Senior Krista Just will be commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in May, Furman University announced April 19.
The Pickens native and Furman Army ROTC cadet is the first woman in the college’s history to receive an infantry officer commission and will be among around 13 women from all Army ROTC programs and the U.S. Military Academy to be commissioned into the infantry in 2022.
“I’m obviously very excited and apprehensive – it’s a great opportunity and it will take me really far,” she said. “But I’m terrified. Infantry is an intimidating world to enter, especially as a woman. I’m scared about a few things, mostly the culture. It’s a man’s world, pretty much. There’s a lot of physicality that I’ll need to work on, and there’s lots of book knowledge and technical skills that go into this. But it is such an honor to bridge the gap for other women to do the same or just enter the military in any role. I like the idea of helping to eliminate the stigma surrounding women in combat arms or women in the military in general.”
Just also received a contract to serve in Army Space Operations, which she’ll take on four years after her infantry stint. In the space ops role, she will be based in Ft. Carson, Colorado and will work with global positioning systems, satellite data and missile identification.
Just is also one of 18 Furman seniors being commissioned through the college’s Army ROTC program, which includes 12 Furman students with the remaining participants coming from Bob Jones and North Greenville universities. All seniors will serve as second lieutenants in active duty Army, Army Reserves or the Army National Guard.
The Furman seniors and their military affiliation upon graduation include:
- Loise Aleria – active duty military intelligence officer
- Kat Bassey – educational delay for law school
- Reece Crook – active duty infantry officer
- Taylor Griffin – active duty chemical officer
- Zack Hattier – active duty ordnance officer
- Joshua Helton – active duty infantry officer
- John Hulbert – active duty signal officer
- Krista Just – active duty infantry officer
- Keegan Miller – Maryland National Guard
- Maggie Scapellato – South Carolina National Guard
- Lydia Williams – active duty ordnance officer
- Natalie Wilson – active duty quartermaster
In order to determine their Army assignments, cadets were evaluated on their academics, physical fitness standards, extracurricular activities and leadership performance over the course of three and a half years.
