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Chronicling the VMI Journey with First-Class President Cameron Cavanaugh, VMI Class of 2023 

MAJ. CATHERINE M. ROY, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING MANAGER: Welcome to this episode of the VMI Leader Journey. I’m your host, Major Catherine Roy, communications and marketing manager at the Center for Leadership and Ethics. With me is First Class President Cameron Cavanaugh, VMI Class of ‘23. Together, we take a journey down memory lane and chronicle some of the hallmark moments and challenges they faced. Said Cavanaugh, ‘You’re not going to get through it alone, and it’s not worth doing alone.’ We touch on his deep faith, gratitude, leadership style, and the courage of convictions that he and other corps leaders have to lead by example. On behalf of my colleagues at the center, I hope our audience will enjoy learning more about Cameron Cavanaugh and the Class of as they conclude their VMI leader journey.  

We’re with Cadet Cavanaugh. And I'll just have you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background and, in particular, why you chose to come to VMI.  

CAMERON CAVANAUGH, VMI CLASS OF 2023: Yeah, absolutely. My name's Cameron Cavanaugh. I'm a first classman, a member of the class of here at VMI I'm from just outside of Redding, Pennsylvania, International studies major. And I, I think that I landed at VMI because personally, I think it was it was a calling that was placed upon my life in conjunction with my faith. I just kind of felt led towards a lifestyle that was, you know, the stereotypical yet valuable outlook on things of, you know, wanting to be a part of something bigger than yourself, of course. I think that it's been it's been an honor being here. It's been a blessing to be here. Process of acceptance was a little bit unorthodox. I actually ended up applying to VMI a month and a half after the admissions deadline and I have a BR [brother rat] of mine who actually lives down the road from me at home. And he threw this place on my radar as I was applying to colleges. And the academies, of course, were on the, the table for applications, and that didn't end up working out. And he was like, ‘Well, I'm going to VMI. Have you ever considered military colleges that are not the academies?’ And I said, ‘No, I have not.’ And once again, applied one and a half months after the deadline and by the grace of God, I was accepted. And the rest has been history from there.  

ROY: And talk about what duties you currently have because it's pretty impressive.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, absolutely. So, I have the privilege to serve as the first-class president or what otherwise might just be simply known as just the president of my class. I was elected our fourth-class year or our freshman year here by, by the entire class. And there is a process of which it kind of takes the whole class and narrows it down, you know 50, to 25, to 10 and then, of course, they take a top three who end up being the class officers. And it's, it's been...  

ROY: And that's all decided by your classmates?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am.  

ROY: And how long after you matriculate does that happen?  

CAVANAUGH: So that process takes place around the April timeframe of the first year of which you are at VMI. However, I will say because of where COVID fell within our cadetships, ours was kind of delayed a little bit. So, we started the process prior to our departure for what would become an everlasting spring break that we would not return from. And then we finished the process within the first few weeks of returning our third-class year.  

ROY: Oh, okay. All right.  

CAVANAUGH: So, we weren't officially elected until the beginning of our third-class year.  

ROY: And you had already gone through break out everything.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes.  

ROY: You're on post, right?  

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: And then march. We were all dismissed, like mid-March.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am. Our Rat Line was not affected by COVID. And we were Fourth Classmen for, I believe, two and a half, three weeks maybe, and actually wore our fourth-class shoulder boards for one day and then departed for spring furlough.  

ROY: Oh, okay. All right. So, you talked about having applied to the other academies and that just didn't work out. But you had never heard of VMI. Is that true?  

CAVANAUGH: So, I had a friend of mine whose older sister had graduated in the class of 2019, and I was familiar through that means of which I got into contact with her. And she was very helpful and informative and actually set me up with who would become my, you know, my dyke or my first-class mentor. That relationship was one of which I could not have asked to be better. Mr. Braxton Kush was my, was, my, my dyke and my guiding light in some of the lower points of that first year here, along with his roommates. And it was just a very eye-opening and an experience that I was grateful for in the whole mentor mentee relationship, which is definitely something we pride ourselves at and within this VMI world. Taking somebody that has experienced years of this institution and somebody who's so fresh and matching them up. And of course, it's not perfect. The relationship doesn't always work out. But once again, I was very fortunate in that department in that first year.  

