Rockbridge Academy Blog
Classical Education & the Military: How Rockbridge Prepared Me for Uncle Sam's Biggest Jobs Program
October 31, 2025
There I stood, bald, sweaty, and scared in the summer of 2017, reciting lines from a book of mandatory knowledge to my cadet squad leader at West Point. “The warrior ethos is: I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade,” I said, correctly. “Pretty good, new cadet, except for one thing. It’s pronounced EETH-OSE.” The poor benighted fellow, I thought. Roger, sergeant! I said, and continued staring straight forward at parade rest.
What have Jerusalem and Athens to do with a long day in the hot sun? Every year, Rockbridge graduates attend service academies or ROTC programs. Certainly, the broad, liberal arts education of which West Point and Annapolis boast can build on a classical foundation, but the joyride through academia must end. Mental energy once directed toward neutron transport equations is spent figuring out how to anchor a tent in a windstorm in the California desert. Instead of opining at length on heady moral controversy, the young officer must explain to his Soldier why he should not have tried to run from the cops when they pulled him over for driving drunk. In an age of relative peace, drone strikes, and Microsoft Office, the Homeric deeds of Joshua Chamberlain or James Doolittle seem utterly inaccessible, weak as men are nowadays.
I’m not writing to advertise the modern armed forces to Rockbridge students. Surely there are other fitting vocations for the young mind steeped in Aristotle and Augustine. Rather, I want to expound the value of classical Christian upbringing for those who are set on a military career.
First, the breadth and depth of classical education is excellent preparation for the wide variety of military duties. Regardless of his ever-changing official position title, a young Army officer must play the Renaissance man in a host of tasks: plan and evaluate tactical training, oversee maintenance on heavy machinery, sniff out and punish misconduct, keep track of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, and far more. This is not to say that former public school students didn’t have to take a variety of subjects in high school. But classical education continuously integrates various disciplines, emphasizes the value of each discipline beyond making a paycheck, and applies critical thinking and writing skills to each, which better prepares an officer to tackle a variety of problems, all the while sharpening his ability to use present experience to tackle the unknown in the future. He also has many opportunities to apply the basics of grammar, logic, and rhetoric in such common obligations as writing reports, conducting investigations, and briefing superiors.
Second, classical education teaches a tale of culture and civilization that encourages the military officer to look beyond the frustrating mundanity of daily life. I will never break a barbarian stronghold by building a genius second siege-wall, but surely Caesar also spent mind-numbing hours thinking about how to keep his army’s equipment in good condition. The glorious victories of the West are bridged by long, boring periods of standing the watch at home, passing on martial skills to the next generation. Today may be a period of relative inaction, but without millions putting in effort to man the national defenses, they will not function when the action resumes. Where much of education ends with getting a job and doing a job, classical education brings greater purposes into perspective.
Finally, firmly Christian education is an excellent ally for a young man immersed in the sometimes boorish, bureaucratic world of the armed forces. All my friends were avid churchgoers during cadet basic training, when chapel had free cookies and nobody shouting at them. Few live a faithful life when work consumes weekends, success is the supreme moral virtue, equal protection is given to a variety of philosophies, and time off is spent easiest at a club. Yet I’ve also met many strong Christians, most of whom had faithful parents and firmly understood both the truth of Christ and the characteristics of Christian living. Because classical Christian education provides both theological and moral training – and does so earnestly -- it is excellent defense against the double temptation of anti-Christian thinking and coarse living.
Young men, if you want a life of bravery and danger, join an urban police department. If you want to save your country, raise Christian kids. If you want to live in polished luxury, join the Air Force. But if you are committed to serving in the military, you will do well, because you have been brought up well.
The Founding of Rockbridge Academy: Part of the 30-Stories-for-30-Years series
October 02, 2025
The founding of Rockbridge Academy is a testament to God’s faithfulness.
In 1994, three couples with toddlers and preschoolers desired a Christ-centered education for their children and godly training that reflected their own home training, but God specifically opened their eyes to classical Christian education through Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning. After meeting weekly for a year, praying, learning about classical Christian education, and attending the 2nd Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) conference of then only 40 people, they decided they had no choice but to step out in faith and see if God would open a school. The founders then hosted twenty-five open houses featuring curriculum guides and resources on the kitchen counter. Though this yielded a number of interested parents, it did not yield committed families and applied students; so far, only the founders’ three school-aged children planned to attend.
