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‘They Looked Magnificent’The Corps of Cadets Marches in the Presidential Inaugural ParadeBy Maj. John Robertson IV

The Corps of Cadets was the last and by far the largest unit in the presidential inau-gural parade Jan. 20. The Corps’ partici-pation, seen by millions across the nation, provided a striking finale to the parade honoring the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the nation’s 45th president.

“To me it became a higher purpose. They shined a little more; they stood a little taller,” said Col. William Wanovich ’89, commandant. “When they come together like that, and they focus on VMI as an institution, they’re magnificent. There’s nothing more powerful, nothing stronger than the Corps operating as a corps.”

The cadets returned from furlough just five days before the parade, so with only three practice sessions to perfect their formations, the commandant’s staff took the Corps onto the Parade Ground to focus on the turns.

The VMI Corps of Cadets marches past President Trump’s reviewing stand during the inaugural pa-rade on Jan. 20. – Photo courtesy of the Department of Defense.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ReturnNew Aluminum Carriages Expected to Last CenturiesBy Kelly Nye

Some things are not built to last. The often-rebuilt wooden car-riages that once supported Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – the cannons of the cadet battery – were among them.

Even in the 1848, the wooden carriages were not expected to last more than a few years. While the same cannon tubes have served cadets as artillery training pieces, went to war with the Rockbridge Artillery in 1861, and were fired ceremonially until the 1980s, they have been supported by many, many sets of wood-en carriages.

“We could only expect to get about seven or eight years out of a wooden carriage. That was a constant maintenance problem,” explained Col. Keith Gibson, executive director of VMI’s muse-um system.

It’s a problem that battlefields around the country are dealing with as well. That’s why many of them are switching to aluminum carriages. About a year ago, VMI decided to make the switch as well.

See Cannons Return, page 10

See Inaugural Parade, page 14

Virginia Military InstituteVolume XLV, Number V, March 2017Institute Report

Campaign Tops $310.3 MillionBy Scott Belliveau ’83

In a message sent to the VMI community in late January, Donald M. Wilkinson ’61, chair-man of An Uncommon Purpose: A Glorious Past, A Brilliant Future: The Campaign for VMI, announced that as of the end of 2016, more than 14,750 alumni and friends had made $310.3 million in gifts and commitments to the campaign.

“This generosity has done – and will do – many things to strengthen the Institute,” said Wilkinson. “It will be better able to carry on its important historic mission of graduating young people who are ready and able to provide leadership in their chosen profes-sions and to serve their communities and our great country.”

Writing in Issue 1 of the 2017 VMI Alumni Review, he also noted that the six-year cam-paign would conclude its work on behalf of the Institute on June 30, 2017, the final day of fiscal year 2017. Wilkinson pointed out that closing the campaign at the end of June will allow a new generation of leaders to develop the

knowledge, skills, and experience they’ll need to ensure the success of future fundraising efforts in support of the Institute.

Wilkinson promised that although the campaign will run for just five more months, all those associated with the campaign will not be slackening their efforts. “Like all good athletes, we are aware of the need to give our all until the end of the contest,” he said.

“From now until the end of June,” said Warren J. “Buddy” Bryan ’71, the VMI Foundation’s CEO, who now is in charge of the campaign’s daily operations, “all of our volunteer leaders and the staffs of the VMI Alumni Agencies will be taking the cam-paign’s message to the VMI family in order to ensure that alumni and friends are aware of the many opportunities they have to par-ticipate in this effort—and make a profound difference in the future of VMI.”

To keep up with the progress of An Uncommon Purpose, visit www.vmi.edu/campaign/prog-ress.

Corps Physical Training Facility DedicationGen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62, VMI superintendent, and Gen. John P. Jumper ’66, Board of Visitors president, cut the ribbon during the dedica-tion ceremony of the Corps Physical Training Facility on Jan. 26. The ceremony cel-ebrates the completion of a two-year, $84 million project that has provided the Corps with a world-class training and competition facility. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

2 VMI Institute Report

Institute ReportVolume XLV, Number V, March 2017

The Institute Report, VMI’s monthly newsletter, publishes eight issues during each academic year. Inquiries, suggestions, news items, and address changes should be directed to Editor, Institute Report, VMI Communications and Marketing, Lexington, VA 24450‑0304; (540) 464‑7207; or [email protected]. © 2017 Virginia Military Institute.

Director Col. Stewart MacInnis

Editor Maj. John Robertson IV

Graphic Artist Robbin Youngblood

Contributors Scott Belliveau ’83 Chris Floyd Stephen Hanes H. Lockwood McLaughlin Kelly Nye Mary Price

Header photo on page 1 by Kelly Nye

The Virginia Military Institute is committed to providing an environment that emphasizes the dignity and worth of every member of its community and that is free from harassment and discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, veteran status, sexual orien-tation, pregnancy, genetic information, against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities, or based on any other status protected by law. Every VMI staff member, faculty member and cadet has the right to work and study in an environment free from discrimination and should be treated with dignity and respect. VMI complaint and grievance procedures provide employees and cadets with the means for resolving complaints when this Statement has been violated. VMI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Anyone having questions concerning discrimination or the application of Title IX regulations should contact Title IX Coordinator, 212 Carroll Hall, VMI, Lexington, Va. 24450, (540) 464-7072. Any cadet or prospective cadet having questions about disability services for students should contact the Director of the Center for Cadet Counseling and Disability Services, 448 Institute Hill, 2nd floor, Post Infirmary, Lexington, Va. 24450, (540) 464-7667. For em-ployment-related disability services, contact the Employee Disability Services Coordinator in the VMI Human Resources Office, Lexington, Va. 24450, (540) 464-7322.

Clark to Lead Finance, Administration, and SupportCol. Dallas Clark '99 has been named director of finance, adminis-

tration, and support for Virginia Military Institute. He assumed his new duties in mid-February.

“Colonel Clark has a long association with VMI and he has a deep understanding of the offices and the people for whom he will be responsible,” said Gen. J.H. Binford Peay '62, VMI superintendent. “His knowledge, his judgment, and his character will serve VMI well.”

Clark was appointed associate deputy superin-tendent for finance, administration and support in March 2016 and worked in that position until late last year. He served as VMI's Institute planning officer from 2006 to 2016. Prior to that, he was a vice pres-ident in the VMI Alumni Association responsible for organizing national volunteer efforts for alum-ni chapters.

Clark graduated from VMI in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in economics and business and later earned a Master of Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

The director oversees a broad spectrum of offices including the treasurer and comptroller, auxiliary services, planning, physical plant, human resources, infirmary and counseling, police, museum operations, and construction.

Col. Dallas Clark ’99 addresses VMI faculty and friends after receiving the Meritorious Service Medal in Oct. 2016. – VMI File Photo by Stephen Hanes.

Breakout for the Class of 2020Saturday, Feb. 4, began with a wake up call from the cannon Little John at 5 a.m. for the new cadets who broke out of the Rat Line later that day. The day included an early march to McKethan Park, with physical training stations there followed by more physical training sta-tions at North Post in the after-noon. During the culminating event the new cadets crawled across the Parade Ground with sandbags to fill in the ’20 and the ’17 representing their class and their dykes’ class. For more photos visit flickr.com/vmi-photos. – VMI Photos by Kelly Nye and H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

March 2017 3

Being WiSE to STEM OpportunitiesGroup Encourages Community, Cohesiveness Among Female STEM MajorsBy Mary Price

There’s a new group on post for cadets majoring in the STEM disci-plines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – and it just received funding from a national organization.

WiSE, which stands for Women in Science and Engineering, was formed two years ago to support female cadets pursuing those tra-ditionally male-dominated disciplines. The group, now with about 15 members, got a boost this year with the receipt of a $1,000 grant from the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. VMI was one of 11 institutions nationwide to receive fund-ing from the organization this year.

“Last year was the second time we applied and we were fortunate to receive the funding,” said Col. Daniela Topasna, professor of phys-ics and astronomy, who serves as mentor to the group.

Topasna said the funds would be used to further the group’s exist-ing activities, which include dinners, movie nights, and field trips to labs and other places of interest to STEM majors. Often, members of WiSE join with other groups of cadets on post for these excursions. In the spring of 2016, for example, members of WiSE and the Society

of Physics Students came together to visit the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia.

