I knew walking into Fort Pierce Central High School\u2019s JROTC Cobra Battalion that I was going to be in trouble. <\/p>\n
They\u2019d built this rope bridge as part of their Raider Team training \u2014 a single rope stretched from pole to pole \u2014 and before I could even ask how it worked, the cadets were making a harness out of rope for me. Not the comfy seatbelt kind \u2014 this thing went across my chest and tight around my lungs, like a DIY corset designed by the Army.<\/p>\n
At 220 pounds, I hoisted myself up with the help of a cadet\u2019s bent knee acting as a step stool, swung onto the rope\u2026 and immediately found myself hanging upside down like a sloth who\u2019d made some bad life choices. <\/p>\n
I tried to interview them while dangling there (because it\u2019s me \u2014 of course I did), but let\u2019s just say I wasn\u2019t making much progress. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, gravity reminded me who was boss. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the Cobra Battalion kicked into high gear. They worked together \u2014 pushing, pulling, coaching, cheering \u2014 until somehow I made it to the other side. <\/p>\n
It took grit, balance, and more teamwork than I deserved in that moment. And the cadets? They made sure I crossed completely. <\/p>\n
What do you want me to Shine A Light on? What are you most proud of where you live? Email me at tawalker@wptv.com.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I knew walking into Fort Pierce Central High School\u2019s JROTC Cobra Battalion that I was going to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-2788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}