thedrifter
09-20-07, 03:53 AM
To war and back
Eleven cadets have returned to VMI with real-world experience after serving in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Jay Conley
LEXINGTON -- Charles Cash served four years in the Marines before following in his grandfather's footsteps by enrolling at Virginia Military Institute.
His experiences as a Marine who had deployed to Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq would seem to be a good fit with VMI. The school's regimen consists of military discipline, respect for authority and leadership training. Cadets must enroll in a Reserve Officers' Training Corps for one of the service branches.
But Cash, who's 23 and a history major from Loudoun County, entered VMI last year older and more worldly than the average first-year cadet. If he's learned anything at the school, where upperclassmen govern over incoming freshmen, it's humility.
"It's tough to have a 19-year-old kid in your face yelling at you, and you've already been to war twice for your country," Cash said. "But it's a humbling experience and I think it's helped me."
He's among a growing number of VMI cadets who've served on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, and who have felt at times like their experiences have eclipsed the school's textbook training and corps of cadets hierarchy.
"Once you have the changed perspective of being a combat veteran, you sort of have a different view on life itself, and that makes it very challenging for these young men and women to return to a school like VMI," said Keith Gibson, who as director of the VMI Museum keeps track of VMI graduates and cadets who have served in battle from the Mexican War of 1846-48 to the present day.
At an informal gathering Monday night in the post library, 11 cadets who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan were recognized by VMI's College Republicans for their wartime service.
Not since the years following World War II have so many cadets walked through VMI's barracks with so much military experience. Back then, in the years following the war's end in 1945, some returning cadets were allowed to live off the post in Lexington and didn't have to wear uniforms to class. Some were married, which is not allowed at VMI today.
Gibson said some of those concessions likely were done out of necessity. With so many war veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill to pay for college, "I just don't think that the barracks itself could accommodate them," he said.
But for all those World War II veterans who returned to VMI, many chose not to come back.
"After being in the Battle of the Bulge, coming back and being a second classman at VMI just didn't seem all that exciting," Gibson said.
Since American armed forces entered Afghanistan in 2001, at least 39 cadets have put their education on hold to participate in wartime deployments in support of operations there and in Iraq.
Seven cadets are currently either deployed in Iraq or on their way. Among them is Sarah McIntosh, 20, the first female cadet still attending VMI to enter a combat zone.
Other female VMI graduates have also been deployed to combat zones since women were admitted to the school a decade ago.
Iraq war veterans at VMI who were interviewed Monday night said it can be frustrating at times to have to abide by the military school's rules now that they've served in the real military.
"We don't really sweat the smaller things like the way other people kind of do here," said Mark Miller, who returned from his second deployment to Iraq in April.
Miller, a civil engineering major from Lynchburg, was a sergeant in the Marine Reserve with a Lynchburg-based combat engineering battalion. On his first tour of duty in 2005, Miller was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in an attack that killed four other Marines.
At 23, Miller's just starting his junior year at VMI. He acknowledges that it's hard to switch from the routine of a being a soldier to going back to being a cadet and studying for classes and following commands from younger cadets with no military experience.
"They have to make the distinction that VMI's not the real military," he said. "It's hard, because we've seen both sides, to distinguish to them what it's really like in the real military compared to VMI."
Nate Salatin, 22, from Staunton, served in the same Marine Reserve unit with Miller and is starting his sophomore year at VMI. The business and economics major said most cadets come to the school to conquer the physical and mental challenge VMI poses.
But in many ways, it doesn't compare to the challenges returning vets have faced in a war zone.
"You come here because it's hard, it's tough and it makes you grow, it makes you a leader," Salatin said. "So if you feel like you've already done something like that, you wonder, well, do I really need to go back."
VMI faculty and staff work with returning cadets to help them with their class schedules and make the transition back to being a cadet.
"People are evaluated as individuals to determine how best they can integrate back into the corps," said VMI spokesman Stewart MacInnis.
Still, he said school administrators are aware of the challenges that military veterans face. VMI's "General Order Number 43" is a three-page document outlining the institute's policies toward cadets who are veterans to allow "the most flexibility in readjusting to the daily regimen."
"We spoke with a lot of these kids ... and went over kind of the rules of engagement, for lack of a better term, for what they would need to do and not do," said Mike Strickler, executive assistant to VMI's superintendent. "I think there were some stipulations that some things they would be given some slack on what they had to do. But they pretty much have to do most things that the regular cadets have to do."
While 12 cadets who have been deployed have chosen not to return to VMI over the past six years, the ones who do come back often strive to become leaders or take on mentorship roles.
"I think it will make me a better leader in the end," said Cash, who along with Miller and Salatin said he often talks with other cadets about his combat experiences. "It doesn't make me any different from them, and if I can do it, they can do it."
Salatin and Miller said they think their VMI education will help them when they graduate and join the Marines as officers.
"I made the right decision to come back and finish what I started," Salatin said.
Each year, about half of VMI's graduating class earns commissions as officers in a branch of the armed services. It's those types of cadets that Miller says ask him about what happens in combat situations, and that's where he thinks he can help them.
