Stoltzfus ’21: No Sleep ’til Benning

By Molly Rolon, Associate Editor

The 2020-21 academic year “has caused us to have to grow up a lot faster,” said Cadet Dylan Stoltzfus ’21. He’s the 1st Class president and, together with other cadet leaders, has brought the Corps through a different, difficult year. One of the silver linings in it has been his friendship with Cadet Troy Smith ’21, regimental commander.

“I don’t know that there’s ever been a class president and regimental commander duo that has worked tighter than we have this year. We’ve been in lockstep on everything,” Stoltzfus said. “When we’re frustrated, we’re frustrated together. When we need to talk to people, we do it together. When we have questions or want to bounce ideas off each other, we do it together. [We] are tight. He’s my brother.”

To the Corps, the mechanical engineering major has been the face and voice of unwanted news many times over. He’s had to tell the Corps everything from the “beyond painful” news that rat-dyke visitation was suspended to more minor annoyances, like 1st Class cadets having to move their cars.

“I think that anything worth doing is worth doing the right way,” he said. He’s learned that he can’t necessarily give everyone what they want, but he can talk to them when they’re frustrated and be there for them. He’s learned tact and how to tell people things they don’t want to hear.

In high school, he looked at many colleges. He chose VMI for two major reasons: Honor and brotherhood.

“VMI teaches that honor is the one thing you can control. We live in a world right now, where ... people believe that the only way to get ahead is by degrading others, taking credit for the works and thoughts of other people, and just sacrificing your morals and your ethics to get to the top,” he said. “Having honor means that you have discipline as well,” he continued, explaining that at VMI “everybody’s under the same pressures, the same expectations.”

“Height is the only thing that dictates what group you’re going to be around,” he said. “You have a mix of different ROTCs, different majors.”

The shared experience builds inspirational bonds. At VMI, milestones come as a class. “You get one experience with all your brother rats to Breakout, one experience through Ring Figure, one experience of walking across the stage. And when you start off with that group, you want to finish with them.”

Stoltzfus has put in many, many long hours this year. Some have been devoted to studying, some to ROTC. Plenty, though, have been in support of his fellow cadets, in support of the shared experience—planning and preparing for Corps activities and functions.

“VMI is absolutely cadet-led,” he said. “And that means after your academics are done—at possibly one or two in the morning—you’re going to have to continue on and prepare for the next day.”

On those long nights, he thinks of the speaker at his own Breakout—a Navy SEAL alumnus who had been the RDC president, a mechanical engineering major, and captain of the rugby team during his cadetship—all things that take an enormous amount of time.

“He told us,” Stoltzfus remembered, “that he got more sleep during BUDS training than he did [at VMI].”

The VMI system is hard, but it prepares cadets for each step they take in barracks, and for whatever challenges they will face after graduation. The system builds confidence. In earlier years, Stoltzfus served as a cadre corporal and a company first sergeant.

“All the experiences that I’ve gone through these past three years have culminated this year ... even under these circumstances, the past few years have prepared us for it,” he said, talking about himself and his BRs. At the beginning of the academic year, the Class of 2021 accepted the changes COVID-19 threw at them, realizing “nothing can stop time,” and decided “we’re going to make the most of it.”

When he leaves VMI, he’ll make the most of his next chapter. Stoltzfus will commission into the U.S. Army, as an infantry officer—his No. 1 branch choice. He’s looking forward to applying what he’s learned as a cadet when he reports to the Army’s Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course in Fort Benning, Georgia, a few short weeks after graduation.

And, just maybe, he’s also looking forward to getting a little bit more sleep.

Cadet Dylan Stoltzfus ’21 is the 1st Class president and a mechanical engineering major from Kernersville, North Carolina. He was awarded a four-year Army ROTC scholarship and will commission into the infantry in May 2021.—Photo by Micalyn Miller, VMI Alumni Agencies.