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At VMI: With Strategy Comes Success
Marshall was only sixteen years old when he arrived at VMI that fall of 1897. He had committed himself to doing well but now he had a challenge ahead of him. Unlike other schools, VMI offered cadets two ways to succeed: by academic excellence or as soldiers-in-training. Marshall desperately wanted respect, but knew he wasn't as well prepared as other students. Succeeding in the classroom would present the challenge, so focusing his efforts on being a great military cadet seemed his best window of opportunity.
His first year at VMI, Marshall set his goal and kept focused on it. He learned military rules and disciplined himself to follow orders. By the end of his first year, Marshall had become the top military student in his class. By his fourth year, Marshall was First Captain, the highest ranking cadet on campus. He graduated 15th of 32 in the class and received a diploma in civil engineering. Although the academics and military discipline at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia were challenging and brought him the respect he deserved, his time there also taught him how to be a great leader. As a boy, Marshall was always thinking up schemes and recruiting his friends to carry them into action. VMI developed these abilities a step further. Marshall learned not only how to lead his friends, but how to successfully lead his foes. It was a simple thing to give an order, and quite another to make sure others carried it out. Being a good leader requires a decisive mind, strength in character, honesty, and respect for those you desire respect from. In order to encourage others to hold a high standard of conduct, Marshall needed to set the example. VMI marked the beginning of a life-long process for Marshall — the building of integrity and strength in leadership.  Marshall graduated from VMI the same year the world entered the 20th century. VMI cadets did not automatically become soldiers in the military, however Marshall knew his leadership and problem-solving abilities made him well suited for a military career. He decided to join the military despite the objections of his family who felt he should do something more "respectable" with his skills. That September, he took and passed the Army officers' examination and in February 1902, received his commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry. The Early U.S. Army Years: Proof of Potential
Answering the call of his country also meant Marshall had to learn how to live without his new bride, Lily Coles, who stayed behind in Lexington, Virginia. He had courted Lily his last year at VMI and had married her just ten days before leaving for the Philippines. Lily was devoted to Marshall, but a life-long deterioration in her health not only prevented her from accompanying Marshall on his assignments, but prevented her from having children. Marshall returned from the Philippines in 1903, but the two continued to endure periods of separation until Marshall enrolled at an officers' training school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1906. 
Marshall was eager for military promotion and knew more schooling would help his career. At age 25, he was the youngest student enrolled and also held the lowest rank at Leavenworth. Worst still, only the top half of the first-year class would be invited back for the second and final year. Fellow students would speculate who among them might be coming back for the second year and Marshall certainly did not hear his name mentioned. Unlike VMI, there was only one route to success at Leavenworth, and this time Marshall knew his academic excellence would determine his future. He was strict with his studies and by the end of his first year was ranked number one in his class. Leavenworth went so far as to hire him as an instructor after graduation. A few years later in 1913, Marshall was sent back to the Philippines; there he was put in charge of 5,000 soldiers who were to pretend they were invading the island from the sea. These military practice scenarios were excellent training for the military on all fronts. Marshall, only 34 years old at the time, led like a general. He demonstrated his brilliant problem-solving skills and received the highest respect from his troops.
Selected Bibliography "Fully Equal to the Best:" George C. Marshall and the Virginia Military Institute Pogue, Forrest C. Skutt, Mary Sutton |
During his first assignment in 1902, he was sent across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands. Marshall was to help oversee American troops occupying the islands after the recently ended Spanish-American War. As a young officer, Marshall learned how to lead men with more years of military experience than himself, as well as to inspire and boost the morale of troops in the dreary conditions that military life brings.  |