VMI Cadet. April 27, 1979

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VOLUME LXVIV Virginia Military Institute/ Lexington, Virginia, April 27,1979 NUMBER 25
Marshall Conference in
Retrospect
Marshall Conference:
Several ROTC cadets gather outside Lee Chapel to attend one of
the many informal discussions.
photo by R.P. Wiggs
Tech To Sponsor
Energy Celebration
On Sunday, May 6, between
noon and sundown, the Virginia
Tech Drillfield, in the heart of
Biacksburg, Virginia, will
witness a CELEBRATION OF
THE SUN, featuring speakers,
-demonstration projects, music,
and much more. The theme will
be "How Alternative Energy
Sources Can Be Used iti
Virginia."
The speakers and topics will
range from John McLoud, a
solar equipment manufacturer,
on "Passive Solar Energy Ap-plications,"
to James Benson,
of the Council on Economic
Priorities, on "Our National
Energy Policy." There will be
several solar demonstration
projects, a home conservation
exhibit, and literature about
home conservation, solar
energy, and related topics.
Music will be provided by
Elizabeth McCommoner,
Catawba, Rob Northrop,
Crosswinds, Tom and Tierre,
and Bill and Dave. Clowns,
refreshments, and a kite flying
contest will help assure that the
afternoon is a pleasant one.
The public is encouraged to
attend this event. There is no
admission charge. The Celebra-tion
of the Sun is sponsored by
the New River Alliance, and
Students for SAFE Energy.
For more information, call
Jim Zello at 953-1124, Andy
Campagnola at 951-8450, or
Roger Cornell at 552-1077.
by Joe Burns
The winners of the second an-nual
George C. Marshall ROTC
Award, along with VMI's Army
ROTC contingent, were
priviledged to hear an address
on Thursday and Friday of last
week by General Maxwell D.
Taylor and General Bernard W.
Rogers.
Both men spoke in Jiackson
Memorial Hall as part of the
George C. Marshall ROTC
Award Conference.
General Taylor, a former
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, discussed "The Broaden-ed
Scope of National Security"
on. Thursday night. He was
followed on Friday night by
General Rogers, whose speech
covered "The National Security
of the United States — Today
and Tommorow."
General Taylor is a former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff. General Rogers is cur-rently
serving as both U.S. Ar-my
Chief of Staff and as
Supreme Allied Commander in
Europe.
He was introduced by Mar-shall
Award Conference Co-
Chairman Henry Cabot Lodge,
a former U.S. Senator and
government official from
Massachusetts. Remarks by
Senator Lodge about General
Taylor included his reference to
the latter as "...an authentic
American hero."
In his speech. General Taylor
defined national security as
•'the protection of those things
which we as citizens regard as
truly valuable." National
security; as such, had its incep-tion
in the National Security Act
of 1947, he said. General Taylor
cited changes in the world situa-
Keydets Observe West Point's
Plebe System In Action
by Bruno
In an effort to gain new ideas
and fresh perspectives on next
year's ratline, -two cadets
recenti4k«tiaxeled to the U.S.
, to Sunday, _
"lasker
in bar-
Second
a t e in
WashmgFwTHall,'which is the
West Point Mess Hall. During
this time they also had^the op-portunity
to attend classes with
the cadets if they wished, and
they were able to talk with just
about anyone who was con-nected
with the Plebe System.
This included the Cadet Brigade
Commander, the Commandant,
Major General Bard, and the
Assistant Commandant, Col.
Hutchinson.
When asked about the trip,
Loefstedt said: "West Point's
Plebe System is different from
ours in a number of ways. They
are trying to stress a more pro-fessional
attitude on the part of
the upper classes towards the
Plebes, and they are really try-ing
to concentrate on a more
goal oriented system, that is,
^ ^th^y are tr^it)g ,tp, ^r^ajkp the
Plebes understand why they are
going through the system. Un-fortunately,
they have almost
completely cut out the physical
aspects of the system which I
think detracts a lot from the
Pl.ebe's pride in completing his
Plebe Year. I guess the best
system is a happy medium bet-ween
the two."
