Stann ’26: Regimental Executive Officer

With his three brothers, father, grandfather, and uncle all attending VMI, the odds were stacked in favor of Cadet Mark Stann ’26 attending the Institute. But when Stann talks about his decision to attend VMI, he describes it as a pull rather than pressure. While he made his decision to matriculate in part because of his family’s legacy, Stann found his VMI journey to be deeply personal—one that helped him find his voice and develop as a leader.

Today, the Reston, Virginia, native and civil engineering major holds the enormous responsibility of regimental executive officer overseeing the Rat Line. Managing academics, ROTC demands, and leading the Rat Line has been challenging, but Stann feels it has prepared him for leading in the U.S. Marine Corps as a second lieutenant after graduation.

Preceding Stann at VMI were his grandfather, John F. Stann Jr. ’69; father, John F. Stann III ’95; uncle, William T. Stann ’98; and three brothers, John F. Stann IV ’21, Matthew W. Stann ’22, and Luke T. Stann ’24. As children, Stann and his seven siblings grew up hearing their dad’s Old Corps stories and watching old videos of his Breakout; though their father encouraged them to explore other schools, Stann was drawn to the Institute by those stories and his brothers’ experiences. “I grew up on those Old Corps stories, and they kind of fueled my passion for VMI,” Stann reflected. “I wanted the same experiences as my brothers had because I saw how successful they are and how it worked out for them. And so I just wanted to be a part of that.”

Despite hearing so many stories, Stann’s own experience of matriculation and cadetship was much more powerful than he had even imagined. “Coming into VMI for the first time, when I walked into New Barracks, I felt like I should have known what was happening, but I didn’t because feeling it and experiencing it is so different than hearing stories about it,” said Stann. “It was way more powerful when I was going through it, and experiencing it on my own was a lot more intense and personal.”

Over the next couple of years, Stann challenged himself as a leader, serving as sergeant major during his 2nd Class year, which helped develop his voice as a leader and prepared him for his current role as regimental executive officer. “Being the sergeant major from last year, that’s where my confidence kind of grew and started because I tended not to be a very outspoken or confident person, but I found that voice near the end of the year of 2025.”

Running the Rat Line and shaping rats as cadets is a huge responsibility, and Stann describes it as the “most rewarding and difficult experiences” he has had. Coordinating plans, instructing cadre, training rats, and managing daily problems, along with school, sometimes means Stann only gets a few hours of sleep, but the reward of leading well is all worth it.

“There were so many times when I was getting 3-and-a-half hours of sleep every night. We had problems that we had to fix right away, and sometimes two to three at the same time, so we would be running around post trying to put out fires before they even started.” The experience is preparing him to lead as a Marine: “I think it prepares me very well for becoming a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, and I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity.”

Of this year’s current Rat Mass, Stann said they are off to a strong start and working hard. His aim is always to train them to be cadets, and “really just embedding these rats and imbuing them with that spirit of VMI, that bond with each other, the motivation to work hard in challenges, and the honor and self-respect that is expected.”

Speaking of being a rat, Stann said his own rat experiences also helped him at Marine Corps Officer Candidates School this past summer. He was initially nervous entering OCS, but he found that the lessons in patience and grit from the Rat Line made the experience seem far less difficult than he expected. “Through the whole thing of OCS, the main thing that I kind of faced was patience—being patient with people around me, being patient with the instructors yelling at me again, because it felt an awful lot like being a rat again. And so I think going to VMI made that experience seem a lot easier,” said Stann.

As one of eight children, Stann is deeply grateful for the scholarships that made his cadetship possible, which helped ease the financial burden on his family before he received his Marine Corps scholarship. “It’s very humbling to be able to be the recipient of alumni kindness and generosity, knowing that they went through what I went through, knowing that they kind of faced the same challenges, and they decided to look back,” said Stann.

The generosity of those who went before him is part of the spirit that makes VMI special to Stann—the spirit of giving back. “I think that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about VMI, is, as we progress through and we gain experiences throughout VMI, we’re always looking back and we’re always trying to help the class, both beneath us and behind us, kind of giving them the stepping stones that they need to then reach the next level.”

As a 1st Class cadet contemplating his own VMI journey now, just as so many of his family members before him have, Stann is grateful he chose the Institute. “I am very glad I came to VMI. I do not think I would have succeeded as much at any other institute or school, and so I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to come here.”