ROY: Tell me about some of the, the medals you have on your blouse there.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am. Within that whole admissions process, actually, I was planning the academies and my, my backup plan, not that it's a bad one at all was, you know, to apply for an ROTC scholarship. Fortunate to have received one through the United States Army. It lined up and sank with VMI. And so, I knew that after the academies were off the table, I knew I was going to VMI. I was going to be contracting with the United States Army. So, that process through ROTC kind of takes a year-by-year. And between your junior and senior year of college, you go to what's called Advanced Camp, which is kind of the evaluation experience over the summer at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for all commissioning Army cadets and that kind of dot the Is and crosses the Ts of the whole process of evaluating you as a leader. And then they take that with your grades and everything else in your cadet profile and they put you on an order merit list and you put your preferences in for what you like to do in the Army. And I was once again, I'll keep saying it over and over again, but it's, it's genuinely true. But I was fortunate to have gotten my first choice of becoming a military intelligence officer with a branch detail of armor. So, I'll be commissioning as an armor officer in May. So that's what the war tank and crossed swords are. And then the smaller one right there is a Norwegian foot march. Last spring, completed the and some change mile march that was put on by a few of my BRs and other cadets and big turnout on that one last spring put that one in. Also, over this past summer, I was fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to go to Air Assault School, which took place at West Point. And my class, composed of a whole bunch of cadets from West Point ROTC across the nation, some commissioned officers, there was a lieutenant colonel in our class, some enlisted personnel, and the Sabalauski Air Assault school instructors from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, come over to West Point every summer and run a couple of courses. So, it was very difficult character-building experience. I did, in fact, graduate from that school and that's what the wings in the helicopter are.  

ROY: And is there like a physical component, testing component, knowledge, classroom, what does that, what does that that school look like?  

CAVANAUGH: So, Air Assault School is it's about roughly two weeks long. It's split up into three phases. There's a day zero, which is kind of separating those who really are on top of their stuff and those who are going to take it seriously. And some physical components on that first day. It's, it's pretty physical throughout the entire time you're there. There's some extracurricular workouts, for lack of a better term. When your class is not necessarily doing what it's supposed to.  

ROY: How does that compare with, like a sweat party?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, it was. I was able to kind of relate it in some ways, but there were some points in time where I just kind of stood back and I was like, wow, I was that was pretty good. Now it was there was a couple.  

ROY: Challenged you, huh?  

CAVANAUGH: There were a couple repetitions added on, I should say. Yeah, but it's three phases. So, there's the first phase, which is basic helicopter knowledge. You learn about helicopters and all their intricacies and stuff of that nature and then get tested on that through a written test. I actually failed the first test that I took. But you fortunately get a second attempt. Passed that one. I was shaking in my boots, I mean, the whole time waiting for that second test score, because I knew if, if you fail the test, you get dropped on the spot. And then I was passed that phase. And second phase is called the sling load operations. So that's essentially how cargo Humvees and howitzers and and any sort of load is hooked up to a helicopter. You learn how to inspect the load and properly hook it up to a helicopter. And then that's a hands-on testing as well as a written portion. Pass that one. And the final phase is rappelling. So, you learn how to tie what's called a swing seat, which is pretty much a rope around your waist. And you get the opportunity to repel out of a Black Hawk, which is something I'll never forget. It was really, really cool. And we were blessed to have had the weather permitting the Blackhawks to actually land and give us the chance to do it. And then from there it's a few rucks, ruck marches throughout the school as well as some pretty detailed inspections, of which you have to have a whole bunch of gear on you at all times where they're able to drop you on the spot. So, it's a high anxiety producing environment, but definitely a learning experience I'm grateful for.  

ROY: Excellent. That sounds pretty exciting. Yeah. And did you get to network with some of the other cadets who were there? You made some connections?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. I got to see kind of a West Point's like and compare a little bit of those guys.  