Closer to home, the WiSE group gives presentations to children at the Virginia Science Festival at Lexington each October, with the goal of showing them just how much fun science can be.

“One of our goals is to get more involved with the community,” said Marlene Haag ’18, vice president of WiSE for the 2016-17 academic year.

“Science gets a bad reputation a lot for being too boring or too nerdy or too hard,” Haag continued. “But if we can show kids at a young age how much fun it can be and how cool it is and how inter-esting it can be to be a successful scientist or science student, then maybe they can grow up with a better attitude toward it.”

Members of the group would like to begin an outreach program to local schools, both Topasna and Haag said, if cadets’ sched-ules permit.

WiSE members, particularly upper class cadets, also take time to encourage and support female 4th Class cadets majoring in the STEM disciplines. Topasna said she’s excited that of the 10 physics majors in the Class of 2020, three are women.

“It’s also good to be mentors to the Rats,” she commented. “We want to keep them in our major.”

Agreeing with Topasna, Haag stated, “Here [at VMI], there’re so few women already, and the women in the science fields are even fewer.”

The goal of the WiSE group is to encourage cohesiveness and com-munity among those women, noted Col. Tim Hodges ’80, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “We created the club at VMI to give the STEM undergraduate women a way to connect with each other … so they could support each other and complete these difficult majors,” Hodges said.

“It’s important to have a role model to discuss this with,” Hodges stated, “and that’s our female faculty.” He added that his department has three tenured women faculty members, out of a total of 10.

Haag stressed that while the group’s name suggests that it’s only for women, and specifically those majoring in the STEM fields, the group welcomes and all interested cadets. “The cool thing about it is that men are also welcome if they’d like,” she said. “It’s an open and free space for people to come and feel welcome. This club is a great way to find out how you can further your studies and your career in science.”

Julianne Knoblett ’20, Eryn Daman ’18, and Marlene Haag ’18, each mem-bers of WiSE, look at a computer image taken by a telescope with Col. Daniela Topasna, professor of physics and astronomy. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

Bryan ’71 Named VMI Foundation Interim CEOBy Scott Belliveau ’83

Warren J. “Buddy” Bryan ’71 became the interim CEO of the VMI Foundation Jan. 1. In this role, he is responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the VMI Foundation, setting the strategic direction for the organization, and acting as its official representative in vari-ous capacities.

As a cadet, he majored in biology and participated in many activities, including the glee club and The Cadet. After graduation,

he served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force for four years, flying the KC-135 Stratotanker.

Beginning work at the VMI Foundation in May 1976, Bryan is one of the longest-serving employees in the organization’s history – and he is well known throughout the VMI community. During his time at the Foundation, he has been responsible for The Institute Society; the 50th and 25th reunion campaigns; planned giving, and


major gift solicitations. Immediately before becoming Interim CEO, he had served as the Foundation’s vice president for major gifts for 10 years.

His ties to the Institute are not restricted to the office, however. His wife, Carol, was his Ring Figure date, and his son, Paul T. Bryan, graduated in 2005. Furthermore, both of his daughters, Amy and Heather, married alumni: Kramer W. Reeves ’89 and Colin K. Boynton ’96, respectively. Furthermore, an

uncle, Ronald M. Bryan Sr., is a 1955 graduate, and a cousin, R. Scott Bryan Jr., graduated in 1943.

“I am honored by the confidence the trustees of the VMI Foundation have placed in me,” said Bryan of his current role. “This is an exceptional opportunity to lead the Foundation and its high-ly skilled and dedicated staff and work with our devoted volun-teer leaders.

“I look forward to serving the Foundation and the VMI family in this new role as we strive together to ensure this special institution has the resources it needs to continue to educate honorable citi-zen-soldiers,” he concluded.

Emily P. Miller: ‘Every Day Gives Me an Opportunity’By Scott Belliveau ’83

When Col. Emily P. Miller joined what was then the Department of English and Fine Arts in 1988, she already had been in Lexington for two years, serving as an assis-tant professor of English at Washington and Lee University.

Although during that time she had become somewhat familiar with VMI and cadets, she didn’t know what they would be like as students.

“I anticipated that cadets might be more homogeneous in their thinking and more reticent to voice their views than students at schools where I had taught previously, the University of Virginia, Wake Forest, and

Washington and Lee,” she recalled. “I found exactly the opposite to be the case: they are much more willing to share their own views, and they do not by any means all think alike.”

Miller soon found other things to like about teaching at VMI. For example, she noted that the small class sizes and the low cadet-faculty ratio allows faculty “to get to know our students well and often serve as mentors throughout their cadetships and be-yond.” She also appreciates the honor system.

“It creates an atmosphere of trust in the classroom and allows faculty to accept a cadet’s word on any matter,” she said.

However, for her, it always comes back to how much she enjoys cadets. “I value their eagerness to take on challenges both in and out of the classroom,” she said. “Also, while they have strong deter-mination and a healthy sense of pride, they are also quick to admit any failures and to try again.” She also admits to appre-ciating cadets’ “candor, lack of pretense, and honesty,” and she also likes “their terrific senses of humor.”

With a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and a specialty in the English Renaissance, Miller has taught Shakespeare (her courses on this subject have been popular among cadets), British and American literature, public speaking, and writing. She has served on and chaired numer-ous committees, including the Academic Program and Review Committee, the Academic

Policy Committee, the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, and the VMI Alumni Faculty Recruiting Committee. She has had leadership positions in two of the decennial self-studies that VMI has conducted since 1988, serving as the associate director of the Strategic Self-Study for one and the chair of the SACS Compliance Certification Committee for the other. Miller holds two other distinctions: in 1992, she became the first woman to head an academic department at VMI, and she is now the longest-serving department head on post.

Miller’s prowess as a teacher and scholar and her service to the Institute have been recognized in numerous ways. The most impressive recognition, however, probably has been the five awards of the Navas-Read Institute Professorship in English Literature that she has received since 1996.

It is no surprise that someone with such a record of service to and support of VMI also gives to the Institute. Asked why she gives, she replied, “I continue to be impressed with the ways in which the VMI program prepares exceptional citizens and leaders. So I give to support its mission of producing outstanding citizen-soldiers.”

More specifically, she directs her philan-thropy to the VMI Faculty Merit Scholarship and the Foundation Fund. Asked why she has made these choices, she replied, “Every day gives me an opportunity to work with outstanding young people who hold them-selves to such high standards in all areas of their education – academic, physical, and military. It makes sense, therefore, to give outstanding young people the opportunity to attend this institution and to be a part of the Foundation’s efforts to help VMI enrich its first-rate educational program.”

Col. Emily Miller discusses Shakespeare with her cadets. – VMI File Photo by Maj. John Robertson IV.

Warren J. “Buddy” Bryan ’71

March 2017 5

VMI Community Uses CPTF ‘to its Full Capability’By Chris Floyd

The cameras and mobile devices were working overtime Jan. 28 as spectators scrambled to document the grand open-ing of VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility.

And while the spectacle of the multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art facility was more than enough to fill memory cards and social media pages, the more than 1,000 people who filed through the facility that day received another treat.

The VMI track team chris-tened the CPTF in fine fashion, with both the men’s and women’s squads earning victories over The Citadel. In the first home meet for the Keydets since 2013, the VMI men topped the Bulldogs, 78-68, while the women scored an 87-51 win over their rivals from Charleston, S.C.

Among the winners for the VMI women was Kerisha Goode ’18, who took the top spots in both the 60-meter and 200-meter sprints and recognized the fact that she was part of history.

Goode recalled something her former sprints coach told her when she was first considering VMI.

“He said, ‘You can go to another school and be just another body, but if you come to VMI, you’re going to start a legacy.’ For me, that’s what this means.

“Now that we have this, we’re just happy,” continued Goode, who set a personal-best time in the 60 early in the meet. “It’s a very fast track.”

There are actually three tracks in the CPTF: the sprint track down which Goode blazed Saturday, a warm-up track that winds around the upper level, and a 200-meter track on the ground floor. The latter is one that is truly special. It is supported by hydraulics, one of only five such tracks on the east coast and one of only eight in the coun-try, and the turns can be raised or lowered depending upon the race being run at the time.

