ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150013
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: New River Journal
DATELINE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN
Nothing is so enjoyable as giving free - and unwanted - advice.
That's especially true when it also gives you the chance to mention, ever so tactfully, your own farsightedness.
So I thought it might be appropriate for the New River Valley's own institute of higher learning to share a little advice with its old rival down the road in Lexington.
As the first college in the nation to take its cadet corps coed, Virginia Tech has a track record of success it can share with Virginia Military Institute as its board wrestles with whether to admit women.
Next year, Virginia Tech's cadet corps is expected to grow to 600, with 140 of those cadets women. At 23 percent, that's the highest percentage among the nation's six military colleges with full-time cadet corps.
"We started the coed program in '73 before any of the [military] academies," said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Stanton Musser, commandant of cadets at Tech. "We're so far ahead of everyone else."
So, what lessons should VMI take from Tech's success?
Make the program tough. Integrate the women fully into the corps - including the dormitories - so they're not second-class citizens, says retired U.S. Army Col. Gene Wilson, who spent 10 years as Virginia Tech's deputy commandant of cadets.
At Tech, the men and women have roomed right next to each other since 1991. They just use different bathrooms. "The woman may be the company commander and has to be living with her troops. We've had no problems at all" from the male and female cadets living not just in coed dorms, but on coed halls, said Musser. Though Musser talks with paternal pride in describing Tech's program, he is careful not to ladle out advice to another state institution.
Psychologically, the most daunting challenge for most women has to be "PT" - physical training. Jogging in combat boots, obstacle courses, ropes. "We put them on the rappelling tower, the obstacle course ... they have to go through it just like the men," said Musser. The women have different minimums they must meet for push-ups and running, but Musser has found most of the women try to "max" or exceed the standards - just like the men.
But the training philosophy behind Tech's success would be the hardest pill for VMI to swallow.
Dump that rat system, said Wilson
"It is negative training. The depths they go into of harassment - call it what it is - it does not prepare someone to be a military officer," he said.
The Tech experience now has a corporate ring to it. Words such as teamwork, mutual respect and positive reinforcement have replaced the rat line - better training for today's business world as well as military quarters, according to Tech's evaluation.
As a commanding officer in the '60s, Wilson said, he saw young graduates from the U.S. Military Academy struggling as officers when they tried to treat their troops as they had plebes at West Point. "They were smart and changed quickly. They had to for survival," he said wryly.
At Tech, women have risen to the top, including holding the rank of regimental commander. This fall, the No. 2 officer, the regimental executive officer, will be a woman, as is one of the corps' two battalion commanders.
"We found so many times that the women were more dedicated than the men. They accepted [the corps life] as a challenge and accepted they had to do a little bit better and a little bit more. They had high expectations of themselves," said Musser.
Even if VMI decides to let its doors creak open and admit women, change will probably take years, evolving slowly as the current cadet leadership graduates and a new generation of officers steps onto VMI's parade ground.
Even three years, though, won't wipe away the mental barriers, in Wilson's estimate. "There is tremendous influence and war stories about the good ol' days. A lot of that is myth in my view and sometimes even self-glorification."
But self-glorification is one tough thing to give up, especially at alumni weekends. Somehow it's easier to picture women on VMI's parade ground than it is at a VMI alumni mixer. That will be the last great barrier to cross.
But those tough VMI alums may have to find out what Aristophanes discovered eons ago: "These impossible women! ... can't live with them, or without them!" "
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB