05/27/2026
We're out at Camp Ashland, where Wilber-Clatonia superintendent Justin Petersen is one of 20 various professionals participating in the Nebraska National Guard Experience (GuardEx).
Petersen, representing NCSA, reported late yesterday afternoon, and has a busy day ahead. His four-person team just finished a Land NAV course. At 10, they'll board a helicopter headed for a rappel tower in nearby Mead. We'll have some cool photos from that!
We caught up with Petersen on a short break.
𝐐: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐂𝐒𝐀 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐬?
A: I don't know if I really understood anything about it. I mean, other than there was a possible helicopter ride. But it's been fun. I said yes just because it intrigued me. Once I heard about some of the physical things, I guess that kind of intrigued me. I was like, ‘Oh, this could be kind of fun. I get to meet new people and do something that's out of the ordinary.’
𝐐: 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫?
A: We were talking earlier, I like the structure. I like the time. That speaks to me a lot. But I think it's also just that discipline of even this, the land mass stuff that we just learned. It's being precise, making sure you do it right the first time instead of doing something wrong and having to go back and do things correctly the second time. So yeah, there's a lot of parallels to it, absolutely.
𝐐: 𝐒𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐂𝐒𝐀 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭?
A: Oh, because it's new and it's fun. It's not overwhelming. The workout this morning was good, but it wasn't really overboard. They do a good job with answering your questions too. We've asked a ton of questions to our guy and the lady who's kind of coordinating everything, they're super nice about answering whatever military questions we might have. Learning new stuff, that’s the fun part about it.
𝐐: 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫?
A: Never repelled. Never been on a helicopter. This is new for me. It’s exciting.