In addition, the facility houses space for all of the field events, and that, as much as anything is what has Darrin Webb, VMI’s director of track and field and cross country, the most excited.

“I remember when Vision 2039 was announced,” he said. “I remember when this was first talked about, and now it is a reality. From design, three-plus years ago, through construction to today. … They did it to have one of the top facilities in the country.”

No one is really sure when the next track meet will be held at the CPTF; future plans are still in the works. But VMI will serve as host to the Southern Conference Championships next year, opening the facility’s doors to other members of the league.

Webb joked that he never wants to go on the road again. Though that will not happen, he does know that VMI’s days of never playing

host to indoor track meets is a thing of the past, and he has a vision of what he would like to see in the future.

“Somewhere, dual and quad-type meets kind of got lost in track and field,” he said. “I would like for one of our events to be something that’s specta-tor friendly.”

Isaac Slone, who moved over from VMI’s Physical Plant to become building director of the Corps Physical Training Facility, noted that the Institute is taking things slow as far as scheduling events is concerned. He does, however, envision a time when the CPTF is used for all types of track events.

“Down the road, track-wise, we’re hoping to host six to eight meets ourselves,” he said. “We’ve already had high school conferences call, wanting to reserve the facility. We’re very adamant about taking this slow and doing it right.”

The track is a major part of the CPTF, but it is only a part. It will be home to the indoor track team, but it also will be open to the entire Corps of Cadets. ROTC groups have already been using the facility, and it welcomed other members of the Corps Feb. 1. Cadre spent three days training there recently, and it will not be long before they bring in their companies.

And when they arrive, they will have a wealth of training oppor-tunities awaiting them.

Along with the stellar track, the facility boasts a climbing wall and a high ropes course, consisting of 12 elements 65 feet in the air. There is a military obstacle course, a weight room and a smart classroom that is equipped with all of the amenities needed for 21st century education.

“I’m really excited about the day I have the Corps in here, and they’re using the climbing wall and the high ropes courses and Darrin’s got the track team doing workouts down below, seeing all that going on at the same time the way it was designed,” said Slone.

“The commandant and I had a lot of talks, and we wanted to make sure that since we have this great facility, it actually gets used and doesn’t just sit there looking pretty,” Slone added. “We want to use it to its full capability.”

In that spirit, the facility has also been opened to faculty and staff who wish to use the upper-level track on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

All involved in the project agree that the Corps Physical Training Facility is one of the best in the country, and Webb probably summed up their feeling the best.

“We’re just fortunate,” said Webb. “We’ve got a great facility. I tell our freshmen and the kids we are recruiting right now, ‘You hit the jackpot!’”

Levi Whitt ’19 of the VMI indoor track team pole vaults in the new Corps Physical Training Facility during the meet against the Citadel. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.


Phillips Receives 2017 AMCSUS Leadership AwardLuke Phillips ’17 was selected as the 2017 Association of Military Colleges

and Schools of the United States Leadership Award winner. The award,

which consists of a $1,000 check and a plaque, will be presented at the

organization’s scholarship and awards banquet Feb. 27. The honor is

awarded annually to a top leader from among the six senior military

colleges. Phillips was recently ranked number one on the Army ROTC’s

National Order of Merit list, competes on the Institute’s track team, and is

the Corps’ S2 captain.

Correction: ‘Doing the Right Things the Right Way’The school at which Zack Scott ’89 commenced his coaching career was

incorrectly identified as the John W. Robinson, Jr. Secondary School.

The correct name of the school is the James W. Robinson, Jr. Secondary

School. Located in Fairfax County, Virginia, the school is named in honor of

James W. Robinson, Jr., who was killed in action on April 11, 1966. Sergeant

Robinson posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his “conspicu-

ous gallantry and heroism” in the battle in which he died. He was the first

Virginian to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. His father

later gave the school his son’s medal, and it is on display at the school.

Two Honored by SoConTwo members of the VMI faculty and staff, Col. W.G. “Grigg” Mullen Jr.

’76 and Lance M. Fujiwara, have been named to the Southern Conference

Faculty and Staff Team. The two are among 20 individuals honored by the

conference this year for their demonstrated service to their institution

and their contributions to the community. Mullen, a 25-year veteran of the

VMI faculty, teaches civil and environmental engineering and oversees the

VMI chapter of the Timber Framers Guild, which does community service

projects each year. As head athletic trainer/director of sports medicine

since 1988, and as an associate athletic director since 2008, Fujiwara

has cared for thousands of cadet athletes over the course of his career.

Mullen and Fujiwara will be honored at a home basketball game.

Professor Presents on WittgensteinDr. Duncan Richter, professor of English, rhetoric, and humanistic

studies, presented his scholarship on the well-known philosopher

Wittgenstein twice during the fall semester. Richter gave his paper,

“Wittgenstein and the Value of Clarity,” at the annual meeting of the

British Wittgenstein Society in Leeds, U.K., in September. He then

presented the same material at the Annual Regional Wittgenstein

Workshop at West Virginia University in October. Richter’s paper dis-

cusses the value of clarity in language and both the possible advan-

tages and disadvantages of terminological choices that aim not to be

clear or accurate but to persuade through non-rational means. Richter

believes that a discussion of the words we use to refer to events and

issues is relevant because political correctness has become such a

contentious issue.

VMI to Host 2017 USIBA Boxing NationalsFor the first time ever, on March 23-25, VMI will host the 2017 USIBA

Boxing Nationals, the national championships for collegiate boxing.

Between 150 and 200 fighters are expected to compete in this year’s

event, to be held in Cocke Hall. Quarterfinals will be held Thursday, March

23, at 6 p.m., while semifinals will be held Friday, March 24, also at 6 p.m.

Tickets for each of these events

are $10 per person. Finals will

be held Saturday, March 25, at

4 p.m. Tickets for finals are $15

per person. Tickets for all three

events are $25 per person, with

children 5 and under admitted

free to all events. To pre-order

tickets, call 540-464-7852 or email

[email protected]. Tickets

will also be available at the door

the day of the events.

Nutritionists Offer ExpertiseAndrew Vaccaro ’18 speaks with nutritionists from Aramark at a table set up in Crozet Hall on Feb. 7. Healthy food samples were avail-able for cadets, including low-fat desserts. The ses-sion, timed to coincide with the completion of the rat-line, aimed to give members of the Corps guidance on healthy food choices avail-able on post. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

March 2017 7

Post Briefs

Cadets Learn to ‘See in Different Ways’Two New Courses Explore Photography Principles and TechniquesBy Mary Price

Two new photography courses being taught this spring in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies are exposing cadets to one of the youngest of the visual arts.

Claudia Smigrod, a 34-year veteran of the Corcoran College of Art and Design, is teaching Visual Arts Studio/Light Studies and Optical Culture, along with Graphic: The Identification, Ethics, and Creation of Iconic Photographic Images. Smigrod holds the Edwin P. Conquest ’14 Chair within the department, which was established in 1971 for visiting scholars in the humanities.

Between them, the two photography cours-es enroll 23 cadets, all raised in the era of digital images and smartphone cameras, yet each is learning the roots of photography by developing film in a darkroom. Prior to this course, Smigrod noted, only one cadet had even used a film camera.

Smigrod described the design of the visual arts studio course as “a hybrid of working in the wet darkroom and working digitally.”

To help her cadets understand the funda-mental principles of photography, Smigrod had them make their own pinhole cameras

using empty paint cans. They then developed their images in VMI’s seldom-used dark-room, located in the basement of Preston Library. Doing this, Smigrod explained, helps new photographers better understand the roles of light and exposure.

“It’s important to be knowl-edgeable in your field, so you know the historical precedents,” she commented. “Working with film is so beautiful. Working in the digital arena should not come at the cost of the analog arena. They both should be able to coexist.”

The one cadet who’d used a film camera before, Albert Wu ’17, said that a chance to learn more about film was part of what drew him to the class. “I breathe digital photogra-phy,” said Wu. “It’s an old thing for me. Film is something I’m familiar with, but I’m not an expert on.”

