Decisionmaking – Quick Decisionmaking
Big Red Car here on a glorious Friday. Well, actually, it’s rainy, but it is still Friday.
So, I was in conversation with a fellow graduate of Virginia Military Institute and we were discussing, of all things, the purpose of the VMI Rat Line.
Your first year at VMI, you are systemically challenged (akin to waterboarding, but who’s quibbling about technique) to learn how to be a cadet, absorb the military regimen, and study something like civil engineering. It is a hard row to hoe.
This is called the VMI Rat Line. Other places call it “torture.” It is a system which VMI has used since 1839 and they are not even considering changing it. About 2/3s of your class will survive it. Sometimes, only half. It makes Airborne and Ranger Schools seem a little tamer.
VMI Professor of Artillery and Philosophy Stonewall Jackson standing guard over Matthew, Mark, Luke, John combat veterans of the Mexican and Civil Wars. Keeping an eye on things down range.
To which, my classmate posed the question: “Why?”
To which I answered, “To prepare novitiate Army officers to be able to make a multitude of decisions under pressure.”
He graded my answer at B+. I protested and he upped my grade to an A-.