CAPER History

The author of this history (Linda Grissette, who pledged CAPER National Headquarters in the fall of 1967 and was National Commander during the 1970-71 school year) has first hand or second hand knowledge of much of the early history of CAPERS.  She has also used a variety of sources, such as the written history given to her by Pershing Angels in 1999 and University of Oklahoma ROTC yearbooks, as well as memories of others.  Any comments of explanation by her are in italics and in parenthesis.  This history includes 2 mysteries that still need to be resolved.  

We also need to add more information on other CAPER National Headquarters locations.  Please help us if you can.  As we learn more, we will be changing this history.  The last date this was changed was May 11, 2010..

The Beginnings of Kaydettes at the University of Oklahoma

During the 1960's many Pershing Rifles Companies started coed groups. For more information on come of these coed groups, including the earliest one I have heard about, go to the page on other coed groups.

In the Fall of 1963, Pershing Rifles Company H-7 at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma started a coed group called Kaydettes.  (Previous written history has said that Kaydettes started in 1962, but the 1964 OU ROTC Yearbook gives the Fall of 1963 as the start.  Because it was written the same year and because of what we have learned from Carolyn Prescott...below...the Fall of 1963 should be considered the starting date.) 

According to Carolyn Prescott who was the 1962-63 Honorary for Pershing Rifles Company H-7, one of the Pershing Rifles who was from Norman had a friend who was in high school band with him and who loved drill.  These two decided to start a the first girl's drill team at University of Oklahoma (yes, before Angel Flight) and talked to Carolyn about helping them start it.  She remembers holding tryouts for the first year (1963-64).  Carolyn is trying to remember the names of the two who came up with the idea.  Once we have it, we will have the names of the first two Kaydettes and the Company H-7 member who started it.  Carolyn said that she had no idea that there were any other coed groups affiliated with Pershing Rifles Companies.

Note:  I think the mystery below has been solved.  I just need to get all the information from the articles in the 1966 and 1967 Pershing Rifleman added here!

NOTE: We have group pictures of Kaydettes for the first 3 years, as well as pictures of all the CAPER National Commanders at the University of Oklahoma.  We also have group pictures of CAPERS at the University of Oklahoma.

The 1966-1967 School Year

As stated in the section above, the official starting date of CAPERS is November 26,1966.  CAPER COL Tanya McDonald (married name Miller) was the first national commander.  She presided over the first CAPER National Convention in Washington, DC in the spring of 1967 in conjunctions with the Pershing Rifles National Convention and Drill Meet.  Six CAPER Companies were present, as well as seven observers considering chartering with CAPERS.  By the end of the school year 7 CAPER Companies had chartered.  At the end of the school year, COL McDonald turned command over to CAPER COL Gail Todd (who became Kish over the summer).

The summer of 1968, the pledge trainer decided that we needed a recruiting brochure, but it was summer and almost all the CAPERS were away from campus.  She got some high school girls to put on our uniforms and pose for some pictures.  I don't remember the brochure, but PR H-7 Alumni Michael Stuckert (who printed the brochure) sent us the pictures.  Hopefully he will find a copy of the brochure and sent it to us.  The pictures are on our fake pictures page. These pictures of a fun glimpse of that period of time!

The 1967-1968 School Year

When school started in 1967, there were 5 returning members of CAPER National Staff along with a large pledge class.  Four CAPERS attended the Fall Pershing Rifles Little National Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska over the Thanksgiving week-end.

At the end of first semester, COL Kish turned over command to CAPER COL Kathryn (Kay) Sykes because she would not be a student second semester.  Her husband was the Pershing Rifles Company commander that year and the CAPER National Liaison the next, so Gail was still around CAPERS for quite a while.  The second semester, Tanya also return to campus as a working student wife.

The Pershing Rifles Spring National Convention (the drill meets were only every other year at the time) was scheduled to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, but due to unrest in the area, the convention was moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.  When Pershing Rifles National Headquarters received the registration materials they called to see why CAPER National had not registered.  It was because no registration materials had been sent.  (In 1999, I found out that no CAPER units or Pershing Rifles Companies at historically black colleges had been sent registration materials.  This was a total shock to me, as this was the first convention I attended)

(By the end of this school year, I remember there being 14 chartered CAPER Companies.)

The 1968-1969 School Year

When school started in 1968, there were 3 returning members of CAPER National Staff (as well as one who was out of school first semester for personal reasons, but she still did some staff work) as well as a good pledge class.  Four CAPERS again attended the Fall Pershing Rifles Little National Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska.

