First Capt. Jessica Tait (left) gets help from Capt. Johanna Gleason-Manduley (background) and Cadet Orva Crawford before a parade. PHOTOS BY PETER CIHELKA/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Local woman leads cadets

Stafford resident leads the only all-female cadet corps in the world, at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton

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Date published: 9/26/2009

By CATHY DYSON

STAUNTON

The Stafford County resident looked like she was in charge.

Decked out in a dark green tunic with white dress pants and a thick yellow sash around her waist, Tait marched onto the parade field at Mary Baldwin College earlier this week with purpose and determination.

In chairs on one side of the field were cadets and commandants from across the country. They were at Mary Baldwin for the Senior Military College Conference.

Tait, a 21-year-old senior, wore a patch with six chevrons on her right arm, indicating she was the highest-ranking cadet on the field. That made her this year's commanding officer of the 140 young women who marched behind her.

No one tapped a stick against a drum, slapped a rifle onto a shoulder or moved an inch in their polished black shoes until Tait gave the order.

That much power could go to a person's head, but fellow cadets and Mary Baldwin's commandant said Tait is a model leader.

"I'm not intimidated by her, but I look up her," said Cadet Tiffany Parshall.

"She's the only person I know in class who everybody likes," added Cadet Johanna Gleason-Manduley. "And she's an amazing leader. I'd follow her anywhere."

Brig. Gen. N. Michael Bissell joked that he calls Tait "the saint" on the side. In the last decade, he has sometimes had first captains who favored friends or couldn't balance the rigors of leading the corps with the demands of the classroom.

Not Tait, an A student who's working on a major in art history and triple minors in leadership, history and Asian studies.

She also "takes care of her people in the corps," Bissell said, and constantly looks for ways to improve.

"She's ideal," he said.

The daughter of John and Monica Tait of Falmouth probably would blush at the praise. Her parents preached humility, along with the need to work hard and get a good education.

Her interest in the military came from her father, who was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea when he married her mother.

FAMILY: Daughter of John and Monica Tait of Falmouth. Has one sister, Jackie, 20. EDUCATION: Graduated from Stafford High School in 2006 and will graduate from Mary Baldwin College in spring 2010. She'll be commissioned in the Air Force as a second lieutenant and probably work in public affairs. DRESS CODE: She has to wear her uniform every day because she has daily military duties. "I'm kind of bummed out about that," she said. "I'm kind of a fashionista, a dress-up, girly girl kind of person." As a senior, she can wear pearls and a slight amount of makeup. NICKNAME: The campus is pretty hilly, and students joke that "MBC" doesn't just stand for Mary Baldwin College. "It's also for Mighty Big Calves," Tait joked.

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Date published: 9/26/2009