Cadet Joe Dullea
The Cornell Review: Hello Joe! Could you please introduce yourself?
Joe: My name is Joe Dullea and I am a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. I am a member of Seal and Serpent, Club Ice Hockey, and Army ROTC. I come from Denver, Colorado.
The Cornell Review: Could you tell me about your experiences last summer?
Joe: The highlight of my summer was U.S Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA. The First week was ground phase, where we learnt to land without breaking anything. This phase consisted of jumping from 3 feet from a mini zipline and rolling, and making sure we could touch the ground without hurting ourselves. There was also a large zip line off a tower 35 feet off the ground to practice exiting an aircraft.
The second week was Tower Phase. In theory we were supposed to use a 250 foot tower to get a realistic simulation of jumping out of the airplane, but this did not happen. The instructors hate using the tower as it takes a long time to set up and get everyone through. Most classes, including mine instead used a swinging harness where we would be swinging 4 feet off the ground and would randomly get dropped. We would be told in the orientation we would have to land, but had no idea when we would be dropped when swinging.
The third week, or jump phase consisted of jumping out of airplanes.
The Cornell Review: What was it like socially at Airborne School?
Joe: Everyone understood why we were in Georgia, in the heat. We held each other accountable. While the instructors were fine, they were not like instructors at Cornell. They were strict and did not care about your feelings. If you did something stupid or dangerous they would destroy you, but if you did something harmless they would mess with you. Some of the cadets in my class had attitude problems and got chewed out by the enlisted classmates.
Training days varied, the shortest was 6AM to noon and longest until 5PM. After the day was over, we could do whatever we wanted to have fun, some people had cars or you could get a Uber and I would sometimes go to the nearby mall and watch a movie. One rule that was very strict was no alcohol, even for the over 21 folks.. We had accountability formations at 7AM and 8PM on weekends, to make sure nobody died or anything like that.
The Cornell Review: Who were your classmates?
Joe: Everyone was from the U.S Army except a few Marines and Midshipmen, but others would have foreign students. There were enlisted, cadets, and officers.
The Cornell Review: What was it like being classmates with those you will later go on to lead?
Joe: Freshman year, I went to Air Assault School which was similar. The biggest takeaway from both experiences was that while in theory I would lead the enlisted, they would teach us officers a lot. My NCO’s [Non-Commissioned Officers] will have a ton of experience. So we can’t act cocky towards them
The Cornell Review: How would you compare your experience to, say a Civilian internship?
Joe: I’ve never done an internship so can’t compare. In terms of my Army career, it has checked off a box that would normally go unchecked or be a pain in the butt to check.
The Cornell Review: Do you have any funny stories from your time in Airborne School?
Joe: As long as you do 5 jumps you pass, even if you die on your last one they will pin the badge onto your coffin. One of my classmates had trouble putting his knees and ankles together, which you need to do as it doubles the strength of your legs. On his second to last jump, he broke both ankles and didn’t pass.
