WEBVTT 00:00.019 --> 00:03.119 My deployment changed me a lot . The 00:03.119 --> 00:06.230 guardian who I was before I left is not 00:06.230 --> 00:08.109 the guardian who I am now . 00:10.890 --> 00:13.223 Hi , I'm First Lieutenant Nicole Becker . 00:13.223 --> 00:15.112 I'm a guardian in Mission Delta 3 00:15.112 --> 00:16.946 working in space electromagnetic 00:16.946 --> 00:19.010 warfare . I'm from , uh , Rockland 00:19.010 --> 00:20.899 County , New York , so if you ask 00:20.899 --> 00:23.232 people from the city , I'm from upstate . 00:23.232 --> 00:25.510 If you ask upstate , I'm from the city , 00:25.510 --> 00:28.569 um , neither , I'm from the suburbs . I 00:28.569 --> 00:30.236 originally went to school for 00:30.236 --> 00:32.347 mechanical engineering up in New York 00:32.347 --> 00:35.369 City actually , and then I left to go 00:35.369 --> 00:38.770 pursue ROTC and the military uh because 00:38.770 --> 00:42.400 I wanted to pursue something more . I 00:42.400 --> 00:45.080 joined the Space Force because I was 00:45.080 --> 00:47.319 really inspired by like the legacy 00:47.319 --> 00:49.319 space missions , you know , pushing 00:49.319 --> 00:51.486 human boundaries and seeing how far we 00:51.486 --> 00:54.119 could really go . When I was in ROTC 00:54.119 --> 00:56.008 learning how to , you know , be a 00:56.008 --> 00:58.599 leader , I thought that I had to pick 00:58.599 --> 01:00.766 someone who I thought was a leader and 01:00.766 --> 01:03.119 just become them and just become a 01:03.119 --> 01:05.452 character of someone who maybe I wasn't . 01:06.309 --> 01:08.489 I recently returned from a 6 month 01:08.489 --> 01:11.730 deployment to UCO and my deployment 01:11.730 --> 01:14.889 changed me a lot . The guardian who I 01:14.889 --> 01:17.569 was before I left is not the guardian 01:17.569 --> 01:21.430 who I am now . It was 01:21.430 --> 01:23.541 really tough in the beginning because 01:23.541 --> 01:25.486 it was extremely high tempo , high 01:25.486 --> 01:27.652 stress environment . At the site I was 01:27.652 --> 01:29.652 at , there's just a lot of activity 01:29.652 --> 01:31.874 going on . We were constantly doing our 01:31.874 --> 01:34.120 work , moving antennas like every day 01:34.120 --> 01:37.819 12 hours a day , 7 days a week . In the 01:37.819 --> 01:39.986 beginning when I was just learning how 01:39.986 --> 01:42.152 to be deployed , how to be out there , 01:42.330 --> 01:44.739 um , how to be in charge of a team like 01:44.739 --> 01:47.017 fully , like alone in charge of a team . 01:47.139 --> 01:49.739 I really had to take a step back and 01:49.739 --> 01:53.660 just trust myself . Being able to 01:53.669 --> 01:56.002 step into that uncomfortable experience , 01:56.169 --> 01:58.199 you know , seek that discomfort , 01:58.529 --> 02:00.418 that's where the growth happens . 02:02.449 --> 02:04.560 Where I was deployed to , there was a 02:04.560 --> 02:06.338 number of projects that we were 02:06.338 --> 02:08.338 involved on that are kind of on the 02:08.338 --> 02:10.282 cutting edge of of warfare . I was 02:10.282 --> 02:12.889 challenged with just high levels of 02:12.889 --> 02:15.690 stress and being able to manage a team 02:15.690 --> 02:17.746 to get an actual operational mission 02:17.746 --> 02:21.460 accomplished . When I was 02:21.460 --> 02:24.339 in like regular college in New York 02:24.339 --> 02:26.699 City , everyone that I kind of was 02:26.699 --> 02:28.921 around just kind of wanted to get a job 02:28.921 --> 02:31.032 and make money and and have like kind 02:31.032 --> 02:33.199 of a normal life , and there's nothing 02:33.199 --> 02:35.532 wrong with that . It just wasn't for me . 02:35.532 --> 02:37.477 I wanted to really test myself and 02:37.477 --> 02:39.699 challenge myself and now I'm in the 02:39.699 --> 02:41.588 space force having gone through a 02:41.588 --> 02:43.643 deployment , leading a flight , um , 02:43.643 --> 02:45.755 and I've learned so much about myself 02:45.755 --> 02:48.130 and um , yeah , I'm incredibly grateful 02:48.130 --> 02:48.740 for it . 02:52.199 --> 02:54.421 Right , yeah , I left for like 6 months 02:54.421 --> 02:56.477 and they're like , oh , aliens , and 02:56.477 --> 03:00.199 I'm like . No , not exactly what I 03:00.199 --> 03:03.979 do . Yeah . I get that a 03:03.979 --> 03:04.449 lot .