"They come for advice on how to be a better officer."
Ellie
Eleven cadets have returned to VMI with real-world experience after serving in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Jay Conley
LEXINGTON -- Charles Cash served four years in the Marines before following in his grandfather's footsteps by enrolling at Virginia Military Institute.
His experiences as a Marine who had deployed to Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq would seem to be a good fit with VMI. The school's regimen consists of military discipline, respect for authority and leadership training. Cadets must enroll in a Reserve Officers' Training Corps for one of the service branches.
But Cash, who's 23 and a history major from Loudoun County, entered VMI last year older and more worldly than the average first-year cadet. If he's learned anything at the school, where upperclassmen govern over incoming freshmen, it's humility.
"It's tough to have a 19-year-old kid in your face yelling at you, and you've already been to war twice for your country," Cash said. "But it's a humbling experience and I think it's helped me."
He's among a growing number of VMI cadets who've served on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, and who have felt at times like their experiences have eclipsed the school's textbook training and corps of cadets hierarchy.
"Once you have the changed perspective of being a combat veteran, you sort of have a different view on life itself, and that makes it very challenging for these young men and women to return to a school like VMI," said Keith Gibson, who as director of the VMI Museum keeps track of VMI graduates and cadets who have served in battle from the Mexican War of 1846-48 to the present day.
At an informal gathering Monday night in the post library, 11 cadets who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan were recognized by VMI's College Republicans for their wartime service.
Not since the years following World War II have so many cadets walked through VMI's barracks with so much military experience. Back then, in the years following the war's end in 1945, some returning cadets were allowed to live off the post in Lexington and didn't have to wear uniforms to class. Some were married, which is not allowed at VMI today.
Gibson said some of those concessions likely were done out of necessity. With so many war veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill to pay for college, "I just don't think that the barracks itself could accommodate them," he said.
But for all those World War II veterans who returned to VMI, many chose not to come back.
"After being in the Battle of the Bulge, coming back and being a second classman at VMI just didn't seem all that exciting," Gibson said.
Since American armed forces entered Afghanistan in 2001, at least 39 cadets have put their education on hold to participate in wartime deployments in support of operations there and in Iraq.
Seven cadets are currently either deployed in Iraq or on their way. Among them is Sarah McIntosh, 20, the first female cadet still attending VMI to enter a combat zone.
Other female VMI graduates have also been deployed to combat zones since women were admitted to the school a decade ago.
Iraq war veterans at VMI who were interviewed Monday night said it can be frustrating at times to have to abide by the military school's rules now that they've served in the real military.
"We don't really sweat the smaller things like the way other people kind of do here," said Mark Miller, who returned from his second deployment to Iraq in April.
Miller, a civil engineering major from Lynchburg, was a sergeant in the Marine Reserve with a Lynchburg-based combat engineering battalion. On his first tour of duty in 2005, Miller was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in an attack that killed four other Marines.
At 23, Miller's just starting his junior year at VMI. He acknowledges that it's hard to switch from the routine of a being a soldier to going back to being a cadet and studying for classes and following commands from younger cadets with no military experience.
"They have to make the distinction that VMI's not the real military," he said. "It's hard, because we've seen both sides, to distinguish to them what it's really like in the real military compared to VMI."
Nate Salatin, 22, from Staunton, served in the same Marine Reserve unit with Miller and is starting his sophomore year at VMI. The business and economics major said most cadets come to the school to conquer the physical and mental challenge VMI poses.
But in many ways, it doesn't compare to the challenges returning vets have faced in a war zone.
"You come here because it's hard, it's tough and it makes you grow, it makes you a leader," Salatin said. "So if you feel like you've already done something like that, you wonder, well, do I really need to go back."
VMI faculty and staff work with returning cadets to help them with their class schedules and make the transition back to being a cadet.
"People are evaluated as individuals to determine how best they can integrate back into the corps," said VMI spokesman Stewart MacInnis.
Still, he said school administrators are aware of the challenges that military veterans face. VMI's "General Order Number 43" is a three-page document outlining the institute's policies toward cadets who are veterans to allow "the most flexibility in readjusting to the daily regimen."
"We spoke with a lot of these kids ... and went over kind of the rules of engagement, for lack of a better term, for what they would need to do and not do," said Mike Strickler, executive assistant to VMI's superintendent. "I think there were some stipulations that some things they would be given some slack on what they had to do. But they pretty much have to do most things that the regular cadets have to do."
While 12 cadets who have been deployed have chosen not to return to VMI over the past six years, the ones who do come back often strive to become leaders or take on mentorship roles.
"I think it will make me a better leader in the end," said Cash, who along with Miller and Salatin said he often talks with other cadets about his combat experiences. "It doesn't make me any different from them, and if I can do it, they can do it."
Salatin and Miller said they think their VMI education will help them when they graduate and join the Marines as officers.
"I made the right decision to come back and finish what I started," Salatin said.
Each year, about half of VMI's graduating class earns commissions as officers in a branch of the armed services. It's those types of cadets that Miller says ask him about what happens in combat situations, and that's where he thinks he can help them.
"They come for advice on how to be a better officer."
Ellie