ROY: You guys always want to compare.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes. Nah, it's, you definitely don't want to be the first one to start talking about things because you don't to sound pretentious or arrogant. So, you kind of, once again, take the back seat on some of those conversations and just wait to be asked about some things. So, there were times we were sitting at dinner, and they were, you know, I was just passing the bread and, you know, passing the ketchup and…  

ROY: Taking it all in.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, absolutely. And just asking some questions about the architecture of their mess hall. And I mean, it's beautiful there. It's, it's gorgeous. And when it would come up and they would ask where where you go to school, I say I go to Virginia Military Institute. There'd be a couple of responses of, 'Oh well,’ or there would be, ‘Oh, what's that?’ So, it's this pretty wide span of whether or not people knew about it or not, but people that did definitely respected this institution.  

ROY: So, the ‘Oh, Wow.’ What do you suppose that was in reference to?  

CAVANAUGH: I would assume probably some of the, probably some of  

ROY: news…  

CAVANAUGH: the Barbarian lifestyle, some of the news, the headlines, the surface level stuff. And whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I think that there was definitely a level of respect that was given for those wow-like responses, which was pretty neat.  

ROY: Well, they got to see you firsthand and got to know you  

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: And say, well, you know, here's my impression of this particular cadet who's representing the institute. So that's why it's so important who gets to go out to certain events and, and opportunities because you are representing this institution. And that's a, that's a huge responsibility. So good on you for that and congratulations on doing well and well on your way to your commission and getting the assignment that you want.  

ROY: Appreciate that, ma'am. Thank you. That's excellent.  

CAVANAUGH: It's a good point you bring up, though, because you very well, you know, myself or whoever goes out there could be the only example or taste of VMI that somebody ever gets. And that impression that you make is definitely crucial.  

ROY: Would you say that you got that understanding at VMI or was that part of maybe your faith upbringing? Because that, that kind of mantra sounds very familiar to me as a person of faith as well.  

CAVANAUGH: That's pretty much exactly where I took it from. I had just interchanged some of those words right there to touch on that, though, I, I wouldn't be where I am today without my faith in Christ. I'm I got to stop apologizing for saying it. But I, I can't emphasize enough how much of a blessing it is to be here. Just the, the trajectory that my life has been on and just the decisions that I've been able to make, the doors that I've been opened just as not been done by any hand of man. And I'm a firm believer in that, that we're all here for a reason. And the people you meet and the words you say, the times you say them and the people you say them to all have a purpose and intent behind them. Grateful for my family and my friends for being alongside me through it all.  

ROY: Have you had an opportunity to take the Lead 344 course yet?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am.  

ROY: So, since you had an introduction to the different leadership styles, I have an idea of what type of leadership style you have. How would you identify your leadership style?  

CAVANAUGH: Soon as you mention that class, Ma'am, I definitely think servant leadership was the one that popped up. I think that's the one I actually did a presentation on.  

ROY: Oh, who is your exemplar? Don’t remember? 

CAVANAUGH: I mean, it might have been Jesus, to be honest.  

ROY: Oh, wow. Okay. Pretty bold.  

CAVANAUGH: I don't know. I don't I may have used a plethora of them like Martin Luther King and a whole bunch of very well-known folks. I think probably servant leadership was one that caught my attention the most.  

ROY: How did you develop that leadership style? Is that just that's just how does that align with your values, for example? So, what kind of values do you have that feed well into servant leadership?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am. I think one of the biggest points of which my BRs and I have tried to work towards eliminating this year, you know, within the ranks of the Corps, really eliminating hypocrisy in especially when you take on a leadership position here, because it is such a a privilege to have, you know, a couple of stripes on your arm or a position of respect or authority that when you are issuing guidance or you are setting an expectation that you are also the example of which that is embodied. You know, so if you're preaching one thing, you want to be that Monday morning quarterback or it's like, you know, I'll say this when it looks all great in the spotlight’s on me and such, but also having that sense of integrity when nobody's looking and you can wholeheartedly say that I will back this and I will be this and I owe it to you as a leader to maintain that sort of outlook.  

