FORT BENNING, Ga., (March 11, 2015) -- Students in the Maneuver Captains Career Course got a chance to hear from someone who has deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan - but as a civilian.
Carter Malkasian, who leads the Stability and Development Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, has spent much of the last 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan as a civilian political and strategy advisor. Most recently, he served as the political advisor to Gen. Joseph Dunford from May 2013 to August 2014. Dunford was the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan at the time and is currently the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Malkasian spoke to the students about his experiences working with local partners in Iraq and Afghanistan and the importance of building trust with them.
"You do that by being patient, spending time with people and showing them you care and that their concerns are your concerns," he said. "You can have disagreements, but they can't feel like you're trying to undermine them."
Malkasian said Americans should keep in mind that while they may only be in Afghanistan for a limited amount of time, the local forces they partner with live there permanently and have probably worked with many other Americans before.
"They understand what's going on on the ground better than you do," he said.
He encouraged deploying Soldiers to take time to learn as much as possible about the area they're heading to by reading about it and talking with people who have recently served there.
Malkasian said he was very impressed with the experience level of the students in the MCCC.
"It's inspiring talking with them," he said.
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