6AThe Daily Tar Heel Monday, August 27, 1984
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It's your first day at college. After
unloading the family station wagon
packed with enough junk to furnish a
three-bedroom condo, you say a quick
goodbye to your parents and prepare for
a year of more parties and all around fun
than the law should allow, right?
Not if you're a new Rat at Virginia
Military Institute in Lexington, Va. At
VMI, one unloads only what he can carry
. into the barracks by himself in one trip,
says goodbye to his folks and prepares
for nearly a year of Hell known as the
Rat System.
For the Rat, the first year of college
means hours spent straining (an exagger
ated form of military attention) with
upperclassmen inches away from his face
barking out orders and asking (yelling)
questions that to anyone else would be
trivial, but to him are somehow of earth- '
shattering importance.
"WHAT'S YOUR NAME, RAT?"
"Burke Sir."
"WHAT'S YOUR FULL NAME,
RAT?"
- "Patrick Burke, Sir."
"WHERE ARE YOU FROM, RAT?"
"Dayton, Ohio, Sir."
"SOUND OFF, RAT"
"Burke, Patrick, Dayton, Ohio, Sir."
(Repeat until upperclassman gets bored
with Rat.)
That first year also means a new haircut
which barely leaves the roots unscathed,
and a new wardrobe that is primarily olive
drab.
The obvious question is, why? Why for
nearly a year address upperclassmen as
"Mr." or "Sir," march in formation to the
mess hall for meals and even eat at
attention?
The answer is that the Rat System
- builds a "VMI Man," a man that never
lies, steals or cheats acts that are
punishable by immediate expulsion under
the Institute's strict Honor Code.
The Rat System also forms a common
bond between the members cf the class
of Rats. "A bond of misery between the
brother rats," as one VMI official said.
"This is the world's largest fraternity," a
cadet said, "and the year as a Rat is the
initiation."
Since VMI was founded in 1839 as the
nation's first state-supported military
college, its graduates have been rewarded
for their contributions to society with
awards including a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer
Prize, Medals of Honor and Rhodes
Scholarships. In World War II, both the
Chief-of-Staff and the Deputy Chief-of-Staff
of the U.S. Army were VMI alumni.
As Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a one
time professor at the Institute once said, V
"You may be whatever you resolve to be."
This statement, carved in granite over the
archway of the barracks, is the first thing
a Rat sees after unloading the family
station wagon, and the first lesson he must
learn.
Photos and tout
by Charles Lcdford
Third class Csdct Corporcl David Furness instructs a Rat how to "strain.'
YOU MAY BE WHATEVER
YOU RESOLVE TO BE
-"Stonewall" Jackson
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Corps cf Cadets rr.erching in rrJ'ISsry fashion to the mess hall, as always.
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Daily csity rrscrnfnj Yrcrkcut performed in Virginia fag on bzrracKs sward.
Even during flrct V.'.'l haircut "Hat Clbte" is prcccnt end res J.