Photo By Spc. Annie Riley | U.S. Army ROTC Cadet Elizabeth Ann Burke begins to rappel down a tower while...... read more read more
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U.S. Army ROTC Cadet Elizabeth Ann Burke, a Pennsylvania State University student and a native of Reston, Virginia, is pursuing an Army career in nursing despite being a member of a mostly Navy family.
“I just wanted to open that door for myself even with just applying for the Army scholarship, I knew I wanted to join at that point when I applied,” said Burke. “Even if I wasn’t sure, even before I applied, I just wanted to apply anyways to have a great opportunity.”
Burke joined the military because she was inspired by her father who went to the U.S. Naval Academy and by her brother who does Navy ROTC at the University of Maryland. Seeing first-hand the positive experiences and opportunities her father was able to come by influenced her to pursue a military career. Eventually, Burke joined the Army because it just felt right.
“My dad never forced me to join the military he always told me I could go my own path and I didn’t have to join the Navy if I didn’t want to,” she said. “I was just able to see growing up the positive impact being in the military had on him and the amazing experiences and opportunity’s he was able to have because of it.”
She says that her current training is going well, which has allowed her to make large jumps in her leadership abilities and capabilities. She believes that once she begins her military career, she will be ready.
“My training in the present is definitely great, because I’m able to make connections with people, learn my leadership style and also learn what to do in high-risk situations and how to act in low-risk situations,” Burke claims. “Once I get to those high-risk situations as an officer I’ll be prepared.”
She says as a freshman she’s experienced significant change in her leadership abilities in such a small amount of time and believes that she’ll be prepared once she graduates.
“I joined our THON organization, which is our fund-raising club for pediatric cancer, so I was a part of that for a semester and I’ve just been working hard to get good grades because being in nursing school is very difficult,” she said. “I’ve just been focusing on that as much as possible, looking out for my battle buddies and just being a good cadet.”
Burke was participating in leadership training along with other students at Fort Indiantown Gap, April 8, 2022, in a joint operation with multiple ROTC college programs.
“This semester I want to focus on just being a good cadet. I’m not a squad leader or a team leader, I don’t have a position, so I want to be a good teammate to everyone. I think my goal for next year is to get as prepared as possible.”
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2022 15:24 |
| Story ID: | 418205 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | RESTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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