ROTC staff cadet captain Brittany Summers triumphs in a male-dominated field

By Nicole C. Corpuz, Staff Writer

About 50 young, sharp and physically fit Army ROTC cadets lined up for their morning physical training, waiting for the commands to be called out. A diminutive young woman stood in front of the group, intimidated by the rows of mostly male cadets. This was her first week as a cadet. With no prior military experience, she had been assigned platoon sergeant, meaning she would be leading the physical training routine. She read the commands off 3-by-5 inch cards, her shaky voice calling out orders.

Fast-forward three years, and the young woman, San Diego State graduate student Brittany Summers, is now an ROTC staff cadet captain, and will receive the commission of second lieutenant when she graduates in May. In a recent interview, Summers described the trials and triumphs of being a young woman in the predominantly male Army ROTC. She said of all her experiences as a cadet, nothing would be as daunting as that initial assignment as platoon sergeant.

“I barely knew what a platoon was except that I had seen the movie, so I knew it was a group of soldiers,” Summers said. “I survived that, and now nothing in my life is going to be as scary.”

Joining ROTC was a bold move for Summers. At the time, she was carrying a little extra weight on her 4-foot-10-inch frame, and it took a little extra grit to visit the recruitment office.

“When I showed up at the door, I was over the army weight standard by at least 20 to 25 pounds,” Summers said. “I showed up and said, ‘Hey, I want to serve my country, can you help me?’ And they said yes.”

The journey has had its share of hurdles for Summers. The physical fitness tests were particularly grueling, but Summers shed the excess pounds to meet the standards.

“There are some people out there who love running,” Summers said. “I am not one of those people. I came in running two miles in 25 minutes, and the cut off for my age was 18 minutes. It took a lot of effort and a lot of crying and a lot of failed tests for me to get there.”

Summers mentioned a few drawbacks to being a woman in the ROTC.

“The men are absolutely fantastic mentors,” Summers said. “I wouldn’t trade them. But … there are less people to go to about certain things when you are female.”

“I’m really lucky,” she added, “because when I came in, I had a fantastic female role model in our cadet battalion commander.”

She was referring to Christie Plackis, an SDSU graduate who was ranked the No. 1 female Army ROTC cadet nationwide during her senior year.

When Summers joined ROTC, she said only four cadets were women. The female contingent has since grown to about 15 cadets. Summers called the group a “support system within a support system,” which is invaluable in the traditionally very macho military culture.

“You get really close with those people,” Summers said. “And that just makes it so much easier.”

Although all of the ROTC instructors are men, a few female cadets, including Summers, are now in leadership positions. Summers — a couple years wiser, stronger and more knowledgeable — pours her energy into being an encouragement and resource to the newer recruits.

“That’s what Christie Plackis was for me,” Summers said. “Now that’s in turn what I’m trying to be for the female cadets who are coming in.”