West Point duo developing military academies in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Spc. Nate Jastzemski
WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service, Jan. 12, 2004) – Plans for a military academy are developing in Iraq and one is set to open next year in Afghanistan thanks to the hard work and perseverance of two West Point officers.
Col. George B. Forsythe, West Point’s assistant dean for education and Lt. Col. Casey Neff, special assistant to the commandant here for systems and planning, recently spent more than eight weeks in the Middle East to develop the plans to start academies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The project started in October. That’s when the two traveled to Afghanistan to meet with Maj. Gen. Karl Eichenberry, commander of the Office of Military Cooperation there. With numerous Afghan military leaders and Turkish Col. Sener Tekbas, the group embarked on a program to jointly develop a new four-year academic program. This program, Forsythe said, was intended to develop “leaders of character” who could command troops and one day help redevelop the nation.
“We originally wanted to set them up with a two-year program, but they showed no interest,” he explained. “They wanted a modern, Western-style military academy with a four-year education program.
The foreign contingent also wanted a program, he continued, that would allow their officers to earn degrees in applicable civilian fields so they could contribute “more than military knowledge to their nation.”
Neff said the idea was not unlike another one that surfaced decades ago.
“There are parallels with what the Afghan leaders want to do and what the graduates of West Point did for the U.S. in the 19th century,” he said. “They want officers who will take their knowledge and experience not only as military leaders, but also as civilian leaders who will apply hardworking military ethos to the infrastructure of the country.
“The Afghan leaders we dealt with are committed to making their country better and working with them went well beyond our expectations,” Neff added.
Forsythe said they worked on a plan for the military academy with consideration toward the roles of officers and noncommissioned officers. They also had to consider the history and culture of the land and how that would affect academy operations. For four weeks the group worked and ended with a 116-page report. The document contains the academy’s purpose, mission, goals, cadet development concept, and program goals and structures for each of the three programs -- academic, military and physical development.
“We also helped them develop an honor code and course descriptions for a four-year curriculum including seven majors,” Forsythe explained.
The group didn’t stop there. They also created an admissions system, chose a site for the academy and ironed out all the details needed to get the process going and the facility in working condition.
“When we finished and all parties were happy, we took our recommendations and briefed everyone, all the way up to the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense and General Staff, the equivalent of our Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Forsythe said. “They applauded it, literally giving us an ovation.”
The Afghan National Army Military Academy is set to open for its first class in February 2005. But for the two West Point officers, the job was only half done.
Forsythe and Neff next took a C-130 to Baghdad, Iraq, where British officers were working on creating an academy for the newly formed Iraqi Army.
“Originally, those in Iraq thought they would use a one-year model based on the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst,” Neff explained. “That system is mainly training for officers who have already completed an undergraduate education.”
Forsythe said when they got the news the administration was speeding up the transfer of authority in Iraq, they knew they had to think more broadly about a long-term plan for an Iraq military academy. At the end of the day, the two decided the Sandhurst model wouldn’t be a good idea for Iraq, mainly because these officers needed more than a year’s training.
“One of the challenges in Iraq is to make the army officers understand that they are subordinate to democratically elected civilian authorities and not an arm of the regime,” Forsythe said. “They are there to serve the people.”
“Our assessment is that it takes time to develop the ethos they need to instill in the new Iraqi Army and we don’t think you can do that in a year,” he added.
Both officers said despite early opposition to their suggestions, the Iraqis now understand what is needed to train their officers for now and for the future.
“I didn’t get a ‘warm, fuzzy’ feeling while we were there, but at the end they said we had compelling arguments and our advice made sense,” Forsythe said.
“I’d say what we did in Iraq was positive and rewarding because we were able to contribute something to the direction of the country,” Neff added. “Our contribution was getting everyone working on this project looking in a different direction, one that we think makes sense.”
(Editor’s note: Spc. Nate Jastrzemski is a staff writer for the Pointer View newspaper at the U.S. Military Academy.) |
