. Eventually, they would leave the range. 

Cadet Erionna Jarvis, Alcorn State University, was also nervous for most of the morning, but not for the gas chamber, she was actually excited for that part. She was nervous about the testing. 

“Nerves are good things,” she said. “If you’re not nervous, it shows that you’re not really serious about it.”

Instead of letting the nerves consume her, Jarvis focused on her training. She went to Basic Camp last summer and learned the basics of what she was being tested on. She focused on the fact that the testing would eventually be over and the nerves would pass, whether she received a go or a no-go.

Like his fellow Cadets, Spencer Rusymiak, Clarkson University, spent the morning feeling anxious. Taking his mask off in the gas chamber was what he was worrying about, but learning all morning distracted him from those nerves. 

Beginnings and ends are nothing new to Rusymiak. He dreamed of going to West Point, but that dream concluded when he was medically disqualified. Rusymiak had asthma as a child and was born with a heart murmur. 

“It (the heart murmur) closed in two weeks,” he said, “but it followed me for 20 years.”

Rusymiak did not let the rejection from West Point and his past medical conditions end his dreams of being in the Army. He’s received a medical waiver for the two health issues and is now fine to serve. 

One Cadet was not nervous about anything they were facing in the morning. Cadet Ashanti Quick, University of Alabama, felt confident about the testing and excited for the gas chamber. 

“I’ve been really hyped up about the gas chamber,” Quick said. 

She didn’t feel like she was facing any starts or ends that morning, but in her life, she’s experienced many. The end of her grandmothers’ lives were hard for Quick to cope with. They both were very important to her and inspired her. 

“Once I lost them,” she said, “it felt like my motivation was gone.”

Her mom’s mom passed away around 2022, her dad’s mom passed away around 2015. By then, Quick had already faced tragedy. On April 27, 2011 an EF4 tornado came through her town, Alberta, Alabama. It was part of the 2011 Super Outbreak of tornados that tore through the country. Today, it remains the largest and deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States. 

“It was just a whole bunch of tornadoes that ripped through down south,” Quick said.

Quick and her family were not spared from the damage it brought. The tornado caused enough damage to their home that it was uninhabitable, leaving them homeless. When her family walked outside after the storm passed, all the houses in sight were completely destroyed. It was the end of her neighborhood. It was the end of life as she knew it.

“It was tough,” Quick said, “but it made me who I am today.”

Starting to rebuild their lives, Quick’s family moved in with their grandmother, her mom’s mom. Eventually, her family began to financially recover and bought a house in Tuscaloosa. Quick joined JROTC in high school, starting her career in the Army. 

There’s one beginning and end Jeffers, Jarvis, Rusymiak and Quick all have to face: the start and finish of CST. It’s something they are all looking forward to. They all began Camp together and now can’t wait until the end.