At the end of first semester, COL Sykes turned over command over to CAPER COL Nina Rose Jacoby because COL Sykes had been commander for a year.  In early March, CAPER National Headquarters was inspected by Pershing Rifles National Headquarters for the first time.  At the end of the inspection the CAPER National Staff was told that only one section, G-1, was functioning properly (That was me!!)  Shortly after the inspection, COL Jacoby turned over command to CAPER COL Gwen Coley.

The 1969 CAPER Convention was held in conjunction with Pershing Rifles Spring National Convention and Drill Meet in Cleveland, Ohio.  There were 7 CAPER Companies in attendance, including one that was the newest company at the time.  There was also a company that was in the processes of chartering that attended and participated in the discussions.  You can even see pictures of the companies that attended.  The drill meet had a coed division that was not limited to CAPER Companies.  According to the history from Pershing Angels, CAPER Company A-5 placed second and was awarded the first outstanding unit award. The only problem is, that according to the pictures of the CAPER Convention, Company A-5 was not in attendance.  

(NOTE: I have compiled a list of CAPER Companies, but the exact dates of chartering are unknown.  I remember the early ones well because I typed them so many times as a pledge and new member.  But for the later years I was busy and really don't remember all the companies in detail.  From this point on, I will not give numbers of units chartered since they would only be guesses.)

The 1969-1970 School Year

When school started in 1969, 3 CAPER National Staff members returned and, again, there was a good pledge class.  The headquarters office had been moved over the summer and everything was a mess.  Command problems caused the headquarters work to nearly stop, resulting in COL Coley's forced resignation.  The CAPER Advisor from the ROTC Department named CAPER COL Iris Rodriguez to be the new commander.  This was a challenging period for CAPERS but the hard work of COL Rodriguez and her Chief of Staff, LTC Linda Grissette, (that's me), got the headquarters going again and functioning properly.  Until the pledges could be trained, COL Rodriguez also worked as Finance Officer, G-2 PIO, G-3 and Pledge Trainer.  LTC Grissette also worked at G-1, G-2 Expansion, and G-4.  The work backlog was cleared up and the pledges were trained.  

During the Fall Semester, CAPER National Headquarters received a letter from P/R COL Robert Shelton, the Pershing Rifles Fourth Regimental Commander from Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.  (NOTE:  The newly chartered CAPER Company C-4 from Clemson was the largest company chartered at the time.)   COL Shelton was appointing a CAPER Coordinator for his regiment who would be attached to their headquarters.  CAPER National quickly named her to CAPER National Staff, although her name is not known.  They were sent copies of all expansion materials and given permission to copy them at any time.  A letter was sent to the other regiments suggesting they do the same thing.  Putting some of the expansion responsibilities at the Pershing Rifles Regimental level gave greater opportunities for personal contact for expansion.

The Pershing Rifles Fall Little National Convention was attended by COL Rodriguez, LTC Grissette and 2 of the pledges (Paulette Kikugawa and Carol Webster).  At that convention, the staff talked with Pershing Rifles National Staff about dividing CAPERS into Regiments so that the work load could be lessened for National Staff.  The organization had grown entirely too much to be run by a small staff.

At the National Convention, the Pershing Rifles 17th Regimental Commander (17th Regiment covered Texas and New Mexico at that time) invited representatives from CAPER National Staff to attend their Fall Regimental Drill Meet in Wichita Falls, Texas a week or two later.  One company in their regiment had recently chartered and two others of them were in the process.  To see pictures of the meeting of CAPER National Staff and all 3 companies, go to this link and go down past the 1969 convention pictures.

The first weekend of March, Pershing Rifles National Staff again inspected CAPER National Headquarters.  When the Pershing Rifles National Staff arrived, P/R BG James Condon, Deputy Commander, went in for a meeting with the Professor of Military Science.  A few minutes later, the rest of the PR National Inspection Team and all of the CAPER National Staff that were there were called into the PMS's office.  BG Condon then read an order signed by the P/R MG Dennis Lambert, their National Commander, promoting COL Rodriguez to BG to better work with the new regiments.  LTC Grissette was promoted to COL and named the first CAPER Deputy Commander.  New CAPER LTC Paulette Kikugawa became the Chief of Staff.  For a silly look at that day, check out this picture.

