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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1981
A&M tops VMI in diversity
By CINDY GEE
Battalion Staff
Civilian students, Texas A&M
University’s scholastic program
and the freedom to choose were
appreciated more after cadets
visited the Virginia Military Insti
tute.
Last week Col. James Woodall,
Ken Cross, Kelly Castleberry,
Bruce Dunn, Kenneth LePori,
David Moyer and Arthur Pregler
flew with Texas National Guard
officials on a military aircraft to
Washington D.C. The group then
drove to Lexington, Va. and spent
two days exchanging ideas on
Cadet Corps operations with peo
ple at VMI.
“I came back with a tremen
dous appreciation for the environ
ment we’re in because we’re able
to experience things outside of the
military,” Cross said.
VMI is one out of two military
schools that are still all-male. The
campus is older and more compact
than Texas A&M and has about
1,300 cadets, he said.
“Non-regs and females are
something we should be grateful
for,” Cross said. “It’s a constant
threat because we (Texas A&M
cadets) could easily quit and be a
non-reg. The leaders in the Corps
have got to be constantly innova
tive to make sure the conditions
are the best.
“If cadets at A&M don’t like
what we’re doing, they can quit so
easily. That risk is the best thing
we could have. At VMI if you quit
the Corps, you quit the school,
and you lose about $5,000.”
Cross said another reason he
appreciates civilian students is be
cause they make Texas A&M a
much larger school, and larger
schools can offer better degree
programs.
Cross also noted that cadets at
Texas A&M have more responsi
bilities than those at VMI. At VMI
military officers run the school,
and at Texas A&M the cadets su
pervise themselves, he said. At
VMI only a small percentage of the
seniors have a position, and it’s
possible for a sophomore there to
have more authority than a senior,
he said.
“They really were impressed
by our uniform,” he said. “The
care, time and preparation of their
uniforms takes about one-tenth of
the time that ours does. They wear
shoes that you can’t shine.”
Except for seniors, cadets at
VMI can only go out on Saturday
night, and must wear their uni
forms to town. Cross said the
cadets there keep their civilian
clothes in a basement under the
building, and never wear them on
the campus.
But Moyer said, “They have a
museum specifically for George
C. Marshall. I’d like to see A&M
have some kind of museum.”
“I was surprised at the similar
ities between the two Corps of
Cadets,” Woodall said. Their ac
tions in the mess hall and the way
they treat their “rats” (freshmen)
were very similar, he said.
Woodall said the trip made the
cadets appreciate the conditions
they have at Texas A&M. VMI
cadets share a room with three
other men, and they have to roll
their mattresses and stack their
cots every morning, he said.
VMI is filled with Civil War
heritage, and cadets there often
discuss it. Cross said. The school
was burned during the Civil War,
then rebuilt afterwards. Most of
the buildings at VMI are the same
ones that were built at that time.
Woodall said VMI had the
advantage in parking, though.
Only seniors are allowed to have
cars.
Several of the first presidents
and professors at Texas A&M were
VMI graduates, he said, so there
are a lot of ties between the two
universities.
Woodall said as long as they are
able to fly with Texas National
Guard officers every year to
Washington, they will try to make
the trip.
On The Double
Northgate 846-3755
XEROX COPIES, TYPING
We specialize in Resumes, Theses, Dissertations
Open M-F, 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sat., 9-6
Greg Mier, a bio-engineering freshman, en
joys the sun at Harrington Tower Monday
afternoon. The weather continues to be unsea-
Staff photo by Chuck Chapman
sonably warm as the temperature rose to the
high 60s.
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Cannon restoration bills,
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By GWEN HAM
Battalion Reporter
The marines may be looking for
a few good men, but the Corps of
Cadets is looking for a caisson, six
trained horses, a skilled driver
and answers to many questions.
A 1902 cannon recovered by
some cadets a few years ago and
believed to be part of Texas A&M
University’s history, was to be res
tored for the University of Texas
march-in and parade in Austin.
But not all went as planned.
The cannon restoration didn’t
meet the University of Texas game
deadline, but that was just as well,
Tom Wilson, Corps personnel
pfiBcer said.
There are so many rules about
Southern Conference games that
instigators of the renovation pro
ject realized there was no way they
could have used it as planned,
even if it had been finished, Wil
son said.
Those working on the cannon
restoration initially hoped it could
be used at football games, parades
1 march-ins.
A few cadets discovered the
cannon in a gully while cutting
wood for the bonfire in the early
70s. No one is sure how it got
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there, but John Gunter, a former
cadet from the Class of’78, and the
Parsons’ Mounted Cavalry began
a restoration project.
“Back then money was short
and not many people held interest
in the project,” Wilson said. The
project died out.
Then, Wilson said, Pete Nor-
mand, a former cadet from the
class of ’71, wrote a letter to the
Corps of Cadets and stirred up in
terest in restoring the cannon.
At that time it seemed the only
thing holding back completion of
the project were wheels with a
metal hub machined specifically
to fit its metal axle. But in October
of this year a gunsmith in Oklaho
ma City agreed to take on the job,
and former students said they
would help cover the estimated
$3,000 cost.
Two thousand dollars had
already been sunk into the pro
ject.
Yet, the cannon restoration still
encountered complications.
“There was a lot more to the
project than we thought,” Wilson
said. “We had good response to
requests for donations but then we
realized that the cannon would re
quire a caisson to pull it, a team of
six horses specially trained to pull
a caisson and someone experi
enced in driving a team of horses
pulling a caisson.
“If we do happen to get a cais
son and six horses, then tbere’s the
problem of finding someone who
knows how to train the horses to
pull a caisson, boarding, buying
feed and finding someone to care
for the horses,” Wilson said.
Even though a few cadets claim
to know how to drive a team of
horses pulling a caisson, “What do
we do when they graduate?” Wil
son asked rhetorically. “These
questions have to be answered be
fore we can make anymore defi
nite decisions.
MSC
Political
Forum
invites
you to
“DISCOVER THE NATION’S CAPITOL”
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TRIP INCLUDES:
Breakfast with the Texas Delegation
White House Tour
Governmental Briefings
Kennedy Center Performance
Washington Post Tour
And much, much more!
COST: Only $475 (Same as last year!)
Sign up in Room 216 MSC
Deposit due March 3, 1981
For more information call
845-1515
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