While at West Point, they had
time to do some sightseeing at
the Academy, which, consider-ing
the size of West Point, could
easily take a couple of days in
itself. They were most impress-ed,
however, by the Cadet
Chapel which according to
Loefstedt, "is really magnifi-cent.
It is really like a
Cathedral, with its huge pipe
(continued on page3)
tion created by the "multi-polarity
of power", as factors
that alter the "meaning, but not
requirements," of national
security.
The traditional conflict bet-ween
the United States and the
Soviet Union, he said, has been
complicated by factors such as
OPEC and the Third World
countries, whose influence
stems from the raw materials
they control. "We are in an era
of scarcity" said General
Taylor. He cited the economics
of food, water, and energy,
coupled with both industrial ex-pansion
and the ever increasing
world population, as responsi-ble
for "causing new
alignments."
The Soviets are bent on the
"ultimate destruction of the
Capitahst system." Our in-creasing
dependence on foreign
imports, as well as the growing
competition among our own
allies he saw suited to the Soviet
tactic o'f "fishing in troubled
waters at little expense."
General Taylor stressed that
the military establishment"
must review its needs. The
Navy, for example, must be
able to both protect and main-tain
our shores and sea lanes so
that we can fight a prolonged
war.
General Taylor saw a
knowledge of leadership in af-fairs
diplomatic, political, and
economic, as essential to this
analysis. "Our government is
ill-organized to bring together
the vast number of resources
available to the government."
As a nation, he pledged that we
recognize the importance of
keeping our national balance of
power in alignment with our
military strength, "never
allowing our country to be in-capable
of a military
response."
General Roger's comments
concerning the Army's role in
national security were
necessarily restricted by virtue
of his position. "We are citizens
first, soldiers, sailors, marines,
and airmen, second."
The major challenge to the
military he cited as being the
Soviet Union; however, he em-phasized
that "our relationship
is one more of competition than
cooperation." General Rogers
expressed concern over the con-ventional
forces of the Soviets.
Mentioned specifically were the
Soviet T-80 tank and the BMP,
tiieir infantry fighting vehicle.
Ho asserted that we are out-numbered
anywhere from 3 to 1
to 5 to 1. "No longer is it an in-ternational
arena in which we
roam perfectly free," stated
General Rogers.
Talks with the Soviets must
produce "definitions but not
eliminations of military force."
The Army itself, he said, places
increased emphasis on "force
readiness;" a term that applies
not only to the Army but to all
services. According to General
Rogers, "force readiness" is in-dicative
of our ability to carry
out a war from start to finish.
"I am convinced that the
soldiers in todays active force
are the very best with which I
have served in 36 active years
of service," said the Chief of
Staff. But he admitted that the
strength of the Ready Reserve,
where our power lies, is "dropp-ing."
We need 700,000 men; we
are 500,000 short. General
Rogers favored the reinstitution
of the draft for this reason. He
emphasized that at any rate,
however, the key is flexibility.
More interesting — and
revealing in some ways than the
speeches themselves — were
the questions put to the
speakers at the conclusion of
the addresses. One of the
female award winners asked
General Taylor if he thought
that women would stand equal
with men when it came to the
draft. General Taylor said yes -
except for combat. He added
that he could not see a woman in
a tank. The VMI cadets present
replied with a round of applause
that lasted nearly a minute.
Surprisingly enough, the female
cadet held no malice toward the
Corps. The conference as a
whole she thought
"interesting," the VMI cadets
"very friendly." The woman
will be commissioned in
military intelligence upon
graduation.
Our own cadets were not that
generous. One man, a ranker,
expressed the opinion that
although "5% of the award win-ners
were sharp, and 15% wor-thy
of respect, he wouldn't let
the remaining 80% lead him to
the latrine." He condemned the
West Point cadets in particular
for chewing gum in Lee Chapel.
In retrospect, one wonders
whether such criticism is valid.
Perhaps there is a lighter side
to leadership. The conference
has ended, but the questions —
and impressions — left with us
will linger till next April.
Inside:
Track Team
Wins State
Brother Rat
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