( CNN ) -- It 's early in the morning , but the soldiers in their camouflage uniforms have already been awake for several hours . They 're getting their gear ready , making sure all of their safety equipment , hooks , belts , and straps are in working order . Nothing seems out of the ordinary , until you take a closer look . Among the 270 recruits getting their basic paratrooper training , there are 71 women . After a 50-minute check-up , they all board military planes that will take off from the Santa Lucia Military Air Base near Mexico City . This is the first time in 22 years that women in the Mexican armed forces are being trained as paratroopers . The program was suspended in 1989 for unspecified reasons . Now it 's back again , but officials have n't said if it will instituted permanently . Once they reach an altitude of 1,500 feet , it 's time to jump and put into practice the four weeks of training they have received . It 's a small jump for these women soldiers , but one giant leap for the Mexican military . Corporal Raquel Gutierrez is among the first women who signed up for paratrooper training . `` I think this is an activity that only a few can do . We are a group of women who have decided to enter a space previously reserved for men , '' Gutierrez says . For the Mexican military , training women as paratroopers means more personnel at the ready ; many in Mexico also see this training as an important step towards gender equality . Basic paratrooper training in the Mexican military takes four weeks . Trainees have the opportunity to jump off a plane five times . For Corporal Norma Flores being part of this training is one of the most exciting things she 's done in her life . `` It 's a very beautiful experience and , honestly , I 'm very proud . I want to learn a lot of things here in the Army and , well , it 's a good opportunity to serve our country , '' Flores says . Army officials say the training that these women are going through is exactly the same men take . There 's no special treatment or relaxing of the rules . The goal is that paratroopers are equally trained , capable , and safe , regardless of their gender . Colonel Bernardino Olvera , who 's in charge of this phase of paratrooper training , says safety and preparedness are paramount . `` We ca n't make any distinctions [ between men and women ] because there are no parachutes for men or women . Training has to be the same , '' Olvera says . First Sergeant Miriam Rivera says that , after all , the fear you feel right before jumping off the plane has no gender . `` It 's true that you always have some fear , but with the training that we have received during the whole month we learn to change fear for an adrenaline rush in order to jump off the plane , '' Rivera says . Once the training is over , the seven female officers and 64 soldiers will return to their normal duties . the Mexican Army has yet to establish the option of being a paratrooper as a career choice for women entering the forces , a limitation that based on this training may be about to change .
A group of women is training to be paratroopers in Mexico . It 's the first time in 22 years . Training for men and women is the same .