FORT KNOX, Ky. ─ Cadets assigned to 9th Regiment, Advanced Camp, glanced up the hill, their eyes scouring the terrain for the enemy soldiers as they participated in the Grizzly phase of the field training exercise during Cadet Summer Training on Fort Knox, Ky., Aug. 6, 2025.

The Grizzly phase requires Cadets to utilize all the knowledge they have acquired at CST during simulated missions over the course of nine days.

Cadet Valeria Ocasio Torruellas, Puerto Rico University, has enjoyed every moment of her time at CST.

“This is the only experience I’m going to have in my life to do all this kind of stuff,” Ocasio Torruellas said. “I’m just going to enjoy it, have fun in the meantime and experience new things.”

Ocasio Torruellas dreams of becoming a teacher, teaching English to Spanish-speaking students in Puerto Rico. She was inspired to pursue TESOL after going to an English-speaking school that had students unable to understand the course content due to language barriers.

“I started seeing people go to my school at 10th grade and not know any English,” she said. “They were struggling with classes, and I would help them out. I think the Army will get me the requirements needed to work in a federal school.”

She originally planned on enlisting after graduating with her bachelor’s degree, but after attending an orientation at her school, she decided it would be more beneficial to join ROTC.

Her family was initially against her joining, but now they couldn’t be prouder of how much she is accomplishing.

“When I first told him, he was proud of everything but at the same time, he was like ‘are you sure you want to do it?’,” Ocasio Torruellas said. “My dads in the military, so he knows all the benefits there are to joining, but at the same time, I’m the baby, so he didn’t want me to go through all this.”

Nearing the end of her time at CST, Ocasio Torruellas has learned a lot from her mistakes and is actively applying the lessons at this FTX.

“I think this just makes us better for the next mission and for the follow-on missions,” she said. “We all learn from our mistakes, that’s why we do after action reviews after each mission.”

During this mission, Cadet Lindsay Tallman, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, performed as the weapons squad leader, leading the team with the larger weapons.

“We conducted a raid in this crazy terrain, but we are training for whenever we are called into battle,” Tallman said. “Taking everything that we’ve learned in the years in ROTC and putting it to practical use, developing our teamwork skills.”

The mission had its challenges, from the steep hills to team placement, but Tallman believes her team will only grow from the experience.

“It took a lot of grit, a lot of teamwork and a lot of trust in our leaders to do everything we did,” she said. “It’s really easy to get upset and frustrated, so keeping yourself motivated is really hard but we can lean on each other so much, it has been the one thing keeping us all together.”

Overcoming each challenge they face, Ocasio Torruellas and Tallman are looking forward the seeing where their team will land, embracing each obstacle as they go.