Wu has been taking pictures since he was 14 years old and came to VMI with a

professional-level camera, which he used at the inauguration of President Donald Trump to take photos that were later posted on the Institute’s social media. A civil engineering major, he signed up for the photography course to fulfill a humanities requirement – and the chance to learn from an expert. “I’m excited to see what techniques I can pick up,” Wu said.

In Smigrod’s other class, the one focus-ing on iconic images, cadets are learning why certain images, such as Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, become so incredibly powerful and well-known. What’s more, they will attempt to create their own iconic images via assignments such as a self-portrait and a photographic documentary of a road trip, whether real or imagined. As Smigrod ex-plained, “The images we’re making now are the future iconic images.”

Smigrod is also taking time in the iconic images course to discuss the ethics of photog-raphy, such as at what point, if ever, should a photographer move from objective bystand-er to active participant in the scene he or she is shooting.

“I just want to shake up their brains,” she said. “I want them to think about things that they haven’t thought to think about yet.”

The freedom to explore and create in a new medium attracted Hayley Freeman ’17

Claudia Smigrod explains the importance of Ansel Adams’ work in the early history of photography to her visual arts class. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

Conquest Visiting Chair Claudia Smigrod shows cadets Angelique Barlow ’17 and Albert Wu ’17 how to print a positive image from a negative using an enlarger in the Preston Library darkroom. – Photo courtesy of Albert Wu ’17.


VMI Places Third in Game Day ChallengePhysical Plant Effort Keeps over a Ton of Recyclables out of the LandfillBy Chris Floyd

In one of his last acts as the custodial su-pervisor for VMI’s physical plant before be-ing named director of the new Corps Physical Training Facility, Capt. Isaac Slone gathered together a group of cadets and issued a challenge at the football game between the Keydets and the Citadel in November.

As a result, VMI was recognized as one of the top recycling institutions in the country.

The Game Day Challenge, a nationwide recycling effort embraced by many NCAA members, is a competition that encourages recycling during sporting events. VMI joined the effort last fall, and as a result col-lected over a ton of recycled material to place third among participants in the Southern Conference and 17th in the country.

“Our goal was to encourage spectators, staff, tailgaters, the whole nine yards to focus more on recycling stuff, to reduce the waste and trash that comes out [of the games],” said Slone. “We’re trying to encourage VMI to recycle year round. Hopefully people will start to take notice.”

It’s important, Slone said, that they do. And even if recycling is the last thing most people think about during a football game, they should start thinking about it more, especially at VMI.

“You can look at it economically,” he said. “Eventually we’re going to run out of those resources, but technology is advancing so that now they can use a lot of recycled material to make new things.

“I think it’s a stewardship, especially at VMI,” Slone continued. “We’re training cadets to be stewards of not only the country but also of the community. I think recycling and protecting the environment is part of that stewardship.”

On that Saturday in November, Slone and his group of cadets, led by Korey Bullard ’17, Kerisha Goode ’18, and Desmond Weinberg-Jones ’18, all members of the recycling club, started the day by meeting spectators on the parade ground. Each fan was given two recycling bags and a trash bag, along with instructions on what to put in each and details about the Game Day Challenge.

“We [also] had cadets whose job throughout the day was just to walk around, answer questions about recycling or to collect recy-cling,” Slone said. “They then got that out so physical plant could pick it up and bring it over to North Post.”

Once the waste was hauled to North Post, it was placed in two wait-ing dumpsters. Slone and his team then had to get “down and dirty with it.” Once the recycling was sorted and the dumpsters weighed, it was determined that VMI that day had recycled at a 46 percent rate, good enough for a respectable finish in the challenge.

Slone, who praised the efforts of the athletics department, the Keydet Club, the Parents’ Council and other entities about spread-ing the news about the recycling effort, said that while he was pleased with VMI’s showing in the Game Day Challenge, he was far from satisfied.

“VMI will continue to do it,” he said. “We’re looking to expand next year and are looking to be first in the division and top-10 in the nation. I definitely believe that with what we’ve learned this year, we easily should [do that].”

to the iconic images class. “For the iconic photographs, it’s your definition of what that is,” she noted.

After just two weeks of classes, Freeman found herself appreciating Smigrod’s teach-ing style, which includes giving cadets wide latitude in their assignments.

“When she gives you an assignment … she lets you be free and do what you want to do,” she explained. “For here, that’s different. It’s usually very strict. I love that aspect. When

we get to working with the film cameras, I’m really excited to have the free range to do whatever.”

Like Freeman, Smigrod has found herself adjusting to a new environment. Coming to VMI from Corcoran, she’s discovered that cadets approach the visual arts very differently than did the art school students she taught for decades. “[Cadets] don’t have a lot of art baggage, but they don’t have an art vocabulary,” she noted. To remedy the latter

situation, Smigrod takes time to introduce artistic concepts such as positive and nega-tive space.

The visual arts, she believes, have a critically important role to play in a liberal arts education. “Art has such a great impact on our life every moment,” Smigrod stated. “If someone helps us realize that we have the capacity to see in different ways, and to appreciate those who have come before, we are more educated.”

Over a ton of recycling material was collected for The Game Day Challenge during the Citadel football game last November. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

March 2017 9

Cadet Battery’s Return Recalls a Rich HistoryThe four cannons of the cadet battery have

been on silent display at the Institute for much

of their 169-year history, but Matthew, Mark,

Luke, and John have made some noise in

their time.

The six-pounder guns were custom made

in 1848 by Cyrus Alger and Co., in Boston,

Massachusetts, as drill guns for training VMI ca-

dets and emblazoned with the seal of Virginia.

Since standard six-pounder barrels weighed

as much as 800 pounds, the cannons of the ca-

det battery were a special design for VMI. With

barrels molded to be 14 inches shorter than the

standard, they weighed only 562 pounds, mak-

ing it possible for cadets to pull the cannons up

the hill to the Parade Ground during drills.

“These carriages differ from those that you

might see on a national battlefield in that they

are slightly smaller than the typical carriage,”

said Col. Keith Gibson ’77 Executive Director

of the VMI Museum System. “They were drill

guns, they were not supposed to go off to war,

but in fact they did in 1861 with the Rockbridge

Artillery and they continued to be used until the

1862 campaigns,” he continued.

It was during this time that the cannons

were nicknamed for the four evangelists by the

Rockbridge Artillery’s captain and Episcopal

minister, William Pendleton.

The cannons were captured by Union forces

during the war, and they would not be returned

until 1876. Since then they have remained on

display at the Institute. Though the carriages

have been replaced many times, the tubes are

the original ones made for the Corps in 1848.

Their bright brass color has slowly yielded to

the current green patina, and the decision not

to polish them was a deliberate one.

As Gibson explained, “It’s taken one hundred

and sixty years to create that look and it speaks

to their age and their time here at the Institute.”

As recently as the 1980s the cannons were

still fired for events such as Founders Day and

the New Market parade, but now their sole

purpose is for display.

As Gibson said, “They really are monument

guns, a testament to VMI’s service.”

– Kelly NyeCadets fire the cadet battery in front of Jackson Memorial Hall in 1985. – Photo courtesy of VMI Archives.

“The decision to go to the aluminum instead of the wood really reflects [the cannons’] current status as monuments here on the Parade Ground,” ex-plained Gibson.

VMI chose to use a company that is known for making Civil War era aluminum carriage replace-ments, Steen Cannons. Based in Ashland, Kentucky, the company has replaced cannon carriages at Vicksburg, Manassas, Petersburg, and many other historic sites.

“Anywhere there are Civil War cannons, you’ll find our carriages,” said Will Steen, a craftsman with Steen Cannons.

The company produces about four to six carriages a month, and their proficiency is clear. The company is able to replicate the original carriages in every detail, includ-ing finishing the surfaces with a wood-grain pattern.

As Steen explained, “they are painted to look like wood so most people aren’t going to be able to tell

Cannons Return continued from page 1

Continued on next pageA close inspection shows the wood grain pattern and new hardware on the cadet battery’s carriages. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.


they’re aluminum until you go up and bang on them.” The wood grain look is made by the painting technique used. Underneath the paint, the aluminum is smooth.

