Popped up a story recently about my experience at a VMI basketball game with a friend and fellow Citadel VMI/ CITADEL, BAND OF BROTHERS How appropriate that I should be composing this commentary on the weekend of Veterans Day. I am a Citadel graduate, class of 69 (I may look like class of 1869, but trust me, its 1969). My brother, Lucky, is Citadel 67. You notice I use the present tense; no military school graduate ever saying he or she was a member of a particular class. VMI and The Citadel are the only remaining non-federal 24/7 military colleges in the USA. Having spent many years in the Air Force, I have the unsubstantiated opinion that the government school graduates (West Point, Air Force Academy, US Naval Academy) identify more with their military branch; the Citadel and VMI graduates more with their school and class. That said, the natural next subject is the so-called rivalry between these two schools. At various times in my life, I have lived in uncomfortable proximity to virulent, superheated rivalries- Yankees/Red Sox, Alabama/Auburn, Texas Longhorns/Texas Aggies. In contrast, the Citadel-VMI rivalry simply doesnt exist. Or, if it does, it is a gentle and collegial rivalry. I believe it was so even before the federal government intrusion into the running of both schools; certainly more gentle after these events. At the risk of seeming politically incorrect, I say no, this gentleness was not because women joined the corps of the two schools. It has to do with the mindset of those who would train to be soldiers, including the women. The graduates of both schools pretty universally have fond and humorous stories of each other(I went to my Citadel class reunion, scheduled on the weekend of the annual VMI-Citadel football game. We had a golf tournament, Captains choice, with two Citadel grads against two VMI grads. Not only did the VMI guys wax us good and proper, they also out-drank us.) and graduates of both schools enjoy self-mocking humor (Example- The Citadel and VMI football game was being played at VMI when the touchdown cannon went off by accident. The VMI football team, thinking the campus was under attack, left the field and went to their barracks to don their battle uniforms. Three plays later, the Citadel scored a touchdown). I visited VMI recently for the military basketball tournament ( Army, Air Force, VMI, Citadel) and attended the VMI-Citadel game with my friend, Lee (Citadel 69) and his wife, Margie. I wore my Citadel hat and was uniformly treated with friendliness and respect. Lee, a math professor at VMI, wore his Citadel hat, yet he cheered for VMI. While there, I began to see what he saw: the school colors fading and both teams becoming one, rather like an inter-squad practice. I was as pleased when VMI won as I would have been had The Citadel won. I applaud that they have some lights-out freshman players and will be their fan for the rest of the season. In this attitude, I dont believe that Lee and I are alone. What could cause this schizophrenia of loyalty? I think it is the sharing of mutual suffering and intent. The federal government invasion clearly drew us together. There is, however, more. Outside of VMI, no one can understand the rigors of freshman year military demands (essentially the Plebe system) while also trying to adjust to their first year of college. Citadel graduates understand and vice-verse. In my era of the anti-war sixties, the graduates of both schools were respected by the inhabitants of their respective home states, but elsewhere we were called baby killers and taunted by the flower children and a “hate all things military” media and Hollywood. This is hard to imagine in the current era where the country loves its defenders, despite war objectives that are as abstract as was Viet Nam. So there has always been shared suffering, both foreign and domestic. It is, however, intent that most closely joins us at the hip. We graduate to become military officers. We choose our military branch and climb the promotion ladder by way of individual excellence We lack the patronage and good ol-boy network of the government schools (Example: the government schools commission their seniors early so that they will outrank, by date of commissioning, those Citadel and VMI graduates of the same year). We go in harms way. When you hear about a Band of Brothers, you are hearing about us. Graduates from civilian colleges enter the work force. Or they go on to professional sports. Several years ago, University of Miamis tight end, Kellen Winslow, was stoked after a lopsided victory and, in an interview, hollered “This was a battle and I am a soldier!” ESPN football commentator Mark May politely jerked a knot in his tail, essentially saying “as long as there are real soldiers fighting real battles, do not ever refer to what you do as battle and do not ever call yourself a soldier.” Citadel and VMI athletes dont cry over lost games. We save our tears for the day when we will surely cry over lost comrades in arms. We are gentle with each other because athletic contests bear no resemblance to the battles we are being groomed to join. At Normandy beach in France, VMI and Citadel graduates are equally included in the cemetery there; the same for Arlington National Military Cemetery All of the graduates of these military schools have been trained to counter-intuitively run toward, not away from, the sounds of battle. Though I am old and will never again be asked to run toward the sound of rifle and cannon fire, I retain the firm belief that I would trust a VMI graduate to watch my back as much as I would a Citadel graduate. The peaceful sleep of American civilians is due, in no small part, to the deeds of the graduates of these two fine schools. When the graduates of these schools sing or listen to their schools fight songs, they alone hear the subtext of a quavering bugle echoing Taps across a green field, dotted with white crosses and Stars of David, blurring into the obscurity of a distant mist. Rivalry? No. Competition? You bet. All of these military schools graduates compete with themselves to be the best damned soldier possible and thus bring pride back to their school. Both schools have drawn a circle large enough to include the other school. Citadel graduates, my brothers. VMI graduates, my brothers. Sleep well, America.graduate
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 23:14:02 +0000
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