We continue our series covering the first day at America’s military colleges and academies with Norwich University in Vermont. The oldest of all of the private US senior military colleges, Norwich University predates Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel and is credited as the birthplace of the military’s Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC. While about half of the university’s students matriculate as civilians, the other half enlist in the Corps of Cadets, which follows a strict military training regimen. On day zero, incoming freshmen, known as "rooks" (short for "recruits"), say goodbye to their families before being indoctrinated by upperclassmen, known as cadre, into the lifestyle of a Norwich cadet.