ROY: So, that kind of leads me to my next question or point that I want to discuss. You know, the center chooses a leadership theme every year, and this year's annual leadership theme is the Courage of Convictions, which talks about moral courage. I think in Colonel Gray, when he did his opening remarks for the Leadership Conference, he talked about courage over comfort. Courage over comfort. And so, your courage of convictions is when you're going to stand up for something where you have a deep-seated belief or value system and you just are like, nope. That's the line in the sand. We're not going to cross that. And you talk about taking up the cause of hypocrisy, and you mentioned before we started our recording that you had listened to the Lieutenant Shockey episode, and he talked a little bit about that and a lesson that he learned in his cadetship where he didn't exercise the courage of convictions and got himself into a bit of a pickle. I think he was demoted, lost rank or something like that. But it really taught him what was required to not be hypocritical. To say, if I'm going to put out an idea, if I'm going to say this is the standard that first and foremost, that followership model, I'm squared away. What are your thoughts on that?  

CAVANAUGH: You know, there's definitely an aspect of needing to have not everything, but at least a few things of what you're not as a human being kind of willing to budge on. And you had, you and I ma’am had been talking about that prior to starting here. But there's been a lesson I've kind of learned throughout my time at VMI. And it's, you know, as much as I was really trying to convince myself that, yeah, we can get everybody on the same page, everybody will 100%, you know, be at least in somewhat of favor of something. And as much as I genuinely still believe that you need to strive for that with, with regardless of, of anything you're discussing, there's also a level of the responsibility of a leader to kind of pick a course to take and be confident enough with it that you're going to stick to it, move forward and accept the fact that, sure, there's going to be some people that have some quarrels with it, but you just need to be willing to have a conversation with them in the event that you, as the leader making that decision, did in fact make a mistake that you can admit it, apologize for it if necessary, and move forward.  

ROY: So, it comes to the accountability piece.  

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: So, what we say when we're having discussions in our offices, basically as a team, we all bring our ideas and our opinions forward. At the end of the day, it is the leader’s privilege to say, here's the course of action we're going to pursue, 

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: Or this is the standard we're going to uphold.  

CAVANAUGH: Absolutely.  

ROY: And then it's our duty as the subordinates then to adopt that order, that opinion, that direction, as if it were our own. I guess that's kind of what you're saying, is that that has to be modeled out and sounds like you got some a taste of that. Did you and have you encountered resistance with some of the proposals or directions or directives you've given and had to counsel someone?  

CAVANAUGH: I absolutely have. And there's been points in time where I have felt a lack of confidence in my decision-making skills and a lack of confidence in my ability to make a decision because of factoring in others’ thoughts almost too much. Need to be conscientious of what others are thinking and not disregard people completely because that's just creating a toxic leader. But I will also say that I've made plenty of mistakes. You know, I've thought that something was going to go one way and it didn't. I've thought that something was going to go one way, and it did. However, the positive result was not clearly communicated, enough of which others might think it may have been a negative result, which is an error on the communication of what the intent was originally. And for sure, I think one thing, though, I have tried to maintain not only myself but the team of my BRs and other corps leaders and such. We've tried to stir the pot a little bit because we can tend to maybe perhaps sometimes just become complacent and satisfied with a copy and paste mentality of how things are always done. And of course, there's an aspect of it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, when conversations are arising with people having the same complaints over and over and over and over again, I would rather be able to say that I tried something.  

ROY: Right. So, when you say stir the pot, you're you're would you say you're challenging your peers to, hey, you know what? This has been an ongoing issue. Let's fix this once and for all. Have would you say that would be accurate?  

CAVANAUGH: I would say for the most part, I would like to think so anyway.  

ROY: And do you feel like you have some checks in those boxes?  

CAVANAUGH: As far as trying new things? Yes. I think.  

ROY: Successful or unsuccessful?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah. There's been a.  

ROY: Or a mix?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, there's been some newly implemented things, whether they're more public for the corps or not. There's been some internal dynamics of the teams I've been on that I've, I've hopefully helped influence in a positive manner, but by no means have I done it like by myself,  

ROY: Right. Team effort.  

CAVANAUGH: It's been very much so. Collaborative effort.  

ROY: Now, you mentioned before we started recording too, that you're part of the C-SAB, the Cadet Superintendent's Advisory Board.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am.  

ROY: Has that been instrumental in helping you with your leadership in terms of how… you talked about the importance of communications, and in every one of our leadership conferences, I don't know if people noticed this over the course of their cadetships, if they go to more to one, hopefully what they notice is that communications, the importance of being a clear and effective communicator is a leadership trait.  

