Major General John S. Kem, Provost of the Army University and Deputy Commandant of the Command and General Staff College presented the International Graduate Badge to international officers completing the year-long Command and General Staff Officers Course June 8 at the post's Lewis and Clark Center. The ceremony honored 108 international officers from 88 countries. Friday the international officers will join their American military and American government civilian classmates as the college graduates nearly 1,200 students.
The tradition of presenting international military students with a badge began in 1964 in response to interest by international military students who wanted a distinctive emblem to indicate they were graduates of the college. Many other military colleges around the world have such emblems. International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth with the arrival of Swiss Lieutenant Henri LeComte in 1894.
Speaking on behalf of the international students, German Major Jan Feldman, Chief of Staff of the International Officer Class, noted the class was sorrowed by two students who were called home early in the year because of unrest in their country. He said that event amplified the complex defense environment we live in today and the reason it was important for international officers to live, work, and study together. "The lessons we learn on the inside may be far greater than what we learned in the classroom," he said. "Learning to accept a different set of values and perceptions [from other international and U.S. students] is the foundation of awareness and dialog," he said.
In addition to presentation of the badges, recipients of the two major awards for international students were announced at the ceremony. United Kingdom Major David Welford was named the recipient of the General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the top international graduate, and Lt. Col. Meshari M. Alhaddad of Kuwait receives the Major General Hans Schlup Award. The Schlup Award, first given in 1997, recognizes and promotes the significance and importance of international relations developed through the network of friends and professional acquaintances at CGSC in the international military community.
Feldman and German Lt. Col. Sebastian Bley presented the International Student's gift to the college. The gift is a world map that highlights the nations present in the class and has photos of each international student. It will be displayed in the Lewis and Clark Center's atrium for the next year.
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