The 1970 CAPER National Convention was held in conjunction with the Pershing Rifles Spring Convention (no drill meet) in San Antonio, Texas.  Again, four members of CAPER National Staff attended.  While BG Rodriguez ran the CAPER Convention, COL Grissette attended the PR Convention as an observer.  CAPER Awards were presented for the first time at any National Convention Banquet.  COL Grissette had encouraged the companies to nominate members for awards and made all the award arrangements, but was totally surprised when BG Rodriguez gave an award (my memory says it was the Red Rose Award) to LTC Kikugawa.  She was even more surprised when BG Rodriguez gave her both the Yellow Rose Award and Distinguished Service Award.  

Soon after the convention, BG Rodriguez announced that the next commander would not just be appointed.  To make sure as many members as possible returned, she asked each of the active members to name who they wanted to be National Commander.  At the pledge initiation dinner, BG Rodriguez gave the first ever CAPER National Commander's Award to COL Grissette.  Shortly after that, she named the new National Commander, BG Linda Grissette and the new Deputy Commander, CAPER COL Paulette Kikugawa.  Later, the new Chief of Staff was named, CAPER LTC Gwen Howell.

The 1970-1971 School Year

When school started in 1970, all three of the new command staff returned as did a few of the staff, plus the headquarters office had been moved again.  This year the first thing the staff did was paint the room and get it set up better than ever.  

Once the office was in shape, BG Grissette got started with the task of figuring out where the regimental boundaries should be and what companies would get the CAPER Regimental Headquarters.  To learn how it was done, see the page about our Regiments.  The next step was to completely rewrite and reorganize the CAPER SOP.

The 1971 CAPER National Convention was held in conjunction with the Pershing Rifles Spring National Convention and Drill Meet in Atlanta, Georgia.  Four CAPER National Staff members flew to Atlanta because of the distance.  The convention was set up with caucuses (like was done at the PR Conventions), which brought forward motions to the floor of the convention the next day.  Each of the 4 caucuses were chaired by the CAPER Regimental Commanders with National Staff observing.  This was the first time this procedure was used at a CAPER Convention.  Another new procedure, taken from PRs was a commanders call after the actual convention electing the new National Commander.  But unlike the PR convention that went on all day (while the drill meet was going on), the CAPER Convention was adjourned before noon, so that all CAPERS could compete in or watch the coed division of the drill meet.  That night at the Banquet, BG Grissette gave COL Kikugawa the National Commander's Award and then named the newly elected CAPER National Commander, CAPER BG Paulette Kikugawa.

The 1971-1972 School Year

When school started in 1971, there were very few CAPERS remaining.  BG Kikugawa and her Deputy Commander, CAPER COL Gwen Howell worked hard, but eventually the decision was made that the CAPER National Headquarters would be moved due to lack of staff.  BG Kikugawa could not bear to be the one to do that, so she turned the command over to CAPER BG Gwen Howell who then arranged for moving the headquarters to Kansas State University.  They don't remember the actual date of transfer, but it was in 1972. (Paulette and Gwen told me in April or May of 1972.)

From here on we don't have much details of our history and would love to add more as other alumni start recording their memories, too. 

CAPER National Headquarters at Kansas State University

The national commanders mentioned for Kansas State University were, CAPER BG Susan Lindholm (1972), CAPER BG Rhonda McGuire (1972-1973) and CAPER BG Elizabeth Cramer (1973-1974).  At the 1973 National Convention CAPERS had a separate drill meet for the first time with their own trophies, unlike the coed division in previous drill meets.

CAPER National Headquarters at Auburn University

There are no records of this period of CAPER history.  We are still looking for any CAPERS from 1975 to 1978 who might be able to give us any information on that time frame.

CAPER National Headquarters at Appalachian State University.

The headquarters was moved there in 1978 and the National Commander there for 1978-79 was CAPER BG Susan B. Rice.

CAPER National Headquarters at Seton Hall University

The headquarters was moved to Seton Hall University in 1979.  The National Commanders there were CAPER BG Cheryl Beers-Cullan, 1979-1980, CAPER BG Sharon Sanders, 1980-81 and CAPER BG Shirley Jones, 1982-83. 

The official end of Coed Affiliates Pershing Rifles

Bill Wagnor, who was the Pershing Rifles Company K-8 (Seton Hall University) in the early 1980's, told me that Pershing Rifles National sent an order to all Pershing Rifles Companies in 1980 telling them to take their CAPERS into membership.  His company resisted, but when he took commander, he followed the order for fear of losing their charters.  Tom Carlson who was the 2009-2010 Pershing Rifles National Commander and a Pershing Rifles history buff told me that in 1980, the Pershing Rifles Constitution was changed (due to declining membership) taking out the requirement that members had to be ROTC Cadets.

