On the field, the midshipmen cheer one another on as they run, making the intimidating setup seem more like track practice than boot camp. “Oh you look good!” one cadet yells. “You are flyin‘!”

Men are expected to finish the 800-yard run in under 2:45, the perfect score for male cadets. For those who do not finish in time, a sergeant walks swiftly to the side of the track and yells, “You are a male, you didn’t cross the finish line. You do not have 100 points.”

At 5’2” it’s surprising to see how agile Brown is on the field, easily keeping up with most of the men. She finishes with a time of 3:01, 22 seconds faster than the 3:23 perfect score for women.

Brown and others cheer on the women who do not hit the maximum time until they reach the finish line. They finish their run exhausted and red-faced.

“As long as—as a female—you work hard and show you aren’t trying to get out of anything [because you’re a girl] then [men] are definitely all for you being in the military and doing PT with them,” Brown says, “It’s pretty great.”

Brown credits her ease in a male dominated field simply to her “personality.”

“I’ve always had a lot of guy friends, ever since I was little I’d always keep up with the boys.”

As the boys grew up and got “stronger and faster,” Brown says, she kept trying to keep up—clearly she figured out how.

“A very locked down midshipman,” Lieutenant Jeff Ransom says of Brown, speaking in a clipped military tone. “One of our top performing sophomores. Consistently shows it in everything she does.”

Both Ransom and Giorgin comment on how impressive Brown is academically and physically, impressed with how she can keep herself on track. Yet, Brown doesn’t seem completely satisfied with her run.

“Wasn’t my best time,” she says. The boots add a few pounds.

AMMO LIFTS

The second part of the Combat Fitness Test involves the midshipmen lifting a 30 to 35 lb. ammo box above their heads as many times as possible in two minutes.

Brown seems easily at home here on the field, picking up one of the ammo boxes it and handing it—without a hint of sarcasm—to the sergeant in charge, “This one feels light,” she says.

She is fully in her element hoisting the weight above her head, barely shaking though many of those around her are. It’s hard to believe that Brown did not grow up wanting to be a Marine.