I thought the Wednesday of Sept. 23 was going to be a blast because I was ECA from school. I wasn’t thinking about the tower that I was to rappel from that same day.

I’ve always been scared of heights, and I missed school only to be terrified beyond belief.

Being enrolled in the JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps) program, I signed up for the summer leadership camp.

The camp was the best thing ever, up until the rappel course.

I had tried to calm my fear by telling myself that it wasn’t going to be the 40-ft. tower that we had passed on the way to the combat conditioning course. After the one and a half  hour drive from here to Ft. Sill I had my hopes to the roof, but after a turn around a corner, my hope crashed below sea level.

We unloaded the buses, and I got to see the tower in all its terrifying glory. The instructors went through the instructions, and all I could think about was that tower. We all put on the safety harnesses and moved over to the training wall. It was only about 14 ft. high. The feeling of hanging off a cliff had my legs shaking.

I started thinking about the worst outcomes. Once I looked over my shoulder and saw the belay, I started to calm down. The belay stands on the bottom of the wall and holds the rope. They pull down on the rope in case you start to fall, stopping you.

We moved on to a rope swing and that didn’t worry me, but the tower standing behind it did. We moved on to the halfway mark of the course, the bottom of the looming tower.

The thing reminded me of a siege tower from the crusades, frame made of wood, staircases that lead to different stories. The sergeants answered the questions of the waiting cadets. Then came my turn to climb the tower. The way up consisted of a 40-ft. wood plank ladder that leaned against the tower. The worst thing to do was to look down.

At the top stood a sergeant in charge of another rope swing and three rappel instructors.

After completing the swing, I continued to the rappel station, legs nervously shaking. There were two cadets in front of me before it was my turn to rappel down the wall.

My turn shortly approached, and I started to go through the steps. The last one on top of the wall was to look over and shout that you were starting.

I looked down at the people that had completed their turns and heard some cheers coming from the group.

I started my descent down the wall, shaking with fear. I then remembered someone was down there to save me if I were to fall, and I started to calm down. Next thing I knew I was on the ground, relieved that it was over.