But the cadet battery presented a new challenge for Steen. The car-riages are not the standard size for a Civil War-era cannon. A standard cannon tube weighs around 800 pounds, which would have been nearly impossible for cadets to pull up VMI’s steep hill to the Parade Ground. The VMI tubes were specially made to be a comparatively light 562 pounds, with smaller carriages to fit accordingly.

“These smaller carriages… created a challenge in manufactur-ing. There aren’t any molds for them. Everything had to start from scratch,” said Gibson.

For that reason, the process took longer than normal. The carriag-es were removed in June 2016, and finally returned Jan. 10.

Steen enjoyed the challenge, “this was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime job, and it was really fun to be able to do it.”

Col. Keith Gibson ’77, Executive Director for the Museum System, inspects the new carriages with Steen Cannon’s Will Steen as physical plant crew members put the tubes into place. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

Winter Sports in Full SwingBy Chris Floyd

VMI’s winter sports teams closed January with a bang, with the wrestlers earning an impressive finish at the All-Academy Wrestling Championships and the basketball squad picking up its biggest win of the season.

Behind second-place finishes from Dalton Henderson ’17 and Neal Richards ’19, the Keydet grapplers took fourth place in the team standings at the All-Academy championships held Jan. 29 in Annapolis, Md. Two other wrestlers reached the podium, as John Reed ’19 and Chris Beck ’20 turned in fourth-place efforts.

At 125 pounds, Henderson opened the tournament with a 6-0 deci-sion over The Citadel’s Charles Kearney, and reached the finals with a 10-0 blanking of Brant Leadbeter of Navy. Henderson fell short in the championship match, however, falling to Army’s Trey Chalifoux, 10-6.

Richards won his first match at 157 with a technical fall over Ben Swanson of Norwich. Richards then slipped past Aaron Walker of The Citadel, 5-2, before falling to Army’s Russ Parsons, 12-0, in the championship bout.

After losing his first match at 141 pounds, Reed battled back in the consolation bracket with a pin but fell to John Twoney of Air Force in the third-place match. At 184, Beck also lost his opening bout, but he reached the consolation final with a 3-2 decision before falling to Zen Ikehara of Air Force.

The success at the All-Academy championships came on the heels of a hard-fought loss to the Citadel Jan. 27 in Cormack Hall by a score of 19-16.

The VMI wrestlers closed out the regular season with four dual matches, including two at home: against Appalachian State Feb. 8 and Sacred Heart Feb. 17. The Southern Conference tournament is sched-uled for March 4 in Charleston, S.C.

The basketball team had five wins through January, none bigger than its victory at Chattanooga Jan. 25.

Q.J. Peterson ’17 scored 40 points in that contest, and the Keydets opened the second half with a big scoring outburst to defeat the Mocs, 80-64, and snap a 20-game losing streak at Chattanooga.

VMI trailed by two points at halftime but opened the final 20 minutes with an 18-3 run to pull away. Peterson scored 28 of his game-high 40 points in the second half, which saw the Keydets shoot over 77 percent from the floor and hit nine of 10 free throws in the last 1:30 to seal the victory.

Julian Eleby ’17 added 14 points to the VMI effort, while Armani Branch ’18 chipped in with 13.

Armani Branch ’18 jumps for the hoop during VMI’s matchup against The Citadel on Feb. 11 in Cameron Hall. The Keydets beat the Bulldogs 101 to 78. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

See Winter Sports, page 14VMI wrestling faces off with the Citadel in a packed Cormack Hall on Jan. 27. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

Continued

March 2017 11

‘Be Strong to Be Helpful in Mind and Body’Modern Warriorship Course Strives to Inculcate Mental and Physical FitnessBy Mary Price

There are no gladiators or sword fights, yet the modern warrior-ship course that Maj. Matt Jarman, assistant professor of psychology, is teaching this semester has its roots in ancient Rome – and more specifically, a saying attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal: “A sound mind in a sound body.”

Jarman’s class motto creates a purpose for striving toward that ide-al: “Be strong to be helpful, in body and mind.” The class motto was adapted from MovNat’s motto: “Be strong to be helpful.” Jarman is a certified trainer for MovNat, a program that encourages participants to utilize the entire range of human movements, including crawling, carrying, jumping, running, and more.

Jarman brings a unique blend of personal and profes-sional interests to the class, which is held in Cormack Hall so the cadets can use the floor space there to learn movement techniques. On the professional side, he does research on meditation, which he describes as “one key tool for mental fitness.”

Jarman described the purpose of the class as “men-tally and physically preparing cadets to be of help to others, whether in a military context or not.” Being of help to others, he noted, is part of VMI’s ideal of the citizen-soldier – and he felt that a new class might help cadets grow into that ideal. “It didn’t seem like there was much explicit mention of what [the citizen-soldier] was and how to become one,” he stated.

The 19 cadets enrolled in the modern warriorship course this semester learn via the flipped classroom model, in which students read textbooks or watch videos outside of class and then meet in the classroom to discuss what they’ve learned.

In the case of Jarman’s class, cadets watch videos on topics such as courage, fear, and stress, before discussing these topics in class. They then move on to the heart of the matter: applying these psychologi-cal topics to physical training that combines functional movement techniques such as climbing with combatives training, including how to respond to weapons.

“Much of [the course] actually looks like a PE class,” Jarman noted.In addition to the physical workout they get in class, the cadets are

required to spend 20 minutes each day meditating. Mental fitness, Jarman believes, gets short shrift in modern life. “As a society we tend to neglect the mental fitness component, or we tend to minimize its importance,” he commented.

To that end, Jarman doesn’t cosset his cadets, either mentally or physically. There are no chairs in the meeting area because sitting on the floor is an intentional part of the class. It’s a purposeful dis-comfort, as is another assignment sure to bring shivers of dread for some: taking a cold shower. Jarman explained that he’s eager for the cadets to see that dread is a self-generated and self-inflicted emotion.

“That totally awful mental feeling [about taking a cold shower] is being generated by your thoughts,” he commented. “Meditation is about learning to let go of those thoughts. By doing that you gain confidence in your ability to put yourself in challenging situations.”

In that vein, Jarman wants to be able to get cadets past another fear when they come inside the new Corps Physical Training Facility to use the high ropes course sometime this semester.

And when the semester is over, Jarman is hopeful that the cadets will have found a new outlook on life, bolstered by new and healthy habits. “From my perspective, warriorship is disciplined, regular training, both mental and physical,” he commented. “Warriorship should become habitual. If it’s habitual you don’t even have to exert willpower. It’s just something you do.”

Cadets practice holding their balance during the modern warriorship class. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

Maj. Matt Jarman demonstrates a defensive move during his modern war-riorship class. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.


Going WithinMeditation Sessions Improve Efficiency, Productivity for Faculty, Staff, and Cadets

The 2016-17 academic year has brought a new offering for VMI

faculty and staff – twice-weekly meditation/mindfulness sessions, led

by Maj. Matt Jarman, assistant professor of psychology, and Col. Holly

Richardson, professor of physical education.

Jarman’s interest in meditation was what kick-started the sessions,

which are held on Mondays from 11 to 11:40 a.m. and Thursdays from

12 to 12:40 p.m. in the projection room of Preston Library. He began

by taking a graduate school class on meditation and mindfulness more

than 10 years ago, and his interest has grown from there. “I felt like it

was what I’d been looking for in terms of mental training techniques,”

Jarman commented.

Jarman believes so strongly in the power of meditation to improve ef-

ficiency and productivity that he even teaches meditation techniques to

the cadets enrolled in his leadership courses. “I consider mental fitness

to be a key component of leadership,” he stated.

So far, the meditation sessions for faculty and staff have drawn a

small attendance, averaging two or three on Mondays and five or six

on Thursdays, but Jarman is hopeful that the numbers will increase

once the word spreads. He added that research has shown the benefits

of meditation for a number of common conditions, among them high

blood pressure, procrastination, stress, depression, and more.

For Jarman, the rewards of the practice more than outweigh the

time spent.

“If you stick with it for a little while, it will make you more effective

and efficient in just about everything you do – whether it’s a sport,

academic performance, etc.,” he noted. “It will also make these things

more enjoyable, not to mention all of the other health benefits found in

the research. So from my perspective, you have lots to gain and nothing

to lose.”

