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First Capt. Jessica Tait (left) gets help from Capt. Johanna Gleason-Manduley (background) and Cadet Orva Crawford before a parade.
First Capt. Jessica Tait from Stafford is commanding officer of the VMIL Corps of Cadets at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, the only all-female Corps of Cadets in the world.
Tait stands at attention while colors are presented during a military parade |
By CATHY DYSON
STAUNTON
--If Jessica Tait was nervous about leading the world's only all-female cadet corps in front of officials from other military colleges, she certainly didn't act like it.The Stafford County resident looked like she was in charge.
Decked out in a dark green tunic with white dress pants and a thick yellow sash around her waist, Tait marched onto the parade field at Mary Baldwin College earlier this week with purpose and determination.
In chairs on one side of the field were cadets and commandants from across the country. They were at Mary Baldwin for the Senior Military College Conference.
Tait, a 21-year-old senior, wore a patch with six chevrons on her right arm, indicating she was the highest-ranking cadet on the field. That made her this year's commanding officer of the 140 young women who marched behind her.
No one tapped a stick against a drum, slapped a rifle onto a shoulder or moved an inch in their polished black shoes until Tait gave the order.
That much power could go to a person's head, but fellow cadets and Mary Baldwin's commandant said Tait is a model leader.
"I'm not intimidated by her, but I look up her," said Cadet Tiffany Parshall.
"She's the only person I know in class who everybody likes," added Cadet Johanna Gleason-Manduley. "And she's an amazing leader. I'd follow her anywhere."
Brig. Gen. N. Michael Bissell joked that he calls Tait "the saint" on the side. In the last decade, he has sometimes had first captains who favored friends or couldn't balance the rigors of leading the corps with the demands of the classroom.
Not Tait, an A student who's working on a major in art history and triple minors in leadership, history and Asian studies.
She also "takes care of her people in the corps," Bissell said, and constantly looks for ways to improve.
"She's ideal," he said.
The daughter of John and Monica Tait of Falmouth probably would blush at the praise. Her parents preached humility, along with the need to work hard and get a good education.
Her interest in the military came from her father, who was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea when he married her mother.
Tait considered going to the Virginia Military Institute, then she got some information about Mary Baldwin.
In 1995, the school developed the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership--VWIL--as the female alternative to VMI and The Citadel. The institutions were all-male at the time and wanted to stay that way.
VMI and The Citadel eventually enrolled women, by court order, but Mary Baldwin retained its all-female corps as an option for students who wanted a leadership program.
Tait never envisioned herself at an all-girl school, but she's come to like it. She jokes that she maintains a 3.77 grade-point average because she's not distracted by boys.
When she graduates next spring, she'll be commissioned into the Air Force as a second lieutenant. She'll have no student loans to pay off; in fact, the Air Force has paid her a small stipend since last year for her college duty. She'll owe the military four years of service and hopes to do a lot of traveling.
She's already seen much of the world. Last year, she saved her stipends to pay her way to Cypress. This summer, she spent two weeks in Africa as part of an Air Force immersion program.
She's also toured much of Europe, along with Mexico, Canada and every state in America, courtesy of her grandparents' camper.
"I like to consider myself a worldly person," she said.
Tait also likes to think of herself as an officer who leads by example. If she looks sharp in her uniform, she believes other cadets will want to do the same.
At Tuesday's parade, several asked why the buckle on her sash looked silver when others were gold. Seems she's polished it so much over the years, she's rubbed away the gold plating.
Tait also is a kinder, gentler leader who doesn't scream at underlings, not even the first-year students known as "nULLS." The name always has a lowercase "n" and means zero and void--the position incoming freshmen have.
As long as cadets, even nULLS, do what's expected of them, Tait is happy. Some military colleges believe cadets need to be broken down so they can be built up again, but Tait has a different approach.
"Why don't we take who you are as a person," she asked thoughtfully, "and refine you into the best person you can be?"
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
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FAMILY: Daughter of John and Monica Tait of Falmouth. Has one sister, Jackie, 20. EDUCATION: Graduated from Stafford High School in 2006 and will graduate from Mary Baldwin College in spring 2010. She'll be commissioned in the Air Force as a second lieutenant and probably work DRESS CODE: She has to wear her uniform every day because she has daily military duties. "I'm kind of bummed out about that," she said. "I'm kind of a fashionista, a dress-up, girly girl kind of person." As a senior, she can wear pearls and a slight amount of makeup. NICKNAME: The campus is pretty hilly, and students joke that "MBC" doesn't just stand for Mary Baldwin College. "It's also for Mighty Big Calves," Tait joked. |
