LEXINGTON Thomas, Stephen and Angela Redmond came into this world in a rush, arriving quickly and safely within two minutes of one another.

A more amazing feat, however, might be the triplets' more recent one: surviving their first year at Virginia Military Institute, which includes the notorious Rat Line.

"We're pretty proud; nobody's done it before," Thomas said. "I think it's pretty cool."

As far as VMI officials know, the Redmonds, from Fairfax Station in Northern Virginia, are the first set of triplets to attend the school.

"We have families who come generation after generation after generation," said Stewart MacInnis, a VMI spokesman. "But this is the first time anybody remembers there being triplets.

"To have them all choose VMI and to have them all stick through it, that's something special . . . just because of the willpower required to stay here."

A little family competition also played a role in their surviving the Rat Line, a first-year indoctrination into the school's military life that includes push-ups and sweat parties and essentially means new students are introduced to the notion of everyone being treated the same: like dirt.

"There was definitely pressure not to be the first one to call it quits," Angela said. "You don't want to be the first one to call home and tell mom, 'Please, come get me!'"

Thomas and Stephen have always had their eyes on attending a military college -- Stephen since fifth grade when he read a biography of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Thomas decided soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that he wanted to join the Army; he settled on VMI around ninth grade. Stephen picked VMI a couple of years later. Angela, as Stephen joked, "did not come willingly."

At her brothers' behest, Angela attended an open house at VMI during the fall of her senior year in high school and was immediately turned off by the pre-dawn wake-up call.

"No way I'm spending my college waking up this early in the morning," she thought. "I didn't want to come here."

However, she talked to the soccer coach -- she's played soccer at a high level for years -- and was offered a partial scholarship. She returned to Lexington for another visit, talked to members of the soccer team and developed a different view of the place.

Now? She's glad she came. She didn't really mind having to cut her hair, which stretched halfway down her back.

"This is really something you can't get anywhere else," she said.

It's also not something most people want, said Charles F. Bryan Jr., president of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the VMI Class of 1969 who has served as historian for the VMI Alumni Association.

"It's not an easy way to go to college," said Bryan, whose son, Charles III, also graduated from VMI. "There are any number of brothers and sisters and occasional sets of twins. That's unusual, but triplets is almost unbelievable.

"I would imagine there would be some advantage of having [siblings] in the corps, having the knowledge you're not alone. It would certainly ease some of the pain, but not all of it."

The Redmonds said their experience bears that out. Though they seldom saw one another during the Rat Line -- they're in three different companies -- they kept up through friends and took solace in the fact the others were persevering. Though, as Thomas said, they also were interested in doing "our own thing."

"We wanted to get away from each other a little bit," he said, noting only once were he and Stephen in the same class in high school and never was Angela in class with either of them. "It's tough to hang out with somebody for so long."

Which brings us to sibling rivalry.

"I don't think we're ever not in competition," Thomas said.

He and Stephen particularly "try to outdo each other all the time." Grades, video games, physical training tests are fair game. Thomas and Stephen wrestled in high school and competed against each other in practice.

How'd that work out?

"I won," Thomas said without hesitation.

"That's not true," Stephen retorted, looking miffed.

Said Thomas, smiling, "We could do it right now."

Though school officials obviously knew about the Redmonds, the triplets at first did not advertise the fact they're triplets to their classmates. They feared being singled out, which is just about the worst thing that could happen during the Rat Line.

But they made it: The Rat Line ended in January, classes ended last week and exams conclude at the end of this week. Even though, as Thomas said of aptly named "Hell Week," the intense period in August that tends to separate the truly devoted from the pack, "I think it was the longest nine days of my life."

Now that most people know of them, the Redmonds field the typical questions: "Is it weird being a triplet?" "Do you feel each other's pain?" (The answers are "no.")

Thomas and Stephen also are asked if they're particularly proud of their sister for making it.

"Not really proud," Thomas said. "We knew she could do it. We weren't surprised. She's pretty tough."

She's also a pretty good soccer player, having been named to the Big South Conference all-freshman team as a goalkeeper.

Their parents, Gary and Jo Ann Redmond, had confidence in all three. They didn't push them to attend the same school but were pleased they chose VMI, Jo Ann said, though she acknowledged how difficult it was to leave them last August, knowing what they faced.

"It's extremely difficult watching your kids go through tough times knowing that you are unable to help," she said. "But they had to live it.

"So, yes, we're extremely proud that they have chosen this path and that they have made it through the first year. All together."