FORT KNOX, Ky. — Whether it is disastrous weather conditions, nerves about the unknown or even stress, every Cadet that enters Fort Knox for Cadet Summer Training is prepared to fight past any challenges that they encounter.

During the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) training exercise, which is meant to increase the Cadets’ confidence in their equipment during a potential CBRN attack, the nerves of Cadets assigned to Delta Company, 3rd Regiment, Advanced Camp, were heightened.

However, each and every one of them had something that pushed them forward — past their anxiety about what waited for them within the gas chamber.

“[I am] a little nervous,” said Cadet Noah Spessard, assigned to 3rd Regiment from Mankato State University. “Because I have not done it. Yeah, I have seen a lot of pictures you guys have taken, and that makes me nervous.”

But despite his nerves, Spessard looked at the challenge from a different perspective.

“Just go in with confidence and see what happens at the end,” he said.

Other Cadets, such as Jackson Capra, assigned to 3rd Regiment from The Ohio State University, had a similar mindset.

“[You] just have to push through the worst parts, and [you] just [have] got to keep a strong mental state,” Capra said. “CBRN is one of those things where there is nothing to it but to do it. You just [have] got to go in there knowing that everybody else is going through the same thing as you, and [to] keep pushing.”

But going in with a confident mindset does not always work with everyone.

Cadet Dajana Prince, assigned to 3rd Regiment from Virginia State University, faced her own kind of challenges in 2020, when she chose to enlist — not entirely out of choice, but because of necessity.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many jobs were not hiring after Prince graduated. The United States Army, however, was the exception.

Enlisting during the COVID-19 pandemic came with challenges of its own, such as having to constantly wear face masks during training and staying an additional two weeks at a time for quarantine, also known as the “Yellow Phase.”

Having served for six years before joining the Green to Gold program, Prince felt as though she had more of a purpose to inspire soldiers at a different level, and wanted to test her abilities.

But the challenges she faced then are different from the ones she plans to face at CST — but despite that, Prince has her own methods to fight back against those challenges as they appear.

“I psych myself out,” she said. “If I laugh my way through this, it will be fine. So, I psych myself out, and tell myself that I am having fun.”

However, other Cadets have found that their community, and the friends they have made during their time here, is what pushes them to go beyond the challenges that CST brings with it.

“Just being in this big group environment, it has really helped a lot,” said Cadet Aaron Sackett, assigned to 3rd Regiment from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Because it is not just one person going through this — all of us are.”

Cadet Stella Weiss, assigned to 3rd Regiment from Michigan State University, shared similar beliefs.

“Friendship is really important to me, and I think that is how I get through most of these things,” she said. “It is like building relationships and camaraderie with other people, since we are all facing the same challenges.”

Each Cadet has a different way to push through the challenges thrown at them. But at the end of the day, all of the Cadets that have arrived for CST have two key things in common: their desire to fight for their country, and their ability to not only prosper, but grow through adversity.