February 28, 1999 History marches anew For breakout, 'Leadership Reaction Course' replaces muddy hill Seniors believe the new workout will leave freshman rats just as exhausted -- and more appreciative of VMI history. By MEGAN SCHNABEL THE ROANOKE TIMES Before sunup Saturday, the grass at Virginia Military Institute was topped with a crunchy layer of frost - except where it had been melted away by repeated friction from rat backs and knees and hands. "Head down! Knees down!" barked an upperclass cadet, as freshman rats from Band Company slithered on their backs under a maze of ropes strung a foot above the frozen ground. A decision made late last year by VMI's senior class may have left the rats doing flutter kicks and sit-ups at the base of Breakout Hill instead of charging up the incline in a muddy mass, but VMI's class of 2002 hasn't gotten off easy. This year's breakout -- the end of the freshmen's six months as lowly rats -- consists of almost 48 straight hours of physical training, marching and teamwork exercises that culminate today in an 18.5-mile march from Harrisonburg to the battlefield at New Market, where 10 VMI cadets were killed during the Civil War. A "leadership reaction course" - the school's name for the series of teamwork exercises - might lack the visual drama of the previous breakout tradition: hundreds of rats scrambling up a muddy 30-foot incline and being dragged back down by upperclassmen. But the seniors who did away with the hill believe the new workout will leave the 356 male and 26 female freshmen just as exhausted - and more appreciative of VMI history and the importance of teamwork. The hill "died its own death," said senior Chris Varner of Covington. "This is more motivating." "At first, I didn't agree with the idea," said Scott Smith, a sophomore from Fredericksburg who was a member of the last muddy-hill rat class and who was supervising Saturday's breakout. "I thought it isn't breakout if there isn't any mud. ... But this is much more creative." Breakout started Friday afternoon with an intense 15-minute workout called a sweat party, a five-mile march and a lengthy test on VMI rules and lore. The freshmen went to bed at 1 a.m., then were awakened at 5 a.m. for six hours of physical training and teamwork exercises. "They're drained," said Varner, watching his company figure out how to transport people and supplies over a 10-foot log barrier. "It's a big mental struggle." Micah Wei, a senior from Richmond, surveyed a group of rats trying to maneuver a loaded stretcher across an obstacle course. "They have that look about them," he said. "You know you're about to finish, but you know you have to give your all to get through it. ... I'm sure their bodies are just as sore as mine was." The day's exercises also were intended to give the rats' minds a workout. They had to work together to figure out how to scale walls carrying water cans, how to get over an "electric fence" without touching it, how to make a sturdy bridge out of boards. Whether breakout will return in this format next year is still a question, said VMI spokesman Chuck Steenburgh. "The real test will be when it's done, how both this particular group of rats feels about how challenging it was as well as how the upperclass feels about it," he said. Varner said the freshmen, who finally will be allowed to talk to the media after they shed their rat status this afternoon, have endured as much as any other year's group. "You have a lot of people talk about how the ratline is getting weaker and weaker year by year," he said. "But the most important thing is it's hard enough for them." Wei agreed. "I don't think anybody has ever come through here and said it was easy."