"Leatherneck" Magazine feature on VMI

bruno

bruno

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April issue of Leatherneck MAgazine (the magazine of the Marine Corps Association) has a great article on VMI and it's long running relationship with the USMC. I got this from retired Sgt MAJ Al Hockaday who was something of a VMI legend in the 70s when Gunny Hockaday was the "Gunny" of the first Navy/Marine ROTC Detachment at VMI and who later became the first Sergeant Major in the Commandant's office (and then retired in Lexington where he and his wife run a pair of delightful stores on Main Street in Lexington VA). He may have been promoted but to the Rats who he led in Rifle PT in 1976- he'll always be "the Gunny" and i can't imagine a more professional role model for cadets to emulate as they set forth on their own careers. Enjoy the article and "Semper Fi" to all those future, current and past Marines who've marched thru the Jackson arch (and saluted Jackson's butt on the way out of barracks:rolleyes:)!
http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine/201004?pg=45#pg44
 
bruno said:
April issue of Leatherneck Magazine (the magazine of the Marine Corps Association) has a great article on VMI and it's long running relationship with the USMC. I got this from retired Sgt MAJ Al Hockaday who was something of a VMI legend in the 70s when Gunny Hockaday was the "Gunny" of the first Navy/Marine ROTC Detachment at VMI and who later became the first Sergeant Major in the Commandant's office (and then retired in Lexington where he and his wife run a pair of delightful stores on Main Street in Lexington VA). He may have been promoted but to the Rats who he led in Rifle PT in 1976- he'll always be "the Gunny" and I can't imagine a more professional role model for cadets to emulate as they set forth on their own careers. Enjoy the article and "Semper Fi" to all those future, current and past Marines who've marched thru the Jackson arch (and saluted Jackson's butt on the way out of barracks:rolleyes:)!
http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine/201004?pg=45#pg44
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bruno said:
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Hockaday was there as a SGM with the Commandant's office while I was a cadet in the late 90s. He loved to collect footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, etc. from those first classmen who would play in the Old Courtyard. I imagine he had quite a collection. His "YOUNG MAN....STOP!!!" could be heard in West Virginia, I think. Good role model, though. Definitely a locked-on trooper. "Test the wind!!!"...Did he do that one when he was a Gunny with NROTC, Bruno?
 
sprog said:
Hockaday was there as a SGM with the Commandant's office while I was a cadet in the late 90s. He loved to collect footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, etc. from those first classmen who would play in the Old Courtyard. I imagine he had quite a collection. His "YOUNG MAN....STOP!!!" could be heard in West Virginia, I think. Good role model, though. Definitely a locked-on trooper. "Test the wind!!!"...Did he do that one when he was a Gunny with NROTC, Bruno?
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I gotta say- I don't remember "test the wind" but I was just back for my reunion and after going into his store-my buds had fond memories of 1976 & Gunny Hockaday leading us in rifle PT. He could knock off staggering numbers of pushups on the platform in front of us, all the while bellowing out a cadence for us awestruck Rats. I seem to recall that he was featured on a Marine Recruiting commercial -doing pushups. I was pretty fortunate in my time at VMI- the Army SGM during my 2d and 1st class years- SGM Gates later became the CSM for the Ranger Rgt followed by CSM for Eight Army & USFK when I was in the 2d Infantry Division in Korea and later still became the SGM of the Army . Between these two phenomenal NCOs- I got to see and associate with the very best NCOs - not a bad thing for a 2LT to start with as the NCO corps absolutely is the bedrock of the military. The position of SGM to the Corps was created for SGM Hockaday (in 1991 I think?) and I have to say- it was a great addition that should have happened years before it did.
 
And this is a short piece on SgtMaj Hockaday himself:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judgerock/3370957525/in/set-72157613376078725/
As one cadet said recently of Hockaday, He doesn't set the standard. He is the standard
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And having seen him recently I have no doubt that is still true - he looks 20 years younger than he is and I am sure that he could still smoke many younger
And the piece from Leatherneck about VMI again:
http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine/201004?pg=45#pg44
 
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Marine Corps Miltary Academy

In the early 1970's there were rumors circulating through barracks that the Marine Corps wanted to purchase VMI to turn it into the Marine Corps Military Academy. Does anyone know whether there was any truth to the rumor?
 
When I was a cadet (in the 1970s) I remember hearing that - but the time frame was much earlier, supposedly the 1920s when Gen LeJeune was the superintendant. I've never seen anything that would indicate that it was anything other than "stoop poop" invented by bored Cadets. If there really was more to it- it would be kind of cool to hear about it, but for the record- I don't believe it:rolleyes:
 
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