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: So, was that, participating with that club organization, useful toward doing this little pot-stirring that you call?  

CAVANAUGH: I definitely think so. What's pretty cool about Cadet’s, Superintendent Advisory Board is we try to compose a team of various perspectives because, you know, with its intent, we're supposed to be advising the superintendent on, you know, a solution to a, a broad issue. And we don't want, you know, closed minds. We want to foster an environment of open minds, you know, pull in from all corners of the corps so that we can really gauge on what thoughts might be stirring in any cadet’s mind.  

ROY: And would you say that those conversations in those meetings are fairly candid or reserved at all?  

CAVANAUGH: I definitely think they're candid, yeah.  

ROY: Because that's another important thing. If you're going to be a part of a team. First of all, the in the leader in creating the environment in which all the members can be candid and then fostering it and rewarding it by at least listening to the various perspectives.  

CAVANAUGH: Right. Absolutely. I completely agree, ma'am. Yeah.  

ROY: Well, talk a little bit more about ... going on with your cadetship. You know, you talked about going through rat year and going through COVID, and I understand you had some other devastating news that you faced during your cadetship.  

CAVANAUGH: Absolutely.  

ROY: If you're comfortable, would you talk about that a little bit?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah. Yeah. So, we had you know, I'm not just me, but I would probably say the class of ’23, in general. We've had quite the ride here at VMI. We've experienced, you know, from the beginning what I would genuinely characterize as, you know, some, some obstacles, some hurdles and adversity ones.  

ROY: Unique ones. For, especially, for your peers at any other institution.  

CAVANAUGH: Right. Yep. So, you know, we were, we matriculated in 2019. That, as long ago as that seems, even though it's only having been almost four years ago. But we matriculated and we were, you know, dancing around our little rat selves and going about ourselves and, you know, bonding with the first class or mentors and, you know, really learning what this place was about and approaching that that first break. You know, that first time we were going to be going home on Thanksgiving furlough, that was kind of like our first, you know, step back into a non-VMI world, get to.  

ROY: And seeing who comes back. Right?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, go home with their little shaved heads, of course. And everybody everybody remembers the first time they see their, their buddies from home and stuff. You know, everybody's patting you on the head and whatever hopefully are in a little bit better shape.  

ROY: Gotta rub the peach fuzz.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, it was I mean, that was awesome. You know, we were all ready to go home and, you know, just just rest for the first time, you know, first for a, a week or so and such. And yeah, break was going well, you know. A few days before we returned, my mom got a phone call from, from my roommate's mother, my roommate, Jamison Clark, and his mother had informed my, my mother that he had been in a car accident and had, had passed away. My difficulty in sharing this story is I don't believe that my account should kind of take away from just the impact that it had on our class and the school.  

ROY: Right. You're just sharing your own perspective on how that had an impact on you.  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, absolutely. So, you know, you're in shock. You know, I had personally never really experienced kind of a loss like that. And, you know, for some it might seem like, yes, it's horrible. I'm so sorry. You know, but they might be. Questioning, ‘Well, I mean, didn’t you only know the guy for, you know, a few months or something?’ But I think what's difficult to articulate is a few months at VMI can feel like a lifetime, especially...  

ROY: The purposeful, intentional bonding experiences of your class. Yeah. You do create very deep bonds in a very short period of time.  

CAVANAUGH: Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, for especially the most closely knit unit that you have at VMI is your roommates. We'd been a four-man room. And, you know, my other roommates, Frank Azzarello and Ben Capehart, our whole company, Alpha Company, and our whole Rat Mass at the time. And, you know, the school are the first class. I mean, just the, the, the shattering, you know, bolt of electricity that just kind of goes down your spine when something like this happens and not really knowing what the right thing to do is next. You know, you want to be supportive for each other. You want to reach out to the family, you want to do this, do that, do the other thing, and you got to pump the brakes for a second and kind of just let yourself, you know, to take it in. And I mean, I yeah, there's tears and emotions and, you know, just I mean, that's one of my closest friends in this in college for whatever that term meant in our minds at that point. You know, we had returned from furlough, and we were welcomed with, with what I would say, you know, pretty open arms. We had a meeting, a Rat Mass meeting with the leadership of the First Class at the time. That is a night I'll never forget. The first-class president getting up there and having the, the burden of trying to express to us the situation we were in that, you know, one could only hope a class never has to go through, you know, VMI or not. Men within that room, of which I didn't think I would see cry, you know, embracing us, pulling us aside, you know, giving us a hug and offering that hand that was so greatly needed. And, I mean, we walked out of there and ended up, you know, dedicating a lot of what would be the rest of the Rat Line to the Jamison. And had, you know, we increased the push up count by one. So, every time we would stop and do push-ups, there was one for our Brother Rat Jamison Clark. And, you know, we have since, since our Rat year and such, we've done a memorial tribute every year. And I'm very close with, with his family. And we have a brick that we got and carried our breakout day.  

