United Cherokee Indian deserve recognition stop playing with us .. our history speaks stop playing with us again you steady playing with us in our faces oblivious you folks need to step down from your position due to your actions ain’t working

My name George Craig and I live in Winchester,, VA. I am writing in favor of HB 8 and ask for your support and "yes" vote. It is important for Virginia to be prepared when there is an Article V convention called and to ensure the commissioner sent follow the limitation of their authority. Thank you.

This is an excerpt from my retirement speech on 11 December 2025, after teaching at VMI for 33 years. It states the case for VMI. “In September 1962, I entered Jackson Arch for the first time as a cadet. The ceiling caved in, as it had for so many cadets over the past hundred-plus years, with upperclassmen yelling in both ears, asking why I was walking on that hollow ground, asking me to make a decision while asked a dozen questions. VMI is not an ordinary college. Things that are not important at other colleges and universities are very important at VMI, like shining shoes, getting a haircut, shaving, or even attending classes. The Commandant’s Office says these are required for good order and discipline, but I know it’s more than that. What it’s doing is forming a foundation for the decision-making process that cadets will use for the rest of their lives. Cadets have a choice: do they shine their shoes for an inspection or study for a test? Once they make a decision, they have to live with the consequences. And we know that sometimes they don’t make the right choice. When I was a cadet, many of the professors were World War II veterans from D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. Most had earned their PhDs through the GI Bill. They held us to strict academic standards, but they also helped build us into young men ready to go out into the world, because they knew the world could present many things we did not expect. After four short years, it was time for the Class of 1966 to graduate. When I went up to receive my diploma, I didn’t realize I was embarking on a 60-year career teaching, mentoring, and leading young people. ’66 was a strong class; 90 percent of us ended up receiving commissions. Of course, when we received those commissions, we all knew there was a good chance we had a ticket to Vietnam. Unfortunately, many of my classmates didn’t get a return ticket. Our class suffered the highest number of KIA of any class in the Vietnam War, and when you look at the numbers, we also had one of the highest casualty rates of any class to pass through VMI. Less than nine months after graduating, I was in Vietnam. We were under heavy fire, and I turned around to see all these young faces looking at me and asking, “What now, Lieutenant?” That’s when my VMI experience kicked in. I was no longer making decisions that would result in demerits or a low test grade; these were life-and-death decisions. I pray every night that the decisions I made helped bring my Marines back to their loved ones.” If there is another war and your sons and daughters have to go, pray that a VMI graduate commands them.”

I have worked here for a short 7 years but I've seen the cadets that VMI turns out each year and the manners and graciousness that they have and project outward is just amazing. I am proud to say I work for VMI and can be a part to help these cadets move forward with their lives. To see the networks they will have once they graduate and become citizens in this country - they are far and above what many colleges and universities have. It would be a great disservice to even think of closing VMI - too many lives have been changed for the better because of it. HB1377