Tech Corps of Cadets To Take Show on The Road

A football player hands the flags off to cadets during the 2008-09 season.
A football player hands the flags off to cadets during the 2008-09 season.

For a number of years, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets has partnered with the Virginia Tech football team to highlight the Colors during the pre-game ceremony at every home football game.

Three football players are selected, based on their performance in the last game or during practice, to carry the American flag, the state flag, and the team’s spirit flag as they lead the team onto the field at Lane Stadium. They carry the flags the length of the field and deliver them to three first-year cadets, also selected for their performance during their training, who are waiting for them on the south goal line. The cadets render honor to the flags and then securely carry them off the field.

This year, that partnership will be extended to include away games. At each regular season game on the road in 2009, one or two cadets who have distinguished themselves in the performance of their duties will be selected to accompany the team to the game and secure the flags on “enemy territory.”  The cadets, who are being rewarded for their outstanding performance, will travel, lodge, and eat with the team. The tradition will also continue at all home games this year with three first-year cadets being selected for each game based on their superior performance.

The first cadet to travel with the team will be Cadet 1st Sgt. Scott Forsythe of Germantown, Md., a junior majoring in political science in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Enrolled in Army ROTC, he is the first sergeant in Delta Company and was selected for this honor as the top performing cadre member during the cadre and new cadet training weeks, where he excelled in preparing and then training first-year cadets. There are 26 first-year cadets in Delta Company that he is responsible for, part of the second-largest incoming cadet class in 35 years.

The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets has been producing military and corporate leaders since the university was founded in 1872. It is one of just two remaining military corps within a large, primarily civilian university. The corps holds its members to the highest standards of loyalty, honor, integrity, and self-discipline. In return, cadets achieve high academic success and a long-lasting camaraderie with fellow members.

From VT News Service

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