Coordinated through the U.S. Defense Attaché’s Office, CDTs Gabirel Kunze ’25 and Dawson Clifton ’25 were afforded an extraordinary opportunity to learn about various initiatives at the U.S. Embassy, including U.S.-Chadian cooperation on development and stability, regional security, and counterterrorism in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) as well as other border areas.
Fluent in French, CDT Kunze spent each morning serving as the primary English instructor at the Chadian Military Academy, also known as the Groupement des Ecole Militaires Inter Armées (GEMIA), where his students ranked from lieutenant to major general. With little guidance or preparation, Kunze navigated this challenging assignment as a true professional and developed important adaptive, interpersonal, and cross-cultural skills in the process.
CDT Clifton was tasked by the Pol/Econ section to serve as a control officer to assist with the evaluation of programs in the LCB region where Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations operate. His exceptional work culminated in an opportunity to co-author a State Dept cable as well as several other deliverables. His placement provided invaluable insight on terrorism in the LCB and the Sahel, which as an Arabic major and Terrorism minor, will contribute enormously to his academic endeavors during his firstie year.
Additionally, while they spent the bulk of their time on their individual projects, they were able to attend country team meetings, the DoD synchronization meeting, and the Ambassador’s media update. They met brother of the President of Chad GEN Abdelkerim Deby ’15, as well as AMB Alexander Laskaris. The two cadets were afforded the opportunity to visit the Chadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and tag along with the Office of Security Cooperation (OSC) as they completed projects and attended meetings throughout N’Djamena. They met with nearly 20 specialists from various organizations, including AMB Mamman Nuhu from the Lake Chad Basin Commission, various UN entities, and local police forces.
Learn more about AIADs here.
Cadets have an opportunity to travel and experience significant out-of-the-classroom opportunities like this AIAD in N’Djamena, Chad, thanks to donor support of the Margin of Excellence.
Excerpt and image taken from https://www.facebook.com.
