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By Brian Johnson
Commercial Aviation student Laura Grun has put a lot of hard work into the Army ROTC. Her effort and training have strengthened her skills as an officer, and she now stands as one of the nation’s elite.
The 22 year-old Army ROTC cadet recently placed second in the nation on the Order of Merit List. Several different aspects of a cadet are considered in the rankings, including their academic standing, battalion ranking, and performance at camp. Earning a spot at the top of the list is not easy, and even Grun was surprised to find out how well she did. “I thought I had a chance at making the top 10%, but I was completely surprised to be that high on the list,” she says.
Grun’s second place ranking is the current highlight of her military career. The White Bear Lake, Minn., native joined the Army National Guard at age 17, and while attending UND the following year, she was recruited into the Army ROTC. Since then, she has built a great reputation for herself in the Army as a cadet and as a member of the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade. The fact that Grun is enrolled as a full-time college student makes her schedule even more intense. According to Grun, it has been worth the effort since she has received the best aviation training available.
Grun wanted to become a pilot at a very young age. She originally wanted to fly commercial airliners, but her time in the military strongly influenced her to switch to helicopters. “When I was little, I wanted to fly jets, but that changed when I got into ROTC,” says Grun. “Being around helicopters in the Army made me want to fly them.”
As a student in the Army ROTC Helicopter Flight Training Program, Grun is one of only two women in her class. She knows very well that she is in a program that has been traditionally male, but that hasn’t held her back. “Yeah, there aren’t a lot of women in the program, or in the aviation department period, but I don’t mind though. It didn’t even faze me. Everyone here sees me as one of them. I haven’t had any problems at all,” says Grun.
It is easy to understand why Grun has become so well-accepted in her unit. Her test scores are among the top in the nation, and there is also a close connection to her fellow cadets that many people outside of a military unit do not understand. “My best college memories are in ROTC. After a while, everyone in the program becomes your family. My fellow cadets are constantly helping me improve and they mean everything to me. I basically get paid to work while having fun with my friends,” says Grun.
Grun has accomplished a lot since her freshman year at UND, and she is about to accomplish even more. As a senior, she is now ranked as an officer in the ROTC, and upon graduating from UND in the spring of 2009, she will be sent to Fort Rucker, Ala., for two years of training as an Army helicopter pilot. Fort Rucker will certainly be a drastic change from Grand Forks, but it is a change welcomed by Grun. “I think it’ll be great. It will be something new, and I’m excited to see what will happen.”
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