On a day designated for a staged medical scenario - carefully planned by Alaska's rookie instructors for their recruits - the training became real. Candidate T.J. Gholson sailed overhead into a sea of hardwood birch and aspen, past the jumpspot for a date with an ugly tree. His bell rung, his shoulder sprained, T.J. was hurting but stable. His status as a viable rookie candidate hovered around his prognosis. T.J. was determined - one of just four candidates remaining, and the consensus was that he had made it too far to quit. After a week of 'light duty' - and several successful training jumps, T.J. joined his rookie bros. at graduation, ready to face the fire season of 2004 as an Alaska Smokejumper.