Plans move forward for new corps winter coats

By Edina Na-Songkhla
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The weather is below zero. The only thing students in Vermont are thinking about is how to get to their next class across campus without freezing.

The only thing worse than being outside in the cold is being outside in the cold with a thinly lined jacket as the only barrier to the prickly winter wind and the harsh, sub-freezing temperature. For several years this has been a hardship faced by members of the Norwich Corps of Cadets, whose uniforms include only a "summer" cadet jacket for wear during the academic day.

However, at of the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year, designs for a new winter coats were taken under consideration. Now, with spring on the horizon and the end of the school year in sight, the new coat design has entered the testing phase.

According to Michael McKean, vice president for student affairs and commandant of the Norwich corps of cadets, random students in the corps have been given samples of the new coats to wear during the final months of winter to allow cadets the opportunity to see if they like their new look.

Among those chosen to receive a sample coat was Mark DeFelice, 20, a junior criminal justice major from New Canaan, Conn., who serves in the corps as the command sergeant major for its second battalion.

"They had to order 15 to 20 jackets in all sizes, and my size was down there," DeFelice said. "I was told to go down there by Col. McKean to pick it up and wear it every day with the Winter-B uniform."

The new jackets are a matching grey to the cadet Winter-B uniform. Rather than the Ike-style of the summer cadet, the winter coat is a double-breasted design similar to a peacoat.

More important to cadets than the coat's appearance is its advanced cold weather features. The coat's inner lining is comprised of two layers, a Gore-Tex barrier layer over a removable synthetic fleece layer for insulation. It is hoped that this versatile design will make the coat comfortable for cadets during both the winter and the slightly warmer autumn and spring months at Norwich.

McKean said that the new coats "won't cost cadets a thing."

"This jacket seemed to be the most popular type that we wanted," McKean said. "It's in our price range so that I don't have to raise the uniform fees."

According to McKean, the cost of both the old coats, the black all-weather trench coat and the light-weight summer cadet, is equal to the cost of the new coat.

William Wheatley, 20, a sophomore History major from Chestertown, Md., said that although he hasn't had a chance to try on the jacket, he thinks the design looks fine. His only criticism was the coat's lack of military ornamentation.

"It's a little too plain," Wheatley said. "They need to put rank or something on it."

Scott McKay, 21, a senior chemistry major from LaPlata, Md., and regimental commander during the 2001-2002 year, said he believes the new jacket needs Norwich buttons and would look better if it were like the tunics, with class stripes on the sleeves and rank on the shoulders.

"They might put the class stripe on it, but we don't want it to look like the tunics," DeFelice said. "People are concerned about identifying the sergeant major and everything, but freshmen will eventually find out who people are. As for the officers, you can tell by their covers."

"Once you sew stuff on the sleeves, you get sew marks," according to McKean. "If you want to keep the jackets, you might not want that."

Some women have criticized the coat for being too masculine, but Roberts said that it doesn't bother her much.

"I don't mind that it looks more like a male jacket," Roberts said. "None of our uniforms look very feminine, anyways."

Kathryn Provencher, 20, a sophomore Environmental Science major from Severna Park, Md., said all that is needed is for the coats to be properly tailored for women.

"It looks good on some people, but on others, it looks too big on the sides," Provencher said. "If they could tailor it, somehow, that would be good, especially for girls."

Others feel that the coat shouldn't be the same grey as the Winter-B.

Among them is Allen Robinson, 21, a sophomore history major from Hebron, Me., who was among those selected to try out the coat.

"I think it should be black, because now our uniforms are three different shades of gray," Robinson said.

McKean indicated that he was against the idea of a black coat.

"I think black would be absolutely horrible," McKean said. "I'm trying to visualize a whole formation. If we say black, a black short coat with black stripes looks fine; you try to look at that in the formation, you'll look like a bunch of squids."

Robinson and DeFelice are taking opinions on the new coats from cadets. Those comments will lead to a final decision later in the year so that the new coats will be ready for issue next year.

"The decision will be made sometime in the spring. The students have to wear it through the season," McKean said. "It might be too hot for the spring, which we may have to keep the short coat and get a long one."

"I think we should keep the summer cadets because in the spring, when it's warmer, [the new coat] would be a complete overkill," according to Roberts. "There are times when you need a jacket when it's not that cold out."

"In the upcoming weeks, the people with the jackets are getting written statements from cadets," DeFelice said. "We're going to take the majority of what is said and see what we can do."

Although many students have said that the new coats look professional and are excited about the new jackets, Brian Lucas, 21, a senior history and peace, war, and diplomacy major from Sacramento, Calif., does not agree.

"It just doesn't look like anything that anyone in the military would wear," Lucas said. "The whole super blue uniform doesn't do it for me. There's no contrasting in colors. A gray trouser, with a gray blouse, with a gray jacket, and you break it up with a black tie and some gold buttons: that doesn't do anything."

"It's too expensive a decision for us not to be right," McKean said. "All the questions have yet to be answered by the cadets."

McKean said he has yet to determine whether upperclassmen will be issued the new coat.

"It's based on 'Can I order enough of them to outfit the corps without going broke,'" McKean said. "If it comes down to it, then the question is, 'Are you and your parents willing to spend an extra $20 a semester more?' It comes down to those decisions."

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