ROY: I heard about that.  

CAVANAUGH: And I've carried it personally on a lot of, you know, Rucks throughout the cadetship and big events and stuff of that nature. And our dykes class bought us a brick with his name that's on the sidewalk in front of barracks and, you know, we've, we've really tried to keep his his legacy alive and continue on with the class of ’23 because he's forever gonna be our brother rat.  

ROY: And so, aside from the bond that you had with him, why was he so special? What kind of impact and reach did he have amongst your peers?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, absolutely. He was he was goofball. I mean, his sense of humor was one of the forefronts of his personality. He just his ability to make people laugh. He would, he would show you his smile. He was he was a kind guy. You know, he at the end of it all, you know, you would he was looking out for you. I definitely felt like he was. And just somebody could sit down and have conversation with, you know, really dig into some stories and just, you know, kind of blow some smoke about life, you know, and stuff.  

ROY: Sounds like he had joy and yeah, was a...

CAVANAUGH: He was a goober.  

ROY: Listener.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, he was a goober though, I will say I'm not going to make that one.  

ROY: So, pranks?  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are plenty of them. Yeah. Good. Yeah. All for, all for good stories.  

ROY: Well, excellent. So, then you get through your Rat Line, you break out, and then Mid-March hits and you've got that. And then, I mean, just the hits kept on coming.  

CAVANAUGH: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. We are. We had a meeting prior to, you know, spring furlough and I mean, I'm sure this.  

ROY: This year, or 2020?    

CAVANAUGH: 2020, Ma’am. Yeah. And I'm sure colleges across the world had similar things, but, you know, the commandant had pulled us in and was like, you know, make sure make sure you take your, your textbooks home and, you know, just in case, you know, like maybe we extend spring furlough for any, like unforeseen reason or something. It was like, all right, cool. I didn't take like my biology textbook home. And that would be a regret on a few months later, of course, but whatever. And that spring furlough ended up being extended from like March to April and then April to we're not coming back for the semester. And then from there to, well, this is what your third-class year is going to look like. And of course, the, you know, the wearing of masks and the, the tightening of procedures. And I mean, this, this was a different place that year. And I think faculty, staff, administration, cadets, everybody knows what I mean when I say.  

ROY: Yeah, we were definitely all Zoom-ed out.  

CAVANAUGH: and yeah, yeah, yeah.  

ROY: And then the hotels you guys getting isolate, get quarantined and all that just.  

CAVANAUGH: And the lifestyle that we live in, how of, you know, close proximity that we all are. It's like the contact tracing and all that was just, I mean it was consuming people every day. And you know, the concern over, you know, mental health and such and I mean, it was, it really, it threw a lot of folks for, for a ringer. We're just trying to all be there for each other. And but that was something else. That third-class year.  

ROY: Any other challenges after that to your class or to the Institute that kind of were hallmarks that you'll look back and you remember when.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah. Well, I think amongst everything that was happening across the world with COVID, you know, our smaller VMI world was dealing with all the investigation and allegations and, you know, the removal of the statue and I mean just the surrounding controversies and such of that nature that were, you know, really once again taken a a different angle and a different plunge At what was, what what is our school. So that was it was like fighting two battles on you know, with, with the capabilities of one front. And, I mean, it was, yeah, that was definitely a time to be here especially be here not just be associated with VMI, but like be here for it.  

ROY: Historic.  

CAVANAUGH. Yeah, absolutely.  

ROY: So as class president, and you, you say, correct me if I'm wrong, but you've been class president since  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am.  

