By MATT CHITTUM
ROANOKE TIMES

The VMI women earned some respect after hanging tough and enduring the longest ratline in 10 years.

Even in a Spartan barracks full of mostly men, the first women to attend Virginia Military Institute found a few moments to be `girls.'

"Basically, we all saw each other in the bathrooms," said Kelly Sullivan of Jackson, Ga. "That's a girl thing, and that's real quality time."

But Sullivan and the other women said they never became a clique within the larger assembly of their freshman class.

"I can't say I spent any more time with my female 'brother rats' than the males," Sullivan said. "Some of these people I'll know until I die, and that's a comforting feeling."

"The women absolutely did everything that the males did," said Sean Collins of Gaithersburg, Md. "The women are fourth classmen. They're my brother rats."

The inclusion of the first female cadets into practically every facet of life at VMI was the main theme at a news conference at the college Tuesday, a day after the freshman "rats" climbed up a muddy hill to earn their liberty from the grueling ratline training regimen. It was the first time any of the rats - male or female - have been made available to the press since they entered the school on Aug. 18.

In the meantime, they've been worked out, yelled at, quizzed and worn out by the upperclassmen.

"But it all washes off with the mud," said Angelia Pickett of Glasgow, Ky. The same men who had tormented her, embraced her Tuesday when she completed the muddy breakout ritual.

"They said, 'Good job, Angelia,' calling you by your first name." Pickett said. "You realize the guy didn't really hate you that much."

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Sullivan said of the last seven months, which turned out to be the longest ratline in 10 years. But she said she knew she would make it from the very first day.

"When the first guy got in my face, I was like, `I can't leave ... I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere.'''

Sullivan's classmate, Scott Smith of Spotsylvania, said the presence of women made him think about not coming to VMI at all. He said he was skeptical that he would get the same VMI experience that the previous 158 classes had.

But by October, he realized the ratline was plenty tough, as were the women beside him in it.

"We have shades on our windows and a few more bathrooms," he said. Other than that, it's the same VMI he had hoped for.

All of the rats counted themselves changed people - more mature, more confident, more efficient.

"I learned that if you just continue to work at something, you can do anything," said Sullivan.

"Before I came here, I used to think five minutes was such a short amount of time," Pickett observed. Now she's amazed at what you can get done in five minutes.

Not all of the rats who started the ratline finished those lessons.

Of the 30 women who started the ratline, 23 completed it. Of the 430 men who started, 361 finished.

The female rats said they felt no special pain when one of their sisters left.

"Whenever any of your brother rats leaves," Sullivan said, "you lose a piece of your class, you lose a piece of you."

For the rats who made it to the end, yesterday brought a return to a somewhat more privileged life, with freedom to venture off campus or listen to a stereo in their rooms.

For the women, it's a chance to return to more feminine ways, wearing makeup and conservative earrings.

"You don't actually lose your femininity," said Erin Claunch of Round Hill. "It's just set aside for the ratline."

VMI administrators are already looking ahead to next year's ratline, with an eye for changes in the system.

"We're going to have to deal with more of a dating issue," said Commandant

of Cadets Col. James Joyner.

About the only problem the school encountered in its first year of coeducation was a pair of instances of sexual contact between male and female rats, which Joyner said was expected.

"We want to establish parameters [for dating] that are realistic," he said. But at the same time, "we cannot compromise our principles."

The biggest concern for next year is how the first VMI women will treat the women who follow them in the ratline.

"Women sometimes can be very, very malicious on their own," Col. Mike Bissell, director of VMI's plan to assimilate women, said he learned from visiting other coed military colleges. "Women held the women under them to the highest standards, were really mean to them, really tough to them. We want to be sure that they are gender blind like everybody else."

Pickett said she has no such desire herself.

"But there's definitely the feeling that, `We made it through this, we're going to put them through what we went through,''' she said.

Sullivan was asked if she was eager to get in someone's face and do some screaming.

"Yes, sir," she said with a smile.

* Eight of them made the first semester dean's list, with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Their first-semester grade point average as a group was slightly higher than the class overall, which is typically about 2.2, and a few could earn academic gold stars with GPAs of 3.5 or higher.

* The most popular major among them is psychology, with five women. Four are history majors, three chose physics, with others in English, economics, electrical and mechanical engineering and chemistry.

* Six are transfer students, nine are Virginians, one is Russian and the other is from Taiwan.

* Seven made up VMI's first women's cross-country running team, while others competed individually in indoor and outdoor track and swimming. Others were involved in club sports including water polo and rugby.