Photo By Staff Sgt. Micah VanDyke | First Lt. Christie Plackis, the fourth female diver in the history of the Army, who...... read more read more
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by Sgt. Micah VanDyke
SHUAIBA PORT, Kuwait – She walked into tryouts and quite simply stood out; she was the only female competitor. The male soldiers sized each other up wondering who would survive. They assumed she didn’t stand a chance at swimming 20 laps, 500 meters, in under the required 14 minutes, let alone finishing in roughly nine. She blew them away by continuing the competition and dominating the other four events as she swam lap for lap against the men.
“They were making comments, some looked terrified,” she said. “After I beat one guy during the swim, he turned to me and said, ‘I didn’t expect you to be so fast since you’re a woman. I just knew he was implying ‘it was nice of you to show up but I know you’re not going to make it.”
Because she survived the swim portion of the Diver Physical Fitness Test, 1st Lt. Christie Plackis, the executive officer assigned to the 74th Engineer Dive Detachment and deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., she’s no longer just fan of the dive field; she’s the only female diver in the Army today.
She combined her love of water and need for a challenge to become the fourth female since 1982 to break into the male dominated career field of Army diving.
This athletic young woman relentlessly pursued her dream of diving while displaying the same "grit and grind" characteristics shown by Demi Moore on the big screen.
“I thought it was going to be like the movie ‘G.I. Jane,’ that was going to be me,” said Plackis.
At 8-years-old she swam competitively, little did she know that this would prepare her for her true destiny of being an Army diver. Her competitive nature persisted throughout her high school years while she savored her time on the swim team.
“After a hard day at school, swimming was my release and the atmosphere fueled my motivation,” she said.
This connection with water remained constant during her college years while she coached and worked as a lifeguard. This kept her in peak physical shape for the challenges to come.
In 2007, as a cadet in Army ROTC at San Diego State University, she learned from a fellow alumnus, who also became a dive officer, about how to become a diver and that it was open to females. At the time, many in the dive field felt that females didn’t belong.
“This is what I’m going to do,” stated Plackis with confidence. “I don’t care that the numbers are against me or that I’m the only female.”
During her officer training she’d ask anyone who mentioned diving to talk about it. More often than not, the responses weren’t pleasant.
“I was so excited to be a diver that I asked an instructor questions about the dive field,” said Plackis. “When I told him I wanted to become a diver, he responded by saying, ‘nope, you’re too small and weak.”
This sort of response was all too familiar to the resilient young woman. She let it roll off, like water off a ducks back.
“There were a lot of haters, I had to step back and remind myself that they don’t even know me,” she said. “It just fueled the fire to train harder. It made me angry but determined. It motivated me.”
Every evening after long grueling days spent becoming an engineer officer, she continued swimming until the day of tryouts. In diving, being prepared mentally and physically is the only way to have a fighting chance of making the cut.
The Dive Officer Selection Board, consisting of leadership from the Army engineer dive field, interviewed Plackis after she completed her fitness test. They had the final say on whether she continued her training.
“It’s pretty cool, she was gung-ho, ready to duke it out with the guys straight off the bat,” said Spc. Dagan Indeck, a second-class diver who trained with her and now serves beside her in the 74th EDD. “She’s not held to a different standard, she passed the same physical fitness test for divers, male or female.”
After surviving three physically intense weeks of training during phase-one dive school at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., she spent six months devouring each and every aspect of Army diving during phase two at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, Panama City, Fla.
Many females find pull-ups extremely challenging due to the upper body strength required for this exercise.
“I liked PT, but it was always one of those morale killers for me, everyone else always finished before me,” said Plackis, who recalled those strenuous physical fitness routines consisting of 100 pullups, 500 pushups and other extreme exercises.
Army and Navy divers train together during dive school. One of her classmates, a Navy diver, who had traditional views regarding who should be there, pulled her aside before he graduated and said something unexpected.
“I don’t know how to tell you, I have a lot of respect for you,” said this diver, who in her opinion was always her biggest critic. “You worked so hard on your pushups and pullups after duty hours. During the toughest times, watching you made us say, ‘How can we quit? If she can do it, we can too.”
“I was so encouraged. I realized in dive school that my presence, my existence, makes people better,” said Plackis. “Just the fact that I am there and not quitting, meant they weren’t going to quit.”
“I went there to meet the standard, I didn’t go there to do less,” she added.
This can-do, exceptional attitude earned her the respect of not only the dive instructors, but one in particular who currently serves as the master diver in her unit.
“In the past, women weren’t typically allowed or didn’t make it through dive school, most failed the pull-ups,” said Master Diver Sgt. 1st Class Michael Randall. “Not with her, I was there when she first started and throughout her training there was no question that she would finish, she definitely wasn’t pushed through.”
She not only proved herself to the male divers, she brought a spiritual connection that burned like the sun.
“I gave it 110 percent, but something could’ve gone wrong and I could’ve not been picked,” said Plackis who used her faith to pick herself up in those times filled with doubt. “The biggest thing is how much a role God played in my life by giving me the motivation to train up as hard as I did; He got me through every step of the way.”
By channeling her love of swimming, personal courage and spiritual beliefs, she’s succeeded where others have failed and solidified her place in woman’s history. Being the fourth woman to carry the torch, she’s overcome many physical and mental challenges, even when some questioned her place in the diving world.
“It was all worth it, the uncertainties; the hard work,” she concluded. “I learned the true meaning of the saying, ‘when you set your mind to something, anything is possible.”
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2013 17:26 |
| Story ID: | 106444 |
| Location: | SHUAIBA PORT, KW |
| Web Views: | 1,402 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Female diver makes waves in history, by SSG Micah VanDyke, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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