VMI Cadet. March 26, 2004

              Volume XCVII
Run independently by cadets since 1907
Friday, March 26th 2004
$1.00
N u r r t h e r 21^
CDT McGill enters the QMD with used
polyweels.
Cadets to See
Changes in Uniforms
By Margaret Smith
CWTNews Writer
The uniform
changes taking efiFect next fall,
or shortly thereafter, has been
one of the more popular top­ics
around Post in tlie recent
months.
Some cadets are
more concerned than others
about the new uniform poli­cies,
but everyone has some­thing
to say on tlie subject.
Second classman Wells
Griffith said, “I think the uni­form
changes are just a small
concern of cadets. We should
be more worried about all of
the other changes General
Peay is implementing. I think
the uniforms will help return
VMl to the ‘Old Corps way’
that was in effect before Gen­eral
Bunting was superinten­dent.”
The current changes
are in tlie works as the QMD
makes its way through tlie
Corps to get everyone fitted for
new uniform items. Accord­ing
to the “party line,” as one
administrator called it and as
it was described in a Corps e-mail
and in the histitute Re­port,
the uniform clianges will
provide a “simplified, more
austere uniform appearance.”
A VMI Uniform
Committee was fornied, con­sisting
of nine cadets and five
faculty members, who dis­cussed
the clianges. There wiU
be no pips, that normally dis­tinguish
between classes, on
the black winter class-dyke
shirts, and tie bars will no
longer be worn.
Males will tuck their
tie into their shirts below the
second button, a change that
is not well received by many
male cadets. Females will
wear neck tabs next year “on
a trial basis” in place of a regu­lar
tie and will be issued long
skirts and lower-heeled
pumps. Third classman
Adrian Cmerek joked about it:
“I don’t mind looking like a
rat. I didn’t do anything dur­ing
the ratline. So, this will be
a good experience.”
Rats will no longer
wear white belts because tlie
uniform committee felt that
shoulderboards with no crests
and white nametags are suffi­cient
to distinguish rats fitim
upperclassmen.
Athletes will experi­ence
other uniform changes.
Athletic patches on duty jack­ets
will be subdued in color,
without the sport name, and
will be sewn above the
nametape. In addition, a single
travel uniform will be manda­tory
for all athletes. A “run-ning-
style all-weather suit of
black pants and black, red, and
yellow zip-up jacket with the
VMI logo” will take the place
of team-specific uniforms
such as the black and red
wind-suit the football team
wears, the red and white
warm-ups of the track team,
or the rod polo shirt and kha­kis
the soccer teams wears.
Alex Correll, a sec­ond
classman and member of
the football team says, “I don’t
think it’s necessarily a bad
idea, but I am not sure how
practical it’s going to be... it
seems wasteful for a team that
has just recently purchased
continued on page 2
This Issue:
These Old Grey Walls
£ntertaminent.....,........Page 7
Dawn of the Dead Review
Surviving the Communist
Invasion
The Back Page...,......... .Page 8
Flip Over and Find Out
Jonathan Daniels Arch
and Courtyard Dedicated
By JB Thompson
fiUfT News Writer
Jonathan Daniels,
the Virginia Military Institute
graduate who died in a 1965
civil rights confrontation, was
recognized with the dedica­tion
of a courtyard and arch­way
in his memory at VMI on
March 25, 2004.
Daniels is a “prime
example o f a citizen soldier,”
said Colonel Keith Gibson,
Executive Director o f the
VMI Museum. Though he
did not serve in the military,
he served in “an army with a
religious ministry,” Gibson
said.
A native o f Keene,
N.H., Daniels was the vale­dictorian
of the VMI Class of
1961 and went on to attend
the Episcopal Theological
S eminary in Cambr idge,
Mass. He died dur ing a
bloody confrontation in Ala­bama,
August 1965, when he
pushed a black teenage girl
named Ruby Sales away from
a shotgun blast.
He honored as a
modern-day martyr in the
Chapel o f Martyrs, in
England’s Canterbury Cathe­dral.
Daniels is one o f 15
inartyrs recognized at this
chapel, and one o f only two
Americans, the other being
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The ceremony dedi­cating
the Daniels Courtyard
and Arch began in Jackson
Memorial Hall at 1100 on
March 25. The Very Rever­end
William Rankin, a semi­narian
with Daniels who later
became Dean o f the Episco­pal
Theological School, gave
the invocation and remarks to
the thre e u p p e r c las ses .
