By: Cole Buergi, VP Business Development, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.
Thanks to my employer Susan Finco who nominated me, I
recently experienced one of the greatest moments in my career by participating
in the Army War College National Security Seminar (NSS). It was an opportunity
to spend four days interacting and discussing national and global events with
our military’s best and brightest.
The Army War College is among our nation’s top military
colleges and is designed to educate our best military officers to prepare them
for new roles as strategic leaders of the military. Although it is called the
Army War College with many of the students serving in the Army, all five
branches of our military are represented as well as military officers from
allied countries throughout the world.
The NSS is a capstone event and a culmination of 10 months
of Master’s and doctorate level courses designed to prepare the students for
their next military assignments. Upon graduation, many of them will be assigned
to the Pentagon or strategic bases of command throughout the world helping to
protect America’s national interests. The international students will return to
their respective countries to help lead their militaries. This cooperative
learning helps strengthen ties among our allies and opens doors to long lasting
peace. Equally important, the students are learning how to become strategic
thinkers, broadening their skills to evaluate issues from all sides and make
informed decisions.
Past graduates include such great military leaders as
General Omar Bradley, Admiral William Halsey, General George Patton and
President Dwight Eisenhower.
Only about 150 civilians are accepted to take part in the
NSS each year and the goal is to embed us into the individual classroom setting
and large group seminars to provide a broad perspective of what civilians in
the United States are thinking, particularly on items of national security and
global events. The civilian guests included men and women from all walks of
life, who have achieved success in their career paths.
Our task was to challenge the students thinking by asking
them questions they may not get from subordinates within the military. Equally,
the officers were tasked with challenging us to think differently by
challenging our assumptions and asking us to consider alternative solutions to
truly evaluate problems from all sides.
The give and take was remarkable and the one-on-one
interaction with my sponsor (i.e. student chaperone) was amazing. I will
cherish those memories and I want to congratulate the college for having
insight to allow civilians to participate. It’s a genius way of allowing
military leaders to gain exposure to a broad spectrum of ideas.
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