Military leaders, students benefit from Duke Counterterrorism Fellowship

(Tim Nichols addressing class) “What do you think the state department
spends a lot of time on?
They have analysts right?”
(Tim Nichols, Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellowship Program Director)
"About five or six years ago, David Schanzer and I came up with the idea of hosting senior
military officers to talk about some of the problems that the military and the country were facing.
We decided that the program would be called the Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellowship
Program.
So we called military leaders at the highest levels and asked them to send us their very
best officers, instead of sending them to the war colleges, so that we could challenge
them, we could mentor their research and perhaps we could strip away some of their predispositions
that they get while serving in the military for an extended period of time".
(Military officer and student talking) “So the first day of class, I walked into
school and I sat down there, and I swore half the students thought I was the teacher!
(Laughter from student and military officer)
(COL Wes MacMullen, U.S. Army Civil Affairs Officer)
"So it’s actually really humbling to be in this academic environment, to see different
points of view.
The way we discuss things like risk and balance.
It’s refreshing to hear in contrast to the typical military way we do things.
(Kayla Schulz, Junior) “What’s it like going from that military
mindset back to a college setting, back to writing papers, reading research papers?”
(COL Wes MacMullen) “I think it’s a lot about slowing down
and getting all the way back to basics.
Over time, I’ve build up some biases based on my experiences.
And getting back to the academia, we have to really, really let that go.”
(COL Chris Black, U.S. Army Aviator) “Bringing the officer to a university like
Duke enables us to make sure that we have a wider view of the potential questions and
even answers to some of the situations that we may have that kind of go outside of the
military spectrum and can go to any other type of field or answer.”
(LTC Matthew Weinshel, U.S. Army Aviator) “Obviously there are myths on both sides.
Military folks have some expectations and perceptions about the way in which a civilian
advisor or policymaker would act or react.
And I think the same is true on the other side.
And this, I think, helps bridge that gap and it is one of the main reasons the Army sends
us here.”
(Tim Nichols) "By virtue of this program, the students get
to sit next to very seasoned practitioners, people who've been to Syria, who've dealt
with the Kurds, who've been to Iraq and Afghanistan.
And what the fellows get is seeing these incredibly bright, articulate students who have a passion
for learning, who have great energy and who want to contribute to the world, which is
very reassuring them."
(COL Chris Black talking with Kayla)
“This is just another aspect of being able to interact with future leaders of America
and those people who are going to go on and hopefully do great and wonderful things for
our country.
And they do bring a unique insight and a unique perspective and a unique way of looking at
problems that some of us old timers probably haven’t thought of.
So that’s kind of what I enjoy.”
(Kayla Schulz) “The practicality aspect.
We’ll be talking about something in class and they’ll bring up an example of what
they’ve experienced, whether that be in a foreign country or working with other military
leaders around there."
(COL Wes MacMullen and Kayla talking) (COL Wes MacMullen)"What was the first thing
that you found out about the fellows that defied your expectations before you would
have met any of us?"
(Kayla)That's a good question.
Y'all are living a real life day to day.
You have a family and there's a lot of different things.
As where, a lot of us are just college students and that's kind of our "occupation."
So I think it's a unique dynamic to have people who are living that real life, have gone and
had those experiences, and then also people who don't necessarily have those practical
experiences yet and have just been doing the theory side of things."

Military leaders, students benefit from Duke Counterterrorism Fellowship

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