ROY: Your fourth-class year?  

CAVANAUGH: Yes, ma'am.  

ROY: What role did you take on in terms of helping usher your class through that? What kind of support did you provide or or feel you needed to support to provide?  

CAVANAUGH: Right. Yeah, I'll kind of share my thoughts on what I was hoping that I was doing during the time. You have to ask a random sampling of BRs what they, what they remember from the time. But I will say our class, having been third classmen at the time we're actually very fortunate to be third classmen while that was always going on. Because if you look at kind of the big, monumental, you know, points within a cadetship, you think of Breakout, you think of ring figure, you think of graduation and third-class year, none of those things occur. Right?  

ROY: Right.  

CAVANAUGH: So, we were  

ROY: Yeah, you're just kind of marinating in the system.  

CAVANAUGH: We almost got like.  

ROY: Focus on your studies.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we were just trying to keep our conduct, you know, within the left and right limits of everything that was being pushed down the pipeline and, you know, putting out fires, if necessary, you know, metaphorically speaking, of course. But then, you know, just really trying to look out for each other, you know, pop the head in the room here and there being like, you know, how how are you actually doing? You know, and lending a shoulder for, for those who needed it.  

ROY: So that's what you and your, the leadership did just basically said, ‘Hey, let's just divvy this up and we're going to go and make sure check in on everybody.’  

CAVANAUGH: I think so. I think that was from what I remember, I think that was probably one of if not the biggest priority was just, you know, taking things as they would come because there'd be a new announcement about some or a new way that things are going to be done or, you know, a new procedure. Oh, look, now we're not having formations every day or now we're not having this or now we are doing this and trying to keep people informed.  

ROY: So that kind of brings us back a little bit to the work that you did with C-SAB. I know you guys were talking about the confusing communications. Would you say that these crises highlighted the fact that communications needed to be a little bit more clear and streamlined?  

CAVANAUGH: I think so, yeah. You know, of course there's a facet of needing to manage the complaints of folks. You know, there's it's it's always kind of difficult to once again, please everybody. And I think people complaining about, you know, well, not knowing information or, you know, things not being transparent enough to actually understand what was going on. You know, that's always a topic of conversation when you talk about VMI.  

ROY: I think that's always a challenge, too, because I think for what, you know, as a parent, I can tell you that today's kids really want to know why. Why am I doing that? Why are we changing this? And so, context. You talk about transparency. Context would be another word to put with that.  

CAVANAUGH: Yep.  

ROY: And have you all been able to roll out the communications app or test that out at all?  

CAVANAUGH: I believe it is in some of the final kind of like piloting stages. The last update I received was, you know, it's being tested kind of by various pools of, of cadets and stuff that are being brought into really check out and utilize its features and give some feedback and such.  

ROY: Well, that sounds very promising. Certainly, having a dashboard of sorts where you can get reliable information rather than the rumor mill.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah.  

ROY: Hopefully, will clear up communication issues, whatever they may have been or  

CAVANAUGH: Hopefully it centralizes things.  

ROY: Yeah, centralizes is good. So those were kind of the main points that I wanted to cover. Do you have anything else you wanted to share?  

CAVANAUGH: Before coming to this interview, and I'm very grateful for the chance to do it, ma’am, I appreciate you ask and thank you for being patient with scheduling everything and such. I'm sorry for all that, but  

ROY: It's life.  

CAVANAUGH: You know, it's just been a year of kind of, you know, we're we're roughly over halfway and halfway through what is our, you know, my my final year here. You know, Lord willing, nothing else goes astray the rest of this year. But it has been a I think not only for myself, but my BRs can attest to the same, that we've been kind of reflecting, you know, over what it's what it's been like being at VMI. And of course, there's all the, the little, small things here and there that you can, you know, share negative accounts on. But I think the beauty of VMI is really vested in the people. And, yeah, you know, it's probably once again, a cliche.  

