ROCHESTER — Ballerinas and paratroopers live in totally different worlds, but Alisa Susan Pate has lived through both of them. 

The now Rochester-resident grew up in Jacksonville Florida and initially trained to be a ballerina. However, she explained that ballet careers end very young, and she wanted to do something else with her life.

The answer came when she saw a segment about army airborne training on the 7 p.m. news one night, in 1981. A few days later, in an experience she describes as similar to the movie “Private Benjamin,” she walked by an army recruiting office, and felt called to go in.

“I had never even met someone in the military,” Pate said, of her experiences before joining.

The recruiting officer said that she would never make it through training. So Pate, then 18, bet him a steak dinner that she could.

She completed basic training, and then joined army airborne.

The next hurdle was a three week jump school at Fort Benning in Georgia.

The specialized training included rigorous endurance tests, a “tower week,” where trainees learn jump techniques from the top of a 250 foot tower, and successfully completing five jumps.

Just before jumping out of a plane, Pate was always apprehensive. But, she added, “if you’re not scared, don’t do it. You won’t be aware of what’s going on, and you’ll die. The fear makes you aware.”

However, after the jump, her parachute opened right away, and she felt free to relax and enjoy the view until beginning landing preparations.

Though it’s terrifying before the jump, Pate said that after landing she always felt exhilarated, and ready to go again.

The former paratrooper said that she started jump school with over 100 men and only five other women. Of those, she was the only woman that made it through the training. 

During training, she earned the nickname, “Private Sunshine,” when one of the drill sergeants couldn’t remember her name, but could remember that she was from Florida.

“I got dogged more than anyone else,” explained Pate, saying that she realized in retrospect that as a woman she stood out, and her superiors would have felt guilty if they had approved her to jump and she was injured.

However, she said that other recruits “were all behind me, 100%. They were all like my big brothers. And when I did graduate the sergeants were like ‘Good for you, Alisa.’ They were proud of me.”

And in the end, “I made it. I earned my wings on my own,” Pate said, with pride in her voice.

Her brother pinned her wings for her when she completed training. And, she went back and got the steak dinner.

Pate was assigned to a special forces military intelligence unit. She served in the reserves 6 years, and would have re-enlisted, but broke her neck in a car accident and could not.

Her re-enlistment date would have been in 1987, just before Desert Storm, a fact that frustrates her to no end.

“I would have loved to have gone. That’s just how I am. I love challenge and exciting things,” Pate said.

After recovering from her broken neck, Pate worked to plan events for and manage night clubs all over the country. She met her partner, Gianno, through a friend of a friend, and moved to Rochester with him.