Everyone has their own reason behind joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), and many of them are different from others. However, there is one reason that stands out more than the rest — faith.

Cadet G’anna Ezell, assigned to 2nd Regiment Advanced Camp from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, joined ROTC not only because she wanted to better herself and share her leadership qualities with others, but also because she thinks that the best way to share the love of Christ is through not just her words, but through her actions and by serving her country.

“Faith is a really big thing for me,” Ezell said. “My faith plays a really big role in why I joined ROTC, as well as why I am still here today.”

But her faith plays other roles in her ambition to prosper during Cadet Summer Training (CST) at Fort Knox.

At Baylor University, a Christian college, religion is very embedded into their battalion, according to Ezell, and she would often find herself praying in the morning while performing planks. 

“That just gives me the strength to know that I am not alone,” Ezell said. “Even if physically I am by myself, I know [that] spiritually, God is always with me.” 

Ezell’s faith not only pushed and encouraged her into joining ROTC, but it also helped her combat all of the challenges that ROTC has thrown at her.

“It helps me get through the exercises — the tactical [and] the mental,”  Ezell said. “Waking up at 2:00 in the morning can be tiring sometimes, but I wake up and I get to pray. That helps me.”

Having been equally excited and anxious before arriving at Fort Knox for CST, Ezell’s nerves have settled as she prepares to show what she has learned over the last four years. But in order to challenge any nerves or anxiety that arises, Ezell tells herself one thing.

“My motto is ‘the only way to do it is to go through it.’ So, I talk to people, try to laugh and pray about it,” she said.

It is reassuring to Ezell knowing that she is not the first person to be in this position as a Cadet, nor will she be the last. But although she is nervous about upcoming events, such as the Confidence Course, an obstacle course meant to challenge the Cadets into overcoming their fears and inspire more trust in their abilities, being surrounded by peers that share the same faith as her inspires motivation in Ezell and her comrades.

With the hope of one day becoming a JAG officer, a licensed attorney who serves as a commissioned military officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of Armed Forces, after commissioning and becoming an active duty soldier, a long-time dream of hers, Ezell is grateful for the opportunity her faith has led her towards.

“I am trying to seize the moment and do as best I can through all my events and through everything here,” Ezell said. “Prayer helps a lot.”