Do n z a le ig h Abernathy,
whose father played an active
role in the civil rights move­ment,
was supposed to give
the remarks but was delayed
from L.A. She later gave the
remarks at the courtyard dedi­cation,
speaking on the topic
o f “civility.” .
The fourth class as­sembled
on the two levels o f
the concourse at the entrance
to the west side o f barracks,
looking over the new Daniels
Courtyard, that was Bears
Den and fonnerly Lisa’s arch,
constructed in the late 1990’s
and now the newly dedicated
Daniels arch.
The fourth class was
the first class to pass through
the newly dedicated arch af­ter
they were released at the
conclusion o f the ceremony.
Before the dedication and
General Peay’s address to the
fourth class on the historical
event, the First Captain, Ben
Hassell ’04, told the fourth
class, “You are to be the first
class to walk through the
newly dedicated arch, even
though you are taking my
privilege.” The quote was re­ceived
by a chuckle from all.
GEN Peay told the newly
formed class o f 2007 to ob­serve
the quote above the arch
as they passed under it.
Above the archway
connecting the Barracks with
the courtyard, a quote is in­scribed
from Daniels’ gradu-continued
on page 2
Mess HaU Renoyation
and Remodeling B^;ins
By JB Thompson
flMETNews Writer
Despite community
outcry over the destruction of
a historic home, the Virginia
Military Institute began its
plans for expanding and reno­vating
Crozet Hall, the Post’s
dining fkiility. The first phase
of this plan took place on
March 8,2004with ^e demo­lition
of the Post Surgeon’s
Quarters.
With the razing of
this historic building, formerly
the residence of the head foot­ball
coach, located behind the
current mess hall, the Institute
can begin to break ground on
the expansion project. The
renovation and expansion
continued on page 3
Alternative Spring Break
By Oliver McElroy
CuiT News Writer
While most of the Corps
was enjoying various forms of
leisure and recreation, such as
lying on a beach enjoying the
sun or catching up on old epi­sodes
of Felicity from the
couch, two groups of cadets
chose to spend spring break
abroad, mixing with other cul­tures.
These two groups chose
London and Morocco.
The first group, con­sisting
ofVMI English majoi^s
and students in Shakespeare
classes, traveled to London for
six niglits and seven days, see­ing
tlie siglits and tasting some
British culture. Thanks to a
grant provided to the English
depaitment for $300,13 cadets
bought tickets tor an intellec­tual
adventure.
After waking up in a four-stiir
hotel, the students began a
rigorous schedule of
sighlsecing ranging ft-om fa­mous
landmark walking tours
toabustourofLondoa Most,
of course, observed as relaxed
a regiment as possible and
slept in, but some continued to
live as almost back at VMI,
rising early to run in Hyde
Paric Despite their best efforts
to sleep late, everyone went on
the same tours. Cadets visited
such illustrious sites as the
Tower of London, the British
War Museum, and the Na­tional
Gallery. Paying tribute
to the Bard, a visit to Stratford
on Avon was an absolute must
Although the first Globe The­ater
is no longer standing, and
the second one burned to the
ground, the group still man­aged
to see the third version.
Tliis “new and improved” ver­sion
of the Globe Theater was
built in 1996, complete witli a
thatch roof, despite English
laws against thatch roots.
Even though sightseeing
was a inajor part of the trip,
continued on page 2
Mogadishu Memories
Leave a Lasting
Impression on Cadets
By Larry Richardson
fioWNews Writer
Master Seargent
Black shared his experi­ence
concerning
Mogadishu, Somalia dur­ing
a lecture given in
Lejeune Hall this Wednes­day
in order to give cadets
a better understanding of
what really happened dur­ing
the events of the now
famous “Black Hawk
Down” incident.
Mogadishu, So­malia
was the site of the
biggest firefight since
Vietnam and took place in
the crowded streets of the
third-world country. The
men who fought in that
battle did not know what
to expect and considered
it another dull hot day in
Somalia according to
MSGT Black. The last
thing they expected was to
be sun-ounded, cut-ofF,
and left for a night with
only the supplies they had
grabbed before their heli­copter
lifted off from
Mogadishu Airport. That
mission has been made
famous by numerous
books, documentaries,
and now a movie.
MSGT Black
joined the Army in 1983,
got out, and then reen­listed
in 1991. When he
continued on page 3