From ‘Girly Girl’ to Army ROTC Woman

By Taylor Gatling

Fantasia Parker, who always thought of herself as a “girly girl,” never thought she would join Army ROTC.  But in the first semester of her junior year at Saint Augustine’s College she became an Army woman.

Growing up in Plainfield, New Jersey and going to a public high school, she always had an idea of what ROTC was but never was really interested.  She did more typical high school girl things like being on the cheerleading squad for both the football and basketball seasons.  She was a very popular student with a lot of school pride.

When she came to Saint Augustine’s College in the spring of 2008, she had no intention of doing anything out of the ordinary; she just wanted to be a full-time college student.  But soon she realized that just going to class wasn’t enough.  She wanted to get more involved.

So Fantasia decided to join the Army ROTC and hasn’t looked back since. She was interested in the lifestyle of the cadets and heard that the benefits were awesome.

ROTC has affected her life in a very positive way. For instance, she is a much more motivated person and is now even a morning person.  That’s thanks to physical training (PT), which requires her to get up at 5 in the morning four times a week.

Even her physical fitness has changed. She often worked out a lot before ROTC, but she’s now found out she was exercising incorrectly. Once she was taught the correct way it became very challenging for her.

Much about ROTC is tough for Fantasia, but her fellow cadets give her the positive motivation she needs to keep going.

 “If I wasn’t in ROTC I think I’d be living an unsupervised college life freely and irresponsible like before,” she said.

Fantasia plans on going into the Army once she graduates. She would like to work in the medical fields as a ranked officer.  She says going to the Army with a college degree gives people a higher rank than someone without a degree.  And she plans to complete a summer program that will make her eligible for a scholarship.

When she puts on her uniform, she is treated with more respect. A lot of people she knows are surprised about her Army choices but they show her the upmost respect. People on the streets randomly start conversations and she loves that.

She said she believes that since she has joined ROTC, she has learned so much more and has a whole new respect for the men and women who serve our country.

Fantasia went to ROTC not having a clue what to expect and she took a huge chance. But at the end of the day she thinks it was the right choice and she has no regrets.