When a Black Hawk helicopter turns, the 45-degree angle makes you feel like you’re going to fall out of the open door and into the trees.
Even when strapped into a harness with four buckles, when that helicopter takes off you can’t help but be a little bit afraid — especially if it’s your first time.
Cadets in UF’s ROTC program were able to get away from campus life and experience a flight in a Black Hawk, participate in a Zodiac-boat race and use night-vision goggles at a biyearly Field Training Exercise event Saturday at Camp Blanding. Sixty-eight UF cadets and 37 University of North Florida cadets rode in the helicopters.
Jordan Rosales, a UF ROTC cadet corporal, said the first time riding on a Black Hawk is like an insane roller coaster.
“I’m actually very scared of heights,” he said.
The helicopter flew over Camp Blanding, a Florida National Guard facility about six miles east of Starke.
When it reached the drop-off point, a commander yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” and the cadets scrambled to unbuckle, jumped out of the helicopter and hit the dirt.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Luis Heredia, the pilot of one of the two helicopters used, said that part of the exercise was to train the cadets to get down quickly because in combat they could be fired at any moment.
Lt. Col. Bob Quint, who recruits students into the ROTC program, watched the cadets while they were briefed on how to enter and exit the helicopter — the same helicopters used in the mountains of Afghanistan.
He said he remembers the name of almost every cadet he’s recruited. He remembers their families and what high school they went to, and he tells them he’s proud of them. They come to him with problems ranging from grades to dating, and he listens.
Quint knows that within a year of graduation, almost every cadet he’s recruited who go on active duty will be in combat. They know that, too.
“As far as fears go, I’m not afraid of death really,” Nicole Drummond, a 23-year-old cadet said.
She said she’s afraid of spiders, though. She found one on her this weekend and had to break formation to get it off.
She said in a quiet voice that she knows how to shoot pistols and M16 rifles.
Like most mothers, her mother is worried. She doesn’t want her daughter to be in danger. Her mother is supportive, though, and said that nothing can stop her daughter except for a rogue spider.
Her father was in the Air Force, and she rode in a helicopter for the first time when she was 3 years old. She said she wants to go into aviation. She finds flying exciting, and it drives her.
Quint admires his cadets for willingly entering an ROTC program while the country is fighting two wars. He said he hopes the recruits can still enjoy themselves while they are students.
