Annabelle Black (SFS‘25) is a senior in the School of Foreign Service, studying international politics with a concentration in security, a minor in Spanish and a certificate in diplomatic studies. She is currently the cadet command sergeant major of the Hoya Battalion and is a distinguished military graduate.
“So where are you from?”
Seemingly, a very simple question, but for me, the answer is a little complicated. My dad has been on active duty in the U.S. Army for my entire life. He served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment for a large part of my childhood. We moved almost every two years for the first 18 years of my life. We bounced around the southeastern U.S., and I finished high school in Germany.
Seeing him and the other operators with whom he served instilled in me the desire to serve. The idea of serving was modeled for me from the day I was born, but it wasn’t until high school that I really began to consider it more seriously.
There is a letter written by E.B. White that I came across during a difficult time. White writes “as long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time.”
I am not alone in thinking that we are truly in challenging times, filled with uncertainty and strife. I get asked often why I want to serve in the Army, especially now, given the circumstances in the world. Am I not scared?
Yet I believe now more than ever is the time to join and serve. I can not guarantee that I will always make the right decisions. But I do know that I will strive to be a good person and leader. As long as there are good people who will give their every effort towards righting the ship, then the contagion is not spread and hope is not lost. This is the same sentiment I see every day in the School of Foreign Service. If not us, who? What we need is passionate people, no matter their politics, who truly care about their work and the country. This belief led me to the SFS and Georgetown Army ROTC.
I have always been drawn to the topic of government and politics, as well as to the study of foreign languages. The U.S. government had a huge shaping influence on my life; it decided where we would live, where my dad would go, and what he would do. I experienced firsthand how policies, specifically those related to security and defense, have tangible real-world impacts on families. I knew that I wanted to study foreign service and that Georgetown was the place to do that.
I came to Georgetown with a four-year ROTC scholarship and signed my contract that September. ROTC gave me the opportunity to attend Georgetown and serve my country after graduation.
Life as an ROTC cadet is a bit different than normal college life and involves long days. On top of ROTC, I am a member of the Georgetown University Dance Company and the club climbing team. I also work part-time for the Army Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Task Force.
I am usually up by 5:30 a.m., getting ready for PT (physical training, so workouts). Once a week, I take a military science class to learn about the Army, leadership and the skills that will be tested at Cadet Summer Training or CST, a 35-day-long training exercise that covers land navigation, marksmanship, physical fitness and leadership in the field. Several times each semester, I abandon Georgetown for a weekend to go to Marine Corps Base Quantico, where we do 3-day FTXs (Field Training Exercises) where we drill these skills.
Adding all of this to the workload of a full-time student, in addition to my other clubs and extracurricular activities is a lot, and my schedule is jam-packed. The days are long, much longer than the majority of my friends. I still have homework, I still have rehearsals and practices, and I have many responsibilities in ROTC.
To manage my time, I have to prioritize. I always think of it like this: I am juggling a lot of balls, some of them are glass, and others are plastic. I can drop some of the plastic balls, but if I drop a glass one, it will break.
Sometimes, I drop a glass ball. Whether that is accidentally missing an assignment deadline or making a mistake while leading in ROTC, dropping a glass ball is something that I try to avoid. Still, I’m human and a college student who wants to hang out with my friends and enjoy all of the fun things Georgetown has to offer.
I will graduate and commission as a Second Lieutenant in May, joining the active duty Army as a Military Intelligence officer. One day, I hope to move into Civil Affairs, part of the U.S. Special Operations Forces that specializes in government and diplomacy, and liaises with the local populace. Eventually, I want to be a Foreign Area Officer, essentially an Army diplomat who liaises between the Army and foreign governments.
There is no better school than Georgetown to prepare for these career paths. As a cadet in Army ROTC at Georgetown, I have received a world-class education in foreign service that provides me with exactly the kind of knowledge base that I need for these incredibly complex jobs.
