Monday, August 25, 1997 Corps gains first women at site of brave stand as VMI makes history again As the Battle of New Market was a defining moment for VMI, Sunday's return - with women - could be another By COURTNEY MILLER THE ROANOKE TIMES In the past six days, Dawn Marshall has seen her daughter's face countless times on television and in the newspapers - cameras so close she could see the sweat on Jen's face. Yet that's all Marshall has had, no quick visits or reassuring telephone calls. "I just want to ask her if she's doing all right,'' said Marshall, whose daughter Jen Jolin of Monterey, is one of 29 women at Virginia Military Institute. After nearly a week of what Marshall calls boot camp conditions - no phone calls and lots of training - she expected Jolin to look a little rough around the edges. Sunday, parents were able to see the shorn hair and military gait of the "rats'' who until last week were their civilian children. Every year VMI buses its rats 80 miles north of the school to New Market Battlefield. The rats spend the morning touring the museum and battlefield where on May 16, 1864 - a Sunday - cadets battled for a Confederate victory, earning VMI the distinction of being the only college to be engaged in a pitched battle. Over the past several years, the daylong historical tour has become a gathering for parents, girlfriends and now boyfriends. For many, like Marshall, it's the last time they will see their cadets until parents weekend in October. The New Market gathering is usually held the Sunday before Labor Day, but this year it was moved up a week. Because of this change, the rats were still wearing their black-and-green camouflage fatigues. The tailored white uniforms cadets wear during the fall and spring won't be ready until next week. While the rats come to New Market for a history lesson, they're also buoyed by thoughts of sharing the details of the past grueling week with Mom or Dad. Throughout Sunday morning, the rats' eyes darted back and forth, trying to spot a loved one's friendly face. Tom and Linda Consedine from Richmond knew their son, Kevin, was physically ready for the VMI challenge. He aspires to be an Army pilot and has trained for two years - trained so hard he arrived at VMI with stress fractures. "He's very physically fit,'' his father said. "It's the mental fitness that is the challenge.'' Marshall was relieved to see Jolin: "She looks good. Better than I expected.'' The morning slipped away as cadets toured the battlefield and museum and parents stole hugs and snippets of conversation with their cadets. Near noon, the corps lined up to hear former congressman and Secretary of the Navy John Marsh recount tales of valor and courage by rats on the battlefield. A third of the cadets wounded in the 1864 Battle of New Market were rats. Ten cadets of the 257 fighting died while joining Confederate forces in a charge across the Bushong family farm. It was this battle, and the valor, courage, and values shown during it, that saved VMI, Marsh said. Many in the Corps of Cadets from that battle became influential after the war. "It was the defining moment in the life of the institute,'' he said. "One can very well make a case that it would not have survived the 25 years after the war.'' After the speech, the rats took their cadet oath and made a symbolic charge across the same field that helped define the institute and the corps. As they charged the hill, parents filmed their sons and daughters hooting and hollering. Justin Lewis, an upperclass cadet from Atlanta, said, "A lot of people are surprised at how well they are doing, which is nice - it makes everyone happy.'' Jolin was among the first in her company to receive her yellow, red and white pin. VMI's small crest was placed above her black nameplate - defining another historic moment for the institute.