– Mary PriceCol. Holly Richardson leads a meditation session in Preston Library. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

20-Mile MarchThe rats and their dykes – first class mentors – march along Robinson Gap Road during a 20-mile march on Jan. 22. The group departed for Buena Vista early that Sunday morning to hike up to Robinson Gap and past the Blue Ridge Parkway. To see more photos visit flickr.com/vmiphotos. – VMI Photos by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

March 2017 13

The Keydets faced the Bulldogs in Cameron Hall Feb. 11 before a packed house. VMI pulled away after halftime, winning 101-78.

The men’s and women’s swimming teams competed for the final time during the regular season Jan. 28, with both teams dropping dual meets to host William and Mary. The squads competed in the CCSA Championships Feb. 15-18 in Athens, Ga.

Meanwhile, the Institute’s spring sports teams are beginning their seasons on the road .

Baseball season opened Feb. 17 as the Keydets played four games in Wilmington, N.C. The water polo squads opened with four games Feb. 18-19 in Erie, Pa., and the lacrosse teams faced off for the first time in 2017 at Army Feb. 20.

“When you’re able to do those turns in a 15-man front and keep your alignment, the straightaways are easy,” said Wanovich. “So you just practice them over and over again on these turns and get the Corps moving.”

Those practices were successful in large part thanks to the Institute’s non-commissioned officers, including Sgt. Maj. John Neel, who logged his fourth time preparing the Corps for a presidential inaugural parade.

In a sense, the Corps has been preparing for this parade for years.“You can’t invent that discipline in a day or a week. What you saw

that day is the culmination of lots and lots of discipline over years of doing this,” said Wanovich. “It’s just a matter of bringing it all up to speed and getting the Corps focused on this particular parade.”

The 15-wide battalion-sized formations of the inaugural parade dif-fer considerably from the smaller company-sized formations cadets usually execute. That change made it possible to mix up the Corps in different ways.

“The Corps never formed up exactly the same way in practice. Every time they practiced they were standing next to someone differ-ent,” Wanovich noted.

The purpose of that strategy was to encourage the Corps to oper-ate cohesively.

“All these little barriers that come up at VMI – athletes and non-athletes, commissioning and non-commissioning, this major and that major, this company and that company – all those barriers

are erased. We blend you together and you operate as the Corps,” said Wanovich.

Before any of the training could take place, however, staff from across post worked many hours to overcome the logistical challenges of getting the Corps to Washington. The application process began several months ago, buses were booked far in advance, and per-sonnel across post pitched in to register cadets for the parade over Christmas furlough.

All that hard work paid off, and the response from the VMI com-munity has been strong.

“I have received numerous messages from parents, alumni, government and military leaders, and many others who were very impressed by the professionalism of the young men and women of the Corps of Cadets. They represented themselves and VMI so well while the eyes of the world were upon them,” said superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62. “The Corps was the finale of the parade, and with good reason.”

For the cadets and staff, the pride goes deeper than the pageantry of the parade.

“What I see is that we operated focused on one goal. They repre-sented themselves as the Corps of Cadets, and they represented us as a school to the president of the United States in front of a national audience,” said Wanovich. “The cadets stayed true to the mission of doing the parade as well as they could. When they did that, they looked magnificent. They looked damn near perfect.”

Inaugural Parade continued from page 1

Winter Sports continued from page 11

Cadets board one of the buses bound for Washington D.C. on the morning of the presidential inauguration. – VMI Photo by Maj. John Robertson IV.

The Corps of Cadets practices on the Parade Ground for the presidential inaugural parade on Jan. 17. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

Subscribe to the Institute Report online – www.vmi.edu/InstituteReport


VMI Band Shines in the SpotlightMembers of the VMI band have been traveling extensively in the first

weeks of the semester, acting as ambassadors from the Institute and

connecting with alumni across the country.

Their most prominent performance, seen around the world, was their

participation in the presidential inaugural parade along with the entire

Corps of Cadets.

Marching between the Corps’ two battalions, members of VMI’s

Regimental Band and Pipe Band brought the parade to a close with a

rendition of “Shenandoah” as they passed the reviewing stand Jan. 20.

“The cadets outdid themselves. It’s a really long day for a minute of

glory,” said Col. John Brodie, music director. “You prep so long for it, and

you’re on the national stage for about a minute, but it was worth it. I’ve

had an overwhelming number of emails and an outpouring of alum-

ni reaction.”

For those who make up the Commanders Jazz Band, the inauguration

was followed closely by a trip to Connecticut Jan. 27-29, where they

were hosted by Steve Nezas ‘89.

“We played at an American Legion lodge, and it was sold out,” said

Brodie. “We raised over a couple grand for families of service people

who’ve been killed.”

The commanders also performed a benefit concert in Richmond Feb.

11, which benefited the Richmond SPCA.

The band’s next big performances will take place during Mardi Gras,

for which the band will travel to Mobile, Alabama, Feb. 24-27 aboard

C-17 aircraft.

This will be the band’s fourth time participating in Mobile’s Mardi Gras

festivities. The city lays claim to the oldest annual Mardi Gras celebration

in the United States.

“That’s a huge trip. We’re taking 130 cadets down to Mobile and back,”

said Brodie. “We’re marching in two parades, and performing in two

balls. It’s going to be a blast.”

– Maj. John Robertson IV

The Commanders Jazz Band offers an old yell with Howard Hoover ‘43 front and center at a concert in Connecticut benefiting the families of fallen troops. – Photo Courtesy of Col. John Brodie.

Post Facilities Master Plan UpdateBy Kelly Nye

With the Corps Physical Training Facility complete, it is time for VMI to look ahead to its next projects. And though there are no new buildings in the immediate future, a couple of

current ones, Preston Library and Scott Shipp Hall, will see the upgrades they need.

The projects are outlined in the 2017 update of the Post Facilities Master Plan, approved on Jan. 28 by the Board of Visitors, which can be downloaded at www.vmi.edu/planning.

Though most of the changes this year fo-cus on the completion of last year’s projects, like the CPTF, there is one noticeable change in future plans. An aquatic training facility, an original part of the Vision 2039 plan, is finally in the early stages of planning.

“We’re investigating three different locations,” explained Institute planning officer Col. Dale Brown. “Once we focus on a location, then they’ll do some concepts, then they’ll put a price tag on it.”

In the meantime, the state has approved funding for three major projects on post. One is an overhaul of post infrastructure, including utility systems, heating, roads, and sidewalks. The other two are renovations to Preston Library, and a renovation and expan-sion of Scott Shipp Hall.

The Preston Library renovations will revitalize the functions of the space for contemporary academics. An architect and a construction manager have been hired for the project. Cadets will have access to more elec-tronic media and reading material. As Brown pointed out over the years, “the functions in the library have changed dramatically.”

Though an architect and a construction manager have not been hired for the Scott Shipp renovation and addition yet, Brown is certain the project will address design flaws, and make room for the growing Corps of Cadets.

The time frame for these projects will depend on how quickly the state can fund them. Ideally Preston Library and Scott Shipp Hall will not be under construction at the same time.

“Our intention is to not necessarily have them both going on at the same time but that’s some-thing to be determined… I think it’s going to be difficult for VMI to have two academic build-ings down at the same time,” said Brown.

March 2017 15

Milley, Ginsburg Speak in Cameron HallBy Mary Price

The future is unknowable, but two speakers at VMI earlier this month said that the Institute’s ability – and that of its graduates – to adapt to change is a strength that the nation needs.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Army chief of staff, addressed the Corps of Cadets in Cameron Hall. Milley, a four-star general who has served as chief of staff since August 2015, told the cadets that they must learn from historical events, but be prepared to enter a world in which the character of war – the how, when, and where – will be changing dramatically in the coming decades.

In discussing military history, Milley impressed upon his listeners how much inspiration he draws from the example of Gen. George C. Marshall, VMI Class of 1901. Marshall held the same position as Milley – U.S. Army chief of staff – during World War II.

“[Marshall] is the finest military officer that America has ever produced,” the 37-year career Army officer stated, adding that he keeps a portrait of Marshall over his desk. “World War II would not have been won without a VMI graduate by the name of George C. Marshall.”

