A service night at Tesoro High School and the impression a U.S. Military Academy West Point recruiter made on Amnita Kaur was enough to put her on a path to becoming an Army officer and among a small percentage of cadets chosen to go to medical school on the Army’s dime.
Kaur, who just days ago earned the title of 2nd lieutenant while graduating with 1,002 cadets from West Point, said the military academy schooling is giving her an opportunity few others get.
“The amount of opportunity and trust they’ve put into us,” she said of the academy staff. “I’m going to medical school, but a lot of my classmates will go to basic officer courses, they’ll go to Ranger school, Airborne and within a year, they could be in charge of a platoon — 30 to 40 soldiers.”
“West Point, the way it’s structured; they’ve put us through physical, mental and emotional challenges,” she added. “And hopefully, we as a class and graduates can step up to the plate and be those lieutenants that those soldiers deserve.”
Kaur, 21, is one of three Ladera Ranch residents in that West Point graduating class, along with Alex Vollmond and Justin Rogers. All three are also Tesoro High grads.
Vollmond, 23, heads to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for field officer artillery training, and Rogers, 23, heads to Fort Novosel, Alabama, to fly helicopters.
At West Point, cadets undergo a four-year program, preparing them to commission as Army officers. President Donald Trump gave the keynote address at the recent graduation; it was titled “Together We Thrive.”
“Instead of stock options … you chose honor and you chose sacrifice,” Trump said. “Instead of business suits and dress shoes, you chose muddy boots and fatigues and keeping yourselves in shape — because West Point cadets don’t just have the brightest minds, you also have the bravest hearts and the noblest souls.”
After their five years of active duty, graduates are required to serve an additional three years in the reserves, for a total eight-year commitment to the military.
Now back home, Kaur will have some time to relax before heading off to medical school, where she hopes to specialize in general surgery. After four years and earning her medical degree, she’ll be promoted to captain and then spend another six years in residency in a military hospital.
Despite having no family connection to military service, Kaur said her application to the service academy was “intrinsically motivated.”
“My dad took me to one of the service nights a congressman hosted in my freshman year,” she said. “From that moment I saw the servicemember there with his uniform and just the pride he had in his military career, I applied. I didn’t know much about the school, didn’t know if I would make it through basic training, but I think one day at a time, it worked out, and it was the best 27-month experience I could have asked for.”
It’s the “being part of something bigger than herself” that resonates most with her, Kaur said.
“Having a genuine sense of purpose and pride in what you do,” she added. “You wake up every morning and there is a mission that is noble and honorable, and you get to put your best foot forward and advance the whole team.”
She also said she had few opportunities to come home during her four years in the academy, but she met many supportive people along the way.
“There’s no way I would have been able to make it through those four years without the friends I made along the way, the mentors I have,” she said. “There are so many I look up to and know they’re just one phone call away. That sense of family and having someone to lean on is really important and special.”