Jamie Bost, 18, marches with his VMI classmates during the Cadet Oath ceremony at New Market Battlefield. Photos by Catherine Bost.

Taking the Oath at New Market Battlefield

JENNIFER McMANAMAY
College relations staff writer

Jamie Bost stands tall in his summer uniform.

Catherine Bost’s son, Jamie, is among the Virginia Military Institute’s newest cadet class.

In 1864 VMI’s Corps of Cadets helped defeat Union forces at New Market, becoming the only military school to fight as a unit in combat. Each year’s new crop of “Rats” take the Cadet Oath at the Bushong family farm where the clash took place before re-enacting an historic charge across the battlefield.

Apart from missing her son (and bursting with pride), Bost is adjusting well to sending her firstborn off to college. For his part, Jamie came through Cadre Week with flying colors, even calling the Rat Crucible “fun.” The Crucible is the culmination of what is also known as “hell week.”

According to VMI’s Web site, “The training is physically and mentally demanding. It starts on Matriculation Day with a class of individual Rats. By the end of the Rat Crucible, the Rats have begun the long process of developing into the Class of 2011 by learning the virtues of teamwork.”

According to Bost, Rats become full-fledged cadets when the first class says they do – usually in late January or early February. The occasion is marked in a ceremony called Break Out.

Bost is the associate director of college relations and director of publications at Sweet Briar.