Patricia Martin, an alumni of CAPER and Pershing Angels Company C-16, a letter was sent to the CAPER Companies around the middle of the 1982-83 school year.  The Seton Hall CAPERS were not allowed to compete in a drill meet and found out that it was because of the 1980 order.  I have also heard from other Pershing Angels that the order did not happen until 1982 or 1983 and that CAPER National new about it and approved of it. 

We are still hoping that we can get the facts from the alumni from Seton Hall University.

No matter when it happened, the order effectively merged the two organizations, making all CAPER Alumni Pershing Rifles Alumni.  All CAPER and Pershing Angels alumni are welcome to join the Federation of Pershing Rifles Alumni Associations (FPRAA).

But this was really not the end!

CAPERS have a wonderful legacy.  The legacy is all of the civilian and female members of Pershing Rifles today.  

But there is another legacy of CAPERS.  Although some of the CAPER Companies may have merged into their Pershing Rifles Companies during the early 1980's, some of them did not.  (We know why one from Patricia Martin, Company C-16 of Florida A & M University, didn't join their Pershing Rifles Company.  At that time, Pershing Rifles Company C-16 had repeatedly been caught hazing and was kicked of campus several times.  They didn't want to be associated with hazing or risk losing their organization.  We will some day learn all of their stories.)  

They changed their name to Pershing Angels, which was the local name of several CAPER Companies.  

Pershing Angels National Headquarters at St. Peters College

According to the history I received from Pershing Angels, the next National Headquarters.  But I didn't know what their status was. When Irene (Rodriguez) Lee found this website on May 1, 2010, we learned that the national organization was know as Pershing Angels, but that locally the company at St. Peters College was still called CAPERS.  

The National Commanders at St. Peters College were Fran (Lopes) Steffens in 1985, Irene (Rodriguez) Lee in 1986 and Madeline Colon in 1987. 

Fran has told me that the staff from Seton Hall brought some of the records to them (their campus were near each other), but never got them all. I am assuming that each of those dates were the end of the school year.  That would make the headquarters transfer in 1985. That would mean that there was either no headquarters for the 1983-84 school year or there was one more National Commander at Seton Hall.  The Pershing Angels history said that it was 1989, but Irene said that Madeline was the National Commander the year after her. 

The new date for Madeline Colon's year of command makes the rest of the Pershing Angels history make sense.  There was a period of time after that with no national headquarters.

The current Pershing Angels Organization  

On November 3, 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia, the National Society of Pershing Angels held a conference at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center.  The National Headquarters was reorganized with Lisa Cannon becoming National Commander with the headquarters in Atlanta. Lisa was National Commander until 1992.  

Note:  Pershing Angels no longer has actives running the National Staff, as history proves that it is too hard for actives to keep their local organization going while still running the organization.  The National Staff is now all alumni members.

In 1992 the National Headquarters was moved to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.  Tiji Murphy-Hipp was the National Commander form 1992 to 1996.

In 1997 the National Headquarters was moved to Howard University in Washington, DC.  Adrian Pugh was the National Commander from 1997 to 1998.  Note: It was Adrian who gave me the Pershing Angels history in 1999.  Latonja Estelle was National Commander from 1998 to 2000.

In 2000, the National Headquarters was moved to Norfolk State University.  Michelle Richardson was the National Commander from 2000 to 2002.

In 2002, the National Headquarters was moved back to Morgan State University.  Wanda Green (who pledged CAPERS in 1977) became the National Commander and she is still the National Commander.

Every alumni of CAPERS and Pershing Angels will be proud to know that 6 CAPER Companies still exist as Pershing Angels Companies.  Those include Florida State University, Morgan State University, Tuskegee University, North Caroline A & T University, Norfolk State University, and Hampton University.

There are also Pershing Angel Companies at Howard University, South Carolina State University, Virginia State University, and Lincoln University.  

If you are interested in learning more details (and emotions) about CAPER history, go to our page about Saving Our CAPER history.  We are hoping that more and more people will contribute to that page.  If that produces any changes in our knowledge of CAPER history, this page will be changed.

Return to the main page.

The creator of this website, Linda Grissette (the 1970-71 CAPER National Commander) is not asking for any money to help support this project.  Her reward will be finding people she remembers and learning about other former members memories.  If you appreciate the effort, please use her for all of real estate needs.  If you aren't in the St. Louis area where she works, she can find a great agent in your area and will receive a small referral fee.  Contact Linda about real estate.  See Linda's main real estate website.