Photo By Sgt. 1st Class John Carkeet IV | Capt. Julius S. Myers (left), a United Military Academy alumnus and the G3 executive...... read more read more
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CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT - The familiar chant echoed across the desert.
“Go Army! Beat Navy!”
More than a dozen U.S. Military Academy graduates converged at Army Support Group – Kuwait’s headquarters in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, to show their support toward their alma mater through a video shout-out that will likely air during the 114th engagement on the gridiron between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen.
The 16 West Point graduates that faced the camera on that overcast morning of Oct. 30 exemplified the Army’s classroom educated and battlefield-tested officer corps. Men and women holding ranks of first lieutenant through brigadier general wore combat patches from numerous active, Reserve and National Guard components, while many of the group's Army combat uniforms bore airborne, air assault and combat action skill badges. Heads nodded and faces smiled as the graduates reminisced about their days marching in the long gray line.
To a casual observer walking along Patton Avenue that day, the scene would have looked no different than any other reunion if it were not for the lone officer wearing a desert camouflage uniform with the Kuwait national flag sewn on his right shoulder.
As a member of West Point’s graduating class of 2007, Capt. Sabah M. Al-Sabah, an intelligence officer for the Kuwait Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, had earned the right to join the “Go Army! Beat Navy!” chorus. His credentials prompted curiosity among the group as to how an officer in Kuwait’s military spent four years living, learning and leading soldiers at one of America’s most prestigious military academies.
“I found out about West Point’s International Cadet Program through the U.S. embassy in Kuwait,” said Al-Sabah in precise, lightly British-accented English. “I started the application process while I was attending Mount St. Albans, an all boys Jesuit School in Washington, [D.C].”
Al-Sabah’s close proximity to West Point stemmed from his father’s unique political position.
“My father was appointed ambassador to the U.S. in 1990 and remained in that position during the Bush and Clinton administrations,” said Al-Sabah.
After completing the necessary paperwork and earning a nomination from Kuwait’s minister of defense, Al-Sabah officially became a cadet in Kuwait’s military in 2003. Rather than following his comrades to one of his country’s academies, Al-Sabah returned to the U.S. to join the ranks of West Point’s corps of cadets.
“Unlike most military academies in the world, West Point does not have a separate curriculum for international students,” said Al-Sabah. “My uniform did not have anything that differentiated me from the other cadets.”
The complete integration of West Point’s international cadets with their American counterparts guaranteed that every student shared the same challenges. Despite contrasting social statuses and cultural backgrounds, Al-Sabah’s experience at West Point was not unlike those of his classmate, Capt. Julius S. Myers, a former football player for the Black Knights and a native of Dublin, Pa.
“West Point created a common struggle for everyone attending,” said Myers, currently deployed to Kuwait as the G3 executive officer for U.S. Army Central. “It is designed to force you to fail at some point and push you to your limits. This is regardless of where you are from and what country you represent.”
“I really appreciated not being separated from the [American] cadets so I could have similar experiences with everyone else,” Al-Sabah added. “Everyone drilled so often and in the same way that everything became automatic. Once you go through ‘The Beast’ [basic training], you get how the system operates and what’s expected of you.”
“The environment [at West Point] fosters a sense of collaboration between cadets,” said Myers. “We want to help each other succeed against our common ‘enemy,’ which happens to be the academy’s challenges. As a result U.S. cadets and partner nation cadets will not hesitate to learn from each other.”
Both officers admitted that defeating the “enemy” came only after they applied the fundamentals of prioritization and time management. Mastering these leadership traits helped Al-Sabah and Myers not only earn their bachelor degrees and officer commissions but also excel in their enmeshed military careers.
“I earned my bachelor's in business management,” said Al-Sabah. “Because my job requires me to manage, analyze and disseminate information, I must apply what I learned at West Point every day.”
Al Sabah's role as an intelligence officer with Kuwait's Ministry of Defense has given him opportunities to connect with Myers and other West Point alumni currently assigned to ARCENT.
“Working with our American counterparts is an integral part of our mission,” said Al-Sabah. “I have forged relationships with many of my classmates and senior officers. For example, my meeting with Myers in Camp Arifjan after nearly six years since [our] graduation was comfortable and familiar.”
Myers compared the friendships forged from spending four years at West Point to the country's commitment to develop stronger relationships with its allies.
“America has an obligation to understand and relate to our international partners,” said Myers. “We can learn much from Kuwait's culture, history and heritage. With the way the modern world is, we have to work together for our own survival and our partner’s survival.”
As the two officers shook hands and exchanged business cards, the original reason for their summons to ASG-Kuwait headquarters took hold of the conversation.
“I played quarterback my freshman year then outside linebacker for my remaining three years [at West Point],” said Myers.
“I watched all the Army-Navy football games while I was at West Point,” said Al-Sabah. “It was mandatory.”
Both men predict that the Black Knights will come out on top in November. Although recent history paints a different picture (Navy has beaten Army 12 years in a row), the officers' allegiance to their alma mater speaks volumes of their mutual respect for their country, their school and for each other.
“The friendships I formed at West Point are lifelong, and the lessons I learned there are priceless,” said Al-Sabah. “I have the utmost respect for this institution, and I am grateful to be part of it.”
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2013 04:04 |
| Story ID: | 116571 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Hometown: | DUBLIN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,018 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, A past together, a world apart, by SFC John Carkeet IV, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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