Ghost Cadre

Throughout the course of hell week, there is a man that walks amongst the cadre. He is silent but observant. His shirt does not bare the word “INSTRUCTOR”, but rather three letters, OGA. He is watching both the rats and cadre. He is the company’s Officer of the Guard Association Representative. His job is to discover the personalities of the rats so that he can pair them with the other members of the class of 2016. He is in charge of the dyke system. He is also responsible for the physical safety of the rats, making sure that there is no physical hazing or abuse from the cadre members. There is one first class representative from each company. My representative is also my uncle dyke, he rooms with my dyke, and his name is Patrick Murray. When the OGA community interacts with both rats and Cadre, the members have their intercommunication structure, their set of goals, their dysfunction, and their unique lexis both participating parties.
The entrance process if simple. If a person is interested then they apply and participate in an interview. If selected they are a member of the OGA and then assigned to their company as a representative. At the start of hell week the community expands, adding cadre members as well as the rats. However, the OGA itself is no its own committee. It is a sub-committee under the General Committee commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Faust. My participation consist of the OGA, Cadre, and Rat community. The community also is the voice for first class privates and deals with roommate issues throughout the corpse. It is one that is simple yet complex with its ups and downs, but it is also a community very important to VMI. They are either directly or indirectly relevant in the whole corpse life.
The members have many functions within the community. They control and organize the dyke system to make sure that the first classman will be able to get along with their rat. They must observe all of the qualities of a rat to insure the dyke system can run smoothly, but they have to do this without communicating with the rats. So in short, they have to know the rat’s personality without knowing the rat at all. They also monitor all rat events like sweat parties, RDC trials, RDC workouts/marches, and cadre time. The Company Representative is present for a majority of the ratline and an important asset to our lives as rats. When the OGA conducts their business, they must maintain the respect held between the opposite parties. Making sure that the rats are doing what has been asked while keeping cadre members from crossing the line.
With all of their functions, there are two main dysfunctions. “At the end of the day, we are just cadets so we can only handle the little pesky brother-sister things” Murray said. Everything they do must be approved by LTC Faust, so they operate with a leash around their neck. On top of that, when dealing with serious issues, like title 9, the representatives do not even partake in the investigation, it just goes straight to the top. They do still have trials, they meet regularly and for special situations. The Rats and OGA members share a common goal, because there are two sets of eyes for the OGA when discovering a situation that my need special attention: their own and the rat’s.
If an OGA member personally sees a cadre or RDC member step out of line, he or she can report him to the higher authority immediately without questions. Because the OGA member witnessed the act, there is a definite chance that the cadre or RDC member will be relieved of their position. But there are incidences when an OGA might be looking the other way, or not present like when I rat is just walking in barracks. If something serious happens, the rat must report it and is on his honor to tell the story correctly. If the OGA member believes that the situation is serious, there is an investigation. He cannot report it like if he were to see it with his own eyes. The OGA must conduct a trial for the cadre or RDC member. They are going off a rat’s word, so it puts them in a tight spot. But even though the two sides oppose each other, the OGA must use the same tone when communicating with rats and upperclassman.
Both sides are expected to follow the guidelines. For the Rats it is the guidelines set by the cadre and for the cadre it is the guidelines set by the school. The OGA has to inforce both guidelines. “I will tell a rat to get his bag up, but I’m not going to discipline them,” Murray says, “I want them to do what the cadre members tell them to do and suffer like his of hers BRs. I’m not here to get rats out of the ratline.” All the time he will calmly and respectfully tell us to push ourselves more, especially if one of us is slacking or just not even trying to hold themselves to the standards, but it is never in a negative or nasty way. If Murray were to change his lexis towered a cadre member, he would lose all credibility within the Rat, Cadre, OGA committee because he is not holding the universal respect that he is supposed to inforce.
The definition of a Discourse Community is that they “operate within conventions defined by a communities” (217). The OGA is a community within two greater communities. It affects other communities; therefore, bringing all communities together. The OGA has intercommunication with structure, a common set of goals, and a particular lexis that is crucial to their mission. Rats may not be in the OGA, but they are impacted by the larger community that the OGA impacts.

Work Cited
Patrick Murray – Alpha Company OGA Representative

Rat Bible- page 17

Swales, John, The concept of Discourse Community. Writing about Writing. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, n.d. Print.