Milley reminded his listeners that while Marshall is long deceased, the need for visionary leadership is ongoing. “Somewhere in this audience is the next George Marshall,” Milley declared. “One of you is going to step into his shoes …All of you in one way or the other will lead our nation into the future.”

After discussing the lessons of history, Milley shared with his listeners what he believes to be a most urgent lesson going forward: the need to prepare for a massive shift in how warfare is conducted. “The character of war… the ways and means of war… is, in my mind, about to undergo fundamental, profound, and significant change in the next 10 to 15 or so years.”

Milley observed that technology will play a leading role in this change, as there are already more Internet-connected devices than there are people. “You will be able to be tracked and observed,” Milley stated. “The proliferation of information technology is diffus-ing power.”

Robots, too, will eliminate entire job categories, Milley believes, and will make their presence known on the battlefield as well. “The time will come when robots will have widespread use in the conduct of ground war,” Milley predicted.

The “where” of war will also change, the general said. Urbanization will bring war to cities more often – a sharp contrast after hundreds of years of fighting in farm fields and rural areas.

“Guys like Gen. Peay and myself will not even recognize the battlefield that you fight on in 2035 or 2050,” Milley predicted. “In the past, changes in the character of war, the elements, were all evident prior to that war. … People couldn’t connect the dots. They couldn’t anticipate. It’s our collective task to do better.”

A week prior to Milley’s talk, on Feb. 1, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke on the court deci-sion she authored 21 years ago that allowed women to attend VMI. Ginsburg’s talk took the form of a question-and-answer session with Mary Hartnett and Wendy Williams, co-authors of Ginsburg’s recently released biography, My Own Words.

The decision required VMI to adapt, and, she said, VMI has adapt-ed well as indicated by its successes in the two decades since female cadets first matriculated.

When asked to give a brief background on the VMI case, which was titled United States v. Virginia, Ginsburg explained that deciding that case was eased by the presence of another, previously decided case, Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan.

In that case, which was decided in 1982, the Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that the Mississippi University for Women could not discriminate against a male applicant seeking a nursing degree. The majority opinion was written by the first woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court, the now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

“Both cases made the same point: that government can’t prefer men or prefer women for an opportunity,” said Ginsburg. “All doors must be open to our sons and daughters. They will choose to walk through those doors if they have the will and the talent to do so.”

Ginsburg also noted that the service academies had admitted wom-en long before United States v. Virginia made its way to the nation’s highest court – and their continued success boded well for VMI. “We were able to see the military academies were alive and well, it was easy to predict that the same would happen at VMI. … I knew [coedu-cation] would make VMI a better place.”

The Feb. 1 talk was Ginsburg’s first appearance at VMI.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg answers a question from her biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy Williams during an on-stage inter-view in Cameron Hall on Feb. 1. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley stops during a tour of barracks to greet cadets after his speech in Cameron Hall on Feb. 8. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.


Planners Turn Focus to South River BridgeBy Kelly Nye

Since the VMI Foundation gifted the Chessie Nature Trail to the Institute in 2010, VMI has worked with the community to ensure the Chessie Nature Trail is maintained and even en-hanced as an outdoor resource for cadets and members of the community.

At the moment, the biggest challenge in that effort is the absence of the South River Bridge – a situation the Institute is working to remedy.

VMI has submitted a grant through the Eastern Federal Lands Access program for $250,000 to design the bridge. Total cost of the construction of the bridge is still unknown but it is estimated that it will cost a little over one million dollars.

To make the complete 7.2-mile journey from the Lexington end of the trail to the Buena Vista end, users must take a quarter-mile de-tour around the site of the old South River Bridge. Hurricane Isabel eliminated that bridge in 2003 and it has never been replaced.

Once a new bridge is complete, planners envision the trail be-coming an even greater draw for outdoor enthusiasts from across the region.

“The trail is already a huge attraction for Rockbridge County,” said Col. Jay Williams ’83, post engineer. Williams chairs the Chessie Trail Advisory Committee, which brings VMI together with the local group Friends of the Chessie Trail and landowners with property adjacent to the trail.

The main objective of the advisory committee is maintaining and making improvements to the trail. With VMI and the community’s

best interests in mind, the commit-tee comes up with ideas and Williams integrates those ideas into VMI’s master plan.

“This reestablish-ment of the bridge will allow a complete connection between Lexington and Buena Vista, making it a safe trail for all peo-ple who are using it,” said Williams.

What was once the path for the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, the Chessie Trail is named for the company’s mas-

cot the Chessie Cat. The trail – which follows the course of the Maury River – is mostly flat and shaded with parts of it winding through private property and cow pastures. It is a perfect path for walking, running, cycling, and marching.

“It’s kind of a destination,” said Capt. Aaron Groah, project man-ager. Groah is the Physical Plant lead engineer on the coordination effort between the Friends of the Chessie Trail and VMI.

Last fall when the Friends of the Chessie Nature Trail hosted a half marathon and 5K, VMI’s Physical Plant crew reconditioned the trail in preparation for the event. Improvements included laying fresh gravel and building handrails on one of the bridges. More than 300 racers showed up for the event, many of them from out of state, further strengthening the importance of maintaining the trail as an attraction to the community.

More enhancements are also on the way. There is a $330,000 grant that will fund improvements all along the trail. That includes a 26-space parking lot on the Lexington end of the trail near the East Lexington Bridge, and better signs to lead visitors to the trailheads.

On a larger scale there is also an effort led by Lexington and the Rockbridge Area Tourism office to connect the Chessie Trail to other area trails. The hope is to attract visitors to the Rockbridge area by developing a greenway that connects Brushy Hill Preserve, west of Lexington, to the mountains east of Buena Vista. Both the Woods Creek Trail and the Chessie Trail would play essential roles in that connection.

More trail users bring more business to Lexington and Buena Vista, and VMI, a school that makes physical fitness a top priority, understands that the trail is not just about attracting outsiders, it is also about offering community residents the outdoor space for healthy physical activity.

As Williams said, “The trail is a huge attraction… it’s recreation for folks with pets, serious runners, casual runners, cyclists, the works.”

The ruins of the South River Bridge represent a break in the continuity of the Chessie Nature Trail. – VMI Photo by Maj. John Robertson IV.

Once the site of a storage building, this area off of Old Buena Vista Road will be a 26-space parking lot for the trail head of the Chessie Nature Trail. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

March 2017 17

Field Work Puts Cadets in the CommunityBy Mary Price

An English major’s life has traditionally been spent indoors, reading books and doing research in libraries, but last fall seven cadets majoring in English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies found themselves most decidedly outdoors as they undertook a field work project centered on the Chessie Trail, a 7.5-mile trail owned by VMI.

Under the guidance of Maj. Stephanie Hodde, assistant professor of English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies, the cadets chose a research and writing project that in-volved not only the trail itself, an abandoned railroad bed linking the cities of Buena Vista and Lexington, but also community part-ners interested in trail stewardship, among them the Friends of the Chessie Trail and the Lexington Tourism Bureau. Hodde chris-tened the project, “A Trail for All Reasons.”

Field work, a relatively new requirement for cadets majoring in English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies, is meant to help cadets put to use what they’ve learned in the class-room, while at the same time build relation-ships with members of the wider Rockbridge area community.

“[Field work] is an opportunity for [ca-dets] to apply what they’ve learned in their

courses and learn more in the process as they apply their learning,” said Col. Emily Miller, chair of the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies.

“Field work in the humanities and arts is involving cultur-al and rhetorical conversations about what’s going on in communities,” explained Hodde. “We wanted to give [the cadets] public writing assignments that involved community concerns.”

To that end, Kerisha Goode ’18, a member of the Keydet track and field team, found herself redesigning the Friends of the Chessie Trail’s website to make the site more appealing to runners.

“My idea was to get a runner’s perspec-tive on the Chessie Trail,” said Goode. She’d already discovered that the Friends of the Chessie Trail’s website emphasized hiking over other activities and begun to wonder if that shouldn’t be changed, especially in light of the inaugural half marathon and 5K that the Friends held on the trail in mid-October.

“Why don’t we expand on that?” Goode wondered. “People use the trail for more than just hiking.”

