Spencer Parker knows that sometimes it’s best to step outside of his comfort zone—even when he’s hanging outside of a plane 5,000 feet in the air. Parker, a cadet in Brigham Young University’s Air Force ROTC, has learned that seeking growth opportunities can help him reach spectacular heights as he strives to achieve an ambitious objective.
Growing up in Spokane, Washington, Parker frequently flipped through the pages of Supersonic Saints, a collection of Latter-day Saint pilot stories compiled by John Bytheway. Parker credits the book for providing his life with its own potential storyline: becoming an air force pilot. And after returning home from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Parker found purpose in joining BYU’s Air Force ROTC during his first semester at BYU.
“I remember it was a little bit shell-shocking at first,” he explains. He was excited about what the Air Force ROTC program had to offer, but it was hard to adjust to the new workload and expectations. “Not only was it my first experience in college as a freshman, but it was also my first experience with the military.”
Parker found community in waking up early for 6 a.m. classes and physical training with fellow freshman cadets. “It was a little bit intimidating, but it was also inspiring to be part of something bigger than myself,” he recalls. “As I learned more about what the program was going to look like for me and my future—a potential career in the air force—it just became more and more exciting.”
Over the next few years, Parker began taking on leadership roles that he feels were key to his development. He led at every level of his ROTC wing and participated in several national trainings, including Officer Development Training at US Air Combat Command Headquarters at the Royal Air Force Lakenheath.
Though Parker believes all of these experiences have broadened his horizons, he feels nothing quite matched the eye-opening experience he had at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, where he spent two weeks training to become a parachutist.
“It’s the only training program in the world where your first free-fall skydive is completely alone,” he says. On the morning of his first jump, he waited in line for hours, listening to loud pump-up music to combat his nerves.
When his name was called, he anxiously boarded the plane and gradually flew up to 5,000 feet. “I was so nervous,” he recalls. But he didn’t have much more time to be afraid. Parker perched himself on the edge of the plane’s open door, held tightly onto the railings, and awaited his signal: a green light indicating it was time to jump.
“I remember letting go, and for a brief second, I just forgot everything,” he explains. But instead of complete terror, Parker discovered he was in awe. “I looked down and all I could see—my entire vision—was just filled with earth.”
He continues, “Then I snapped back into it. I remembered my sequence, and I executed all my procedures.” Soon enough, he was gradually approaching the ground with an open parachute and screaming in joy. “I just remember this feeling of elation: I’m not going to die, and I’m floating in the middle of all the world’s beauty.”
To Parker, the free fall was a culmination of hard work, dedication, and dreaming. “It was the most thrilling and rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” he says. After completing four more solo jumps, Parker earned his parachutist wings, becoming an official US Air Force basic parachutist.
With the BYU Air Force ROTC, Parker continues to have impactful learning opportunities. “One of the things that I love so much about this program is that it’s brought me so many unique and amazing experiences that people wouldn’t normally have,” he explains—like how the program provided him with a scholarship to gain flight hours at a local flight school. Accruing flight hours has allowed Parker to view the world’s beautiful landscape all over again.
Parker, already totaling more than 25 flight hours, often reflects on his time with the Air Force ROTC as he soars above the clouds. He believes the program has been crucial in preparing him to achieve a reality he once could only read about. “Becoming an air force pilot—the goal that I’ve been working at for so long has begun to be realized,” he acknowledges. “Working toward that goal is something I really do enjoy and continue to look forward to.”
In the process, Parker hopes to look outward and help others achieve their dreams as well. “School is hard for everybody. ROTC is hard for everybody. But it becomes much easier as you look outside yourself,” he explains.
Having received the news that he was selected for pilot training after he graduates in 2026, Parker is grateful for the trajectory that BYU’s Air Force ROTC has set him on. “I’ve become a much more capable person because of the challenges and experiences that I’ve had,” he attests. “The more I experience, the more my capacity to do grows.”
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Written by Nicholas Day
