Military matters are coming to define Tim Kaine’s tenure in the United States Senate early in his Senate career. Education has had Kaine’s attention since his first run at statewide office, his successful campaign for lieutenant governor in 2001.
“The education of tomorrow’s citizen-soldiers, whether they exercise leadership in a military career or use a military-based training to exercise leadership in other ways, it’s something that matters a lot to me. I know that this is an institution that has been very focused on that mission for a good while, and I just wanted to come and learn more,” Kaine said at the start of a tour of Fishburne Military School on Thursday.
The senator saw firsthand what Fishburne does to educate young men – sitting in a classroom to see how FMS uses technology to bring lessons to life and taking in the sights of the school’s physical-skills training, watching a group of cadets rappel off a building and assist each other across a challenging ropes course.
He was led on his tour by Harold McCoo, a rising senior who is considering West Point and Princeton among his college choices.
“I have a better understanding of what he does in the Senate versus being a mayor and politics in general,” McCoo said after the tour. “He was very interested in the school, so I got to answer a lot of questions for him. That’s always good, to let others get a little bit of understanding of what we do here.”
Fishburne Superintendent Col. Gary Morrison said it was “a tremendous honor” to have Kaine on campus.
“To get an hour and a half of a U.S. senator’s time is unheard of and is priceless, especially for a school like us with 200 students,” Morrison said.
It was also valuable to Morrison that he was able to weigh in with the senator on the issue of defense cuts and their impact on the Virginia economy.
“One of his missions is to end sequestration, and as we end our recruiting season for the summer, I can say that’s fresh on our minds. A lot of the families that Virginia private schools depend on are DoD families, a lot of Northern Virginia folks, Eastern Shore folks, and they’re all getting hammered,” Morrison said.
Kaine’s assessment of his visit: “very impressed.”
“I’m really happy that I came. It’s a very targeted kind of education, very individualized, that really focuses on service and disciplined structure, high academic quality. In talking with some of the cadets and their parents, it’s a great educational setting,” Kaine said.
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