With the group’s permission, which was easily granted, Goode soon found herself in the role of webmaster – and with about 15 hours of time put in, the job was done.

Goode admitted that while she was pleased with the outcome of her project, just getting going was a struggle. When she first entered Hodde’s class and discovered that the Chessie Trail would be the focus, it was all she could do to stifle a groan.

“I learned to work with a topic that I had no interest in at first,” she acknowledged. “Nature wasn’t my thing … Bugs, mud—I’m a city girl!”

Nevertheless, Goode is glad she stuck out what seemed at first to be an unpleas-ant assignment.

“I really did have a good time,” she said. “I loved working with the people I was work-ing with.”

Goode also found herself seeing the trail from the perspective of a cross-country run-ner. “[The field work course] broadened my perspective, not just on the nature thing but also about running in general,” she stated. “I’m a runner, just not a trail runner.”

Like Goode, Alex Hill ’18 wasn’t so sure about the Chessie Trail focus when she first started out. Environmentalism “isn’t really my thing,” she noted, but inspiration suddenly struck one day when she was in Lt. Col. Glenn Sullivan’s psychology course on the suicidal mind. Sullivan was discussing ecotherapy, which uses nature as a source of stress relief, and at that point, Hill realized that she had a chance to change cadets’ per-ceptions of the Chessie Trail.

“It’s almost a unanimous idea here that people don’t like the Chessie Trail,” she said, adding that the dislike is rooted in having to march and run on the trail so much as 4th Class cadets. Changing that perception would be difficult, Hill knew, but she was willing to give it a try.

After much thought, Hill got in touch with the cadet peer educators, a group of cadets specially trained by the Center for Cadet Counseling to assist their fellow cadets with stress-related concerns, and decided to create posters promoting the Chessie Trail as a place to relax. The posters will go up on

Kerisha Goode ’18 and Greg Henderson ’17 take photos to document 2016 Chessie Trail Half Marathon and 5K. – Photo courtesy of Maj. Stephanie Hodde.

Maj. Stephanie Hodde and English, rhetoric and humanistic studies majors take a break from doing field work on the Chessie Nature Trail for a photo. – Photo courtesy of Maj. Stephanie Hodde.


the backs of the doors of toilet stalls around post in April and May—when the weather is warming up and, coincidentally, cadets’ stress levels tend to be rising as well.

“I knew I wanted to focus on the VMI ca-dets,” said Hill. “We’re the most stressed-out people in this area.”

As a result of her work, Hill found her own relationship with the trail undergoing an evolution. Before the field work class, “I hated the Chessie Trail just as much as everyone else,” she stated. That changed, though, when, Hodde gave her cadets a simple assignment: walk, look, and listen on the trail.

The listening walk “was very cleansing to me,” Hill explained.

“People’s perceptions of the Chessie are distorted. … “I’m hoping that people will get out on the trail and see how beautiful it is.”

For Hodde, changes like those that Goode and Hill experienced are proof that field work is making an impact on the ca-dets themselves.

“One of those most foundational things that needs to happen in a fieldwork course is that [the students] actually make a meaningful connection to their project,” Hodde stated.

But the connections didn’t stop there. “[The cadets] actually encouraged the institutions themselves,” Hodde continued. “I don’t know if the Friends of the Chessie Trail would have redone their website anytime soon without a push from Kerisha Goode. … Having that energy from the class helped the boards of those organiza-tions and the institutional stakeholders get excited.”

Forging those connections between the Institute and the wider community is at the heart of the field work experience, Hodde believes –and it’s not something that needs to be limited to any particular department.

“Field work is really a springboard for service learning [on post],” she stated. “I’m hoping that the course will help develop interdisciplinary conversations about com-munity work in Rockbridge County.”

The spring field work class is continu-ing the year-long focus on environmental stewardship, with some cadets helping to further an oral history project undertaken by Boxerwood Nature Center & Woodland Garden. Other cadets will be working with the Rockbridge Historical Society and the City of Lexington, among other organiza-tions.

Volunteers Enhance the Jackson House ExperienceBy Mary Price

Changes are being planned as the March 1 season opening ap-proaches at the Stonewall Jackson House. Those physical changes, to be completed later this year, will create more room for interpretive space in the Jackson House and will provide improved amenities housed in the neighboring Davidson-Tucker House.

One thing will that remain the same, however, is how much the staff relies on the volunteers who give countless hours of their time to make sure visitors have the best experience possible.

Approximately 60 people currently volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House in capacities ranging from gardener to shop clerk to tour guide. The house held its most recent volunteer orientation Feb. 16, and new volunteers are always welcome

The volunteers are so crucial, new site director Grace Abele notes, that without them, the house would not be open to visitors.

“Without the dedicated service of our volunteers, the Stonewall Jackson House would not exist,” said Abele. “They bring with them a lifetime of experience that allows them to successfully educate, en-tertain, and serve the public. I consider myself blessed to work with such a remarkable group of people from all walks of life.”

Those who currently volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House, which is owned by VMI, say that they most enjoy meeting new peo-ple, serving the community, and learning more about Lexington and its citizens on the eve of the Civil War.

“I enjoy meeting with other volunteers and making new friends with people who appreciate history as I do,” said Mac Lynch, who’s been a volunteer since 2014. “I also enjoy meeting the visitors who come from all over the world. No two tours are the same: some visi-tors know more about Jackson than I do, and others are barely aware of him. I am challenged to gear my tour to the knowledge level and interests of the visitors.”

Like Lynch, Lavonne Demsky enjoys meeting new people. “We get to meet so many people that are interested in learning about Stonewall Jackson the man – how he wanted to have a home and a

family of his own.” She also emphasized how much she’s liked getting to know the staff and the other docents. “I feel that I’ve made many friends,” Demsky said.

The Jackson House continues to serve as a center around which VMI’s ties with the community are strengthened.

Another volunteer, Tamara Teaff, said, “One of the most fulfilling aspects of volunteering is becoming part of the Stonewall Jackson House ‘family.’ The museum staff treats each volunteer with respect and offers sincere appreciation for the contributions of the volun-teer’s time and specific talents. Volunteers are valued as a contribut-ing part of the museum community.”

Tamara Teaff, a volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House, leads visitors through Jackson’s kitchen. – VMI File Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.

March 2017 19

Navy ROTC Cadets Pick Their Ship AssignmentsInformation Provided by Naval ROTC

Seven Virginia Military Institute Navy ROTC 1st Class cadets selected their ship assignments the week of Feb. 13. During ship selection, 1st Class cadets assigned to the surface warfare commu-nity choose their first ship and home port. Other than commis-sioning, it is the single biggest moment in their time at VMI and a unique experience.

The cadets Overall Order of Merit is used to organize the order for selection. Overall Order of Merit takes into account cadets’ academic, military, and athletic performance. The seven cadets who selected their ship assignments were Kristen Whitehurst ’17, Stephen Bernard ’17, Andrew Kelly ’17, William Cornett ’17, Angelique Barlow ’17, Clyde Crone ’17, and Nicolette Huntley ’17.

At the end of March, Navy cadets will travel to the Norfolk Naval Yard for spring field training exercises. There they will tour surface ship and submarine platforms and to engage with sailors currently in the fleet. This gives the cadets a good founda-tion for what to expect when they report to their first ship.

Marine Corps ROTC members are conducting inventory physi-cal fitness tests, running the endurance course, and planning for their field training exercises. They will head to Natural Bridge and will run cadets through courses of fire on the range.

The staff for Marine-option cadets recognized Samuel Trepp ’20, who was recently selected for a scholarship. The process to obtain a scholarship is competitive and requires high marks in

three tenets stressed at VMI: academics, physical fitness, and military aptitude.

The 1st Class cadets of both Navy and Marine Corps ROTC detach-ments will be attending a Navy Dining-In this spring. In holding with a time-honored tradition, they will “dip” their ensign or sec-ond lieutenant bars, and, in doing so, grow closer as a class as they prepare to commission into the fleet. They will be dipping their bars in water from the seven seas and in sand from Iwo Jima.

Naval ROTC cadets and staff pose in front of barracks. Seven 1st Class cadets have selected their ship assignments. – VMI File Photo by Kelly Nye.

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20 VMI Institute Report March 2017

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