Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280168
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STAUNTON LENGTH: Long
Marching along in her white socks, Amalie Charbonnet issued the commands:
"Atten-tion! For-ward march!"
One of her classmates at the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership slid along on the polished gym floor in her socks, too - alongside two Virginia Military Institute cadets clicking smartly in their spit-shined black "low quarters." As it turns out, sneakers stick when one executes those precision turns.
Stocking feet and an easygoing give-and-take were the two big differences VMI cadets pointed out Sunday when 13 cadets from the school traveled for the first time to the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership at Mary Baldwin College. There, they conducted cadre training for the women who'll lead their own squads and platoons at the fledgling program, approved by a federal appeals court as an alternative to admitting women to all-male VMI.
The cadre at a military school is usually the group of upperclassmen who conduct rigorous military training to underclassmen. Because this is VWIL's first year, the program directors chose the freshmen who've had some military training - often in a military high school - to be the squad and platoon leaders who comprise the cadres.
In addition, four non-VWIL students who take Reserve Officer Training Corps classes through Mary Baldwin , home to VWIL, are in the cadre.
Seated on the bleachers, the women, clad in white or bottle-green T-shirts and shorts, watched a seamless display on the part of VMI's cadets. The white-uniformed cadets, their gray caps pulled smartly over their brows, moved gracefully through the drills.
Consider the precision: As they march, "the arms swing naturally to the side - 9 inches to the front and 6 inches to the rear of the trouser seam," instructed Jimmy Smithers, a junior at VMI.
Then the women tried the drills - and instructed VMI cadets who purposely made some mistakes.
Although VWIL's cadre will be in charge, it will never be as strict as at VMI, said Brenda Bryant, VWIL director.
"Here, it's just an ROTC function," she said. "That's it. What you see them doing is what they'll be doing."
And the VMI cadets certainly noticed the difference.
"The setting itself is a much more relaxed environment," said VMI senior Jim Richardson of Radford.
VMI's 120-member cadre is the cream of the military crop. They teach the rats, or freshmen, how to march and drill, march them to every meal, inspect their rooms. The bulk of the initial lessons for the rats - who spend the next few months in the "rat line" - came last week.
At VMI, where freshmen are purposely subjected to upperclassmen's demands, "Rat Jones" addresses "Mr. Smith," the upperclassman, said John Adams, the cadet who heads VMI's cadre.
During all-business cadre military drills, no one would ever trade informal chit-chat. And the rats never would swap places with upperclassmen - and find themselves correcting wrongly executed salutes.
But that's how it went throughout the afternoon Sunday in the gym at Mary Baldwin, because the women needed to learn their drills in order to instruct their classmates.
"We need to ensure they're able to teach after this; we step back and switch roles. When rats go through this, there's no role reversal," said Richardson.
In addition to drilling twice a month for ROTC, VWIL's cadre will serve as the program's chain of command for communication.
For instance, Bryant issued an assignment late last week, due Tuesday. The task at hand: To research an American woman who exhibits qualities and characteristics they would like to adopt. The research materials were available only Sunday until 4 p.m. in Bryant's office. It was up to the squad leaders - who would be at cadre training - to figure out how to pass along the responsibility to their squads for getting the materials and getting the assignment done.
It's a lesson in responsibility that Bryant sees as useful beyond military life. How better to learn how to organize and move large groups of people?
For a week now, folks have been comparing VWIL to VMI. The new women's program, approved by a federal appeals court in January, may be reviewed by the Supreme Court as the U.S. Justice Department presses on in its 6-year-old bid to force public VMI to admit women.
"In comparing, people are looking for what's alike or different. The rat line aside, at the end of the day, you wouldn't see that many differences," said Bryant.
One VWIL cadre member was distinctly pleased with her first meeting with VMI's cadre.
"I thought they were going to come in and yell in our faces. They were really very, very nice. Very courteous," said Marcie Taylor of Charlottesville, a squad leader who spent two years learning military drills at Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal.
by CNB