It’s 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. The February sun has not yet risen, and heavy twilight still presses on the windows of McCarthy gym at St. Thomas.

A group of students clad in white Air Force T-shirts with blue runner’s shorts is gathering in the main atrium, just as they do each Wednesday and Friday morning. They are Air Force cadets, enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of St. Thomas, and this is physical training.

PT begins with a jog as the cadets separate into squadrons running laps in loose formation.
The workout runs for 90 minutes, leaving some cadets breathing hard and struggling against the desire to collapse and rest. But as they falter, others are there to catch them and help them forward.

“Let’s go, Detachment 410!” one of the girls shouts. Another whoops wordlessly.

Detachment 410 has about 90 cadets, most of them St. Thomas students. Each is training to become a leader in the Air Force but also has a different position in the organization. The Cadet Wing Commander Zach Mertes, for example, is the leader of the detachment, and as a senior in college, he is responsible for managing the other cadets and directing each semester’s training. Below him is the Vice Wing Commander, with the three Group Commanders following that, and the squadron and flight levels of leadership below them. A cadet is placed at each level, and they are responsible for everything from running social media to planning the annual military ball.

Everyone, however, participates in the rigorous PT.

Even in this environment, their spirits do not fail them. They joke and they smile, and two cadets even pass the lyrics of the Backstreet Boys song “I Want It That Way” back and forth. They act as a unit, but some individuality shines through. From the middle of the atrium, comes another encouraging cry.

“Nice job everybody, keep it up!”

The source is 21-year-old Bryjett Nordmark, a young woman with bright blonde hair. She sits closer toward the center than the others. This morning, Nordmark is helping lead PT, but she participates with the same fervor as anyone else.

For many American citizens, the experience of the soldier is a path most people will not take. The line between soldier and civilian represent two different spheres of existence.

For a ROTC student, these lines are blurred. They exist as both soldier and civilian, student and officer. Nordmark and the other ROTC students train as soldiers for three days each week, while still going to regular classes as a student.

This commitment pays off at graduation, when they will each receive a commission as an officer in the Air Force; before that, though, they need to earn a college degree, just like any other St. Thomas student.

It’s true that cadets, as soldiers, are generally more disciplined, but Bryjett Nordmark is quick to point out that she is like any other student.

“I feel like I can relate to (anyone) in pretty much every aspect of my life besides the 20 hours a week I dedicate to ROTC,” she said.

Other than being active as an ROTC cadet, Nordmark is also a regular member of the St. Thomas Aquinas Scholars. Just like other students, however, she shares a dorm room with three other girls, all civilians and all good friends. They still find the time to enjoy each other’s company.

“I think a lot of the time when I meet someone and they see me in uniform, they think of me as someone that’s always serious and very stoic … someone that doesn’t really have the same experience that they do as they go through college,” Nordmark said. “I think that’s completely false.”

But still, the uniform does make a difference. On Monday mornings, Cadet Nordmark wears her camouflaged airman battle uniform to class. On these mornings, her demeanor is different. She now walks straight-backed and solid, with her eyes positioned straight ahead following proper military etiquette. The cadets themselves only greet each other in passing with the briefest of salutes.

Students stride past her as she waits at the crosswalk, rushing across the street at their first chance. Nordmark waits for the light to change.

Capt. Andrea Franzen is the recruiting flight commander for Detachment 410. As one of the commissioned officers of the St. Thomas program, she is largely responsible for the recruiting of new cadets and managing the incoming members. She also acts in a supervisory role for all levels of cadet leadership, though she prefers to let students learn by experience.

“In the ROTC program, one of the things that’s really cool is that the cadets are doing everything,” Franzen says. “We really are here to just supervise.”

Capt. Franzen herself was a ROTC student back in 2007, when she graduated from the very same St. Thomas program. Franzen describes the position as “very rewarding.” In her current position, she is able to contribute to the same mission that she was once a part of, a mission dating back to 1948 when St. Thomas was a military college.

“Overall, our mission is for our students to get their degrees and to learn basic leadership, and that really doesn’t change from year to year, or even decade to decade,” Franzen said.

Bryjett Nordmark, now a junior cadet, is carrying on the tradition and likely has another two years to go. Many of the cadets go on to be fifth-year seniors to meet the requirements asked of following two paths at once. Within the organization, Nordmark has left behind her green years and is now moving towards the maturity of full leadership.

At Leadership Lab, a two-hour weekly military education course on Monday night, she helps the newer cadets learn drill and formation.

As one of the students falls, Nordmark is quick to respond.

“Is anyone gonna help her?” Nordmark yells, getting right in their faces. “Or is everyone just gonna stand there? Let’s go! Be a good team member!”

This is another side to Cadet Nordmark. When she wants to, she can be imposing. But she is quick to point out that she does this only to help them learn, to prepare them for future training elsewhere, which will easily be just as stressful.

As a junior cadet, Nordmark is still waiting to receive her assignment. Like any student, her future is not entirely certain, but she does have plans.

“My dream right now is to take the LSAT this summer and then apply to law schools in the fall, and then hopefully receive an educational delay from the Air Force so that I can attend law school and become a JAG,” or judge advocate general, Nordmark said.

A judge advocate general is a military lawyer whose job is to represent the organization in legal cases. It is a prestigious role to play, but Nordmark seems to have few worries.

“If the needs of the Air Force differ from what I want, then I’m fine with whatever the Air Force gives me, because I just love everything that they have to offer,” she said.

The concept of selfless service is common when speaking with cadets. As they learn and train, the service itself begins to mean more to them than the position they receive. While many serve for the minimum requirement of four years, some will serve for much longer, and a few may go on to devote their entire lives to the Air Force.

It isn’t clear yet what the future will bring for Cadet Nordmark. But she is following the footsteps of many who have come before her stretching back to before 1948. For Nordmark, there is certainty in that purpose.

She is already looking forward to her role in the next generation and to see the legacy carried on in her sister, an upcoming ROTC recruit.

“I’m excited after I commission to watch my legacy at DET 410 through my sister,” Nordmark said with a smile. “I really hope that she takes all the opportunities that ROTC will give her to become a better person and to become a better officer.”

Joe Molohon can be reached at molo6474@stthomas.edu