Sgt. 1st Class (ret.) Wes Gilleon, at top, looks down from the Lawrence Jacobsen Regional Fire Training Center tower Friday as Douglas High School cadet Harley Smith rappels down.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
The center, which offers a 60-foot concrete burn building to simulate rescue and firefighting scenarios for rescue workers near the Carson City Fire Department’s Station 52 on College Parkway, gave the cadets a chance to determine their own resolve in taking the plunge.
Students on Friday from Douglas, Galena and Incline high schools strapped up with the proper harness and belay devices, receiving help from a few certified JROTC instructors, according to Douglas High JROTC instructor and retired Col. Mike Glynn. Certification for instructors requires a daylong training, Glynn said.
For students, the chance to try their hand at rappelling was part of a week called the JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge for most of Northern Nevada’s school programs, Glynn said. The round-robin series had Douglas students going to Fallon before Friday to complete land navigation exercises, water survival training in which they made life preservers from their own pants, jettisoning equipment and using other skills. Friday’s opportunity to rappel at the training center was considered the “Super Bowl” of the week, Glynn said.
Douglas cadets Clay Newmyer, senior, Erik Harsh, senior, and Jenessa Hernandez, junior, said it was a “blast” and “terrifying” to take that first step onto the ledge before going down.
“I was really excited to do it,” Hernandez said. “You just have to get going.”
Newmyer, who already has enlisted in the military after he graduates, wound up experiencing some cramping during one of his jumps, with Glynn advising him to hydrate himself to alleviate any muscle tension.
“It was off the ledge, but it’s truly fun,” he said, speaking well of the program.
Hernandez also plans to enlist.
Harsh wants to go to college when he finishes and said the program has served him well.
“I feel I’ve made a lot of friends out of this,” Harsh said. “I have a hard time making friends and I’ve just really found this group and basically found family.”