In May 1995, after a potential family asked if the school was opening, the founders replied, “Yes.” Though there were no teachers, no students, no classrooms, no books, and no money, God provided everything just in time for the doors to open in September 1995. It was truly His work, and He made it clear by keeping the six founders on their knees until the last minute. They were all asking Him to provide, and that He did.
In July, before Rockbridge Academy opened, God provided three teachers. One was the Head of School, but they all knew they were not promised a paycheck. Nonetheless, they were convinced that classical Christian education was crucial, and they desired to be a part of it. For months, one of the founders searched to no avail for a facility to house the school, yet God provided one just in time. His provision became clear the fateful day when the pastor of the Baldwin United Methodist Church walked the founder to the church’s auditorium. The auditorium included a stage, and when the Pastor pulled back the stage curtains, it revealed a group of stacked student desks, chairs, and classroom boards—all left behind by the overcrowded county public school system which leased the building in the past.
Through God’s provision, Rockbridge Academy opened in September with 23 K-4 students. The school’s first parents took a risk and registered their children even before there was a school. Throughout the first year, they volunteered to sweep the floors and clean the classrooms because they were simply grateful and delighted to watch their children learn in this classical Christian setting.
Times were lean, and every paper clip was accounted for. There were no breaks or planning times for teachers, and, often during lunch, teachers quickly ran to a local store with an unreliable copier to make copies for their students. Despite all this, the staff of three received their paychecks each month—evidence of God's faithfulness.
By 1996, God tripled student attendance. Success is not measured by numbers, though, but by alone watching God’s hand at work. The founders witnessed the faithfulness of God in each step, and they desired that Rockbridge Academy would continue to be faithful and honor God for generations to come. This is why the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, is sung year after year at Rockbridge Academy.
The Founders and Founding Staff:
Rob Tucker — chairman of the Rockbridge Academy board, 1995-2011; a permanent member of the National Board of the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS). As a visionary, he kept the mission of RA in the forefront from the conception of the school to many years thereafter.
Laura Tucker (author) — teacher training, curriculum writing and implementation, student progress oversight, Director of Instruction, (1995-2011). ACCS national conference speaker since 2000. Since 2012, she has served Rockbridge Academy as an educational diagnostician and currently assists with the opening of Rockbridge Academy’s Paideia School.
David Hatcher — pastor of Bay Area Community Church; spiritual insight and
leadership of the school; now pastor of Trinity Church in Seattle, WA.
Kim Hatcher — music teacher at Rockbridge Academy.
After the 1996 academic year, David and Kim moved to Seattle, Washington and founded a church and another school, Providence Classical Christian School that continues to serve families. Their severely disabled son was the first student with special needs to attend in 1995, when the Special Needs program was born.
Mark Lease — a talented builder and businessman, he constructed walls and moved structures in record time to allow the school to open. In the early years of Rockbridge, Mark had oversight of the school’s business operations. In later years, he was the school’s superintendent and on the board.
Kathy Lease — When the school opened, Kathy initiated the school’s first weekly parent-comprised prayer group. A few years after the school opened, Kathy went to be with the Lord; the Rockbridge Academy prayer group continues to meet weekly to this day, which was her hope.
God used the founders’ unique gifts to open the school. It was the Body of Christ at work.
Leslie Collins — Head of School, Kindergarten teacher, and founder of the special needs program. Leslie served as the Head of Rockbridge Academy from 1995 to 1999, then served as Admissions Director for the next few years while her husband, Dave, began as our first operations and facilities staff. Currently, Leslie is the Head of Covenant School, a classical Christian school in Texas.
Gail Brophy Erb — 3rd and 4th grade teacher until 1999. She is the Head of a classical Christian tutorial in Idaho.
Jennifer Crook Schingeck — taught 1st and 2nd grades and continues to teach at Rockbridge Academy where her five children attended and her husband, Bob, works.
What’s in the Name?
There is nothing extraordinary about the origin! Rob and I were driving home from vacation in North Carolina and passed a street sign that had Rockbridge written on it. We thought that it would be a good name for the school. (Christ the Rock and Christ the bridge to God). The other founders agreed.