ROY: You are taking about the administration staff and faculty.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, yeah. The people, the administration, the staff and faculty, your brother rats, too, especially. And just the relationships that that grow from such a unique process and that it works. The whole piece on the inscription on the parapet, you know, producing educated and honorable men and women, you know, that are citizen soldiers and prepared, you know, for, for life. The intent of that mission and what we're trying to do here within that process, I think is, is still intact. You know, with, with any sort of talk outside of the walls. And, you know, of course, the repeating encouragement that myself, my BRs have of, you know, if you're hearing something about VMI and you're not currently at VMI, I encourage, encourage you to, you know, really seek out and talk to one of us about what's actually going on, you know, to clear up, misconceptions and stuff because this this process in this time, especially at the point in my life where we're closing out the experience, has, it's, it's just been, it's been a blessing and just something I think not only myself but a lot of cadets are if they really thought about it or are grateful for. This is a special place. And, and I've definitely learned a lot, just large scale and small scale.  

ROY: I would say that's important. An important perspective to keep in mind. And I heard an alumna say this recently that she said, you know, my cadetship at that organization was mine. It wasn't somebody else's, certainly not somebody who came before me or who came after me. And I've done some reading up on how we recall these formative years. You know, you guys are young, very impressionable. Life may not have, hopefully has not, calloused you too much. And so, what you [recall from those] experiences when you're over the age of is actually psychological studies on this is very powerful. I would characterize that as recalling those memories with vivid detail and maybe some hyperbole blown in there. We had the best this. We had the worst that.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah.  

ROY: It's how you recall  

CAVANAUGH: Oh, yeah,  

ROY: these ages between about ten and years old. That's a phenomenon that happens. But to compare to your experience, your cadetship in the time in history in which you're experiencing it, I think does a bit of an injustice to anyone else going through here. That's why we want to chronicle these VMI leader journeys on our podcast, because our mantra is that it's unique to you.  

CAVANAUGH: Yup.  

ROY: It's unique to your perspectives, your values, your courage of convictions, the leadership opportunities and choices that you make, how much of yourself you put into really assimilating to the system, and really the intent of what we're trying to create here, which you very well quoted with graduating citizen soldiers of honor and integrity. And the servant leadership model is definitely a very formidable one, a proven one,  

CAVANAUGH: Right.  

ROY: throughout tested time. Any other words, advice that you might have to someone listening to this?  

CAVANAUGH: I think it's just important to re-emphasize that you're not going to get through it alone and it's not worth doing alone. Regardless of your successes as an individual, there's no point in being alone and being successful. You know, it's the responsibility of a leader to bring about others who are going to, you know, take your spot and do perhaps an even better job than what you did. And that's, that's our hope for the classes to come and the future generations of cadets to come through. You know, and that on that note, it's the other side of it is the aspect of not being alone. It's that support system. You know, my, my roommates and my friends, you know, like... of the top, you know, Ryan and Jace and, you know, Brandon and Blake and Jase and Colin and everybody that have been along this journey of that that really understand and who will always like understand what VMI is.  

ROY: It’s family.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah, absolutely.  

ROY: Yeah. It's just like growing up with family. Only your siblings, only your BRs really know what you went through and...  

CAVANAUGH: Absolutely.  

ROY: Yeah, that's excellent.  

CAVANAUGH: That balance of, you know, the people here, the people outside, you know, you know, girlfriend and brothers and sisters and, you know, moms and dads that, you know, come back and, you know, they just look at you and they, you know, hopefully they see what this place has done with  

ROY: The growth in you.  

CAVANAUGH: Yeah. For the better. So, it's yeah, it's been, it's been it's been a wild ride, but it's one of them eternally grateful for so. Well, that's excellent. 

ROY: Thank you very much for your time today.  

CAVANAUGH: Thank you very much, Ma'am. I appreciate it.  

ROY: On behalf of the staff and faculty of the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics, we thank the following.  Mr. Caleb Minus, VMI Class of 2020, for the intro and backing music. Find more of his musical stylings on his Instagram page @mynus-official. That's ‘at sign’ M-Y-N-U-S hyphen official. Colonel David R. Gray, Ph.D., U.S. Army, retired, executive director of the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics.  

Find embedded episodes of the VMI Leader Journey podcast with transcripts and programs and events information on our website at VMI.EDU/CLE. We encourage you to follow the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram accounts. The VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics educates, engages, and inspires the VMI Corps of Cadets, VMI Staff, Faculty and Alumni, and listeners like you.