The Command and General Staff College inducted three international military leaders, into its International Hall of Fame on Oct. 12 at the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth. The induction brings to 274 the number of leaders who have been honored in the Hall of Fame from the more than 8,000 international officers who have graduated from the college.
Officers honored were Lt. Gen. Leo Beulen, Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army; Major Gen. Antony Anderson, former Chief of Defense Staff, Jamaica Defense Force and currently the National Security Advisor for Jamaica; and Lt. Gen. Dennis Gyllensporre, Chief of Defense Staff and Commander of Swedish Armed Forces.
Accepting the honor, Beulen said "we do not do these things on our own, it's a recognition of all the men and women in the armed forces." Beulen became Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army and was promoted to his present rank in March 2016.
Since graduating from CGSC, Beulen has come to three conclusions that he shared with the more than 1,100 CGSC students at the induction ceremony. "Use majors for majors' problems, and generals for generals' problems," he said. He also said "international cooperation is, was, and will be essential. We have to know each other before we need each other." Finally, he added, "We lead soldiers and have to do it the best way we can."
Prior to his current position, he commanded 25 Section Armored Anti-aircraft Artillery as a lieutenant colonel and later the Air Defense Artillery Command as a colonel. He was deployed to Bosnia Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia in 2002 and to the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2012. As a general officer, he has served with the NATO Forces headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, as Director of Operation for the Defense Staff, and as deputy commander of the 1st (Germany/Netherlands) Corps in Munster, Germany. He graduated CGSC in 1998 in the same class as Lt. Gen. Michael Lundy, the current Commander of the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth and Commandant of CGSC.
Beulen started his military career in 1978 at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. In 1982, he was sworn in as a Second Lieutenant with the Defense Artillery and posted as Platoon Commander and had several command and staff functions up to 1991. From 1991 to 1993, he attended the Staff Service Course and Advanced Military Studies at the Netherlands Defense College. As a major he was head, operations office, G3 Section with the 1st (Netherlands) Corps and worked as the Chief Assistant to the Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff prior to attending CGSC.
A 2000 graduate of CGSC, Anderson was appointed Chief of Defense Staff of the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) on 10 October 2010. Prior to this appointment, Anderson served as Deputy Chief of Defense Staff with responsibility for force strategy, future plans and development; coordination of the National Security Strategy and the implementation of the JDF's Strategic Defense Review.
His class fully understood their uniqueness as the first class of the new millennium, he said. "We knew there were going to be new threats, including globalization, that would require shared responses," he said. Since graduating he said he has seen rapid shifts in the security environment and increased access to more information more quickly than ever before. He then looked aground the well-equipped Eisenhower Auditorium and compared it to his experience as a student in CGSC's previous home, Bell Hall, saying, "It's obvious the requirements of the 21st Century warrior are understood and embraced."
Anderson enlisted in the JDF in 1984 and after completing his initial officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United Kingdom, he was commissioned and posted to the 2nd Battalion, the Jamaica Regiment. He has held a number of command appointments throughout his career, including Commanding Officer for the JDF Air Wing and 1st Engineer Regiment. In 2006, he deployed to Trinidad and Tobago to head the Caribbean Community Operations Planning and Coordinating Staff that was formed to develop the regional security plans for the Caribbean countries participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
Anderson holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Defense Administration from Cranfield University, United Kingdom. He is a graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College and U.S. Army CGSC.
Gyllensporre was a member of the 2001 graduating class earning a Master of Military Art and Science degree and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award as the top international graduate. Since late 2014, he has been the Chief of Defense Staff with the rank of lieutenant general. He is also director of the Special Forces and the Commandant of Stockholm with designated state ceremonial responsibilities.
He recalled receiving a stack of books and manuals bigger than he could carry when he checked into CGSC. They covered everything from the care of the boots to nuclear war, he said. He also said he studied hard on topics like Middle Eastern politics, logistics management, and other topics he knew he would need in his next assignment as a battalion commander training soldiers in Artic warfare. Then, shortly after he took command, the 9/11 attack happened and he was reassigned to the Ministry of Defense becoming the expert on the Middle East, logistics in a deployed environment, and other topics he had studied at CGSC.
"Study hard the new manual [FM 3.0, Operations]," he told the students. "Be prepared to thrive in uncertainty. You will be exposed to new strategic shocks," he said.
Gyllensporre was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1988 at Norrbotten Signal Regiment. He was deployed to Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997. Subsequently, he became the battalion commander at the 19th Infantry Regiment. In 2003, he was deployed to Sudan, where he served as Chief Operations Officer in the Joint Military Mission. He returned to his post at the MoD in 2004 and was promoted to colonel. Following an assignment as the Chief of Staff at the Swedish Joint Forces Command he was dispatched to Brussels, Belgium in 2005 and worked as Chief of the Doctrine and Concepts Branch, at the European Union Military Staff. He then deployed to Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan in 2008 to serve as Chief of Staff of the Regional Command North Headquarters. He returned to Stockholm, to serve in senior positions in the Armed Forces Headquarters. In 2012 he was appointed Director of the J5 (Policy & Plans) Department and promoted to major general.
The CGSC International Hall of Fame was established by the college, the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars and the CGSC Foundation in 1973. To be considered for the International Hall of Fame an officer must be a graduate of CGSC and have attained the position of leader of his or her country's army or defense forces. In addition to being inducted into the Hall of Fame, inductees are presented a CGSC certificate of honor by the Military Order of the World Wars and a Life Constituent Certificate by the Foundation. Officers from 72 countries have been inducted into the hall. Fifteen International Hall of Fame members have gone on to be heads of state in their countries.
International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth with the arrival of Swiss Lieutenant Henri Le Comte in 1894. Since then, international students, representing 165 countries to date, have become an integral part of the Fort Leavenworth experience. These talented military officers contribute to a rich professional and cultural exchange environment.
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