Hanging Out With The Generals

Every year, senior ranking Naval officers from all over the world are selected to join the prestigious Naval War College in Rhode Island for 1 year program. Some of these graduands are Generals and most of them progress to the rank of General or Admirals in their respective country's Naval Forces. Because of their high rank, they viewed as important allies of America in their home countries. To this end, towards the end of the program, they are taken on a tour round the United States so that they can better foster friendship and cooperation with the U.S.

In what has become an annual tradition, the Naval officers have made my place of work one of their stops during their tour. During this time, they are taken through the work that we do and made to understand the value that we bring, not just to America but to the rest of the world. Due to the diverse nature of the group, I have always been invited to take part in these routine. My multi-cultural experience has always placed me at an advantage when it comes to interacting with foreign visitors.

For the first time in as many years, there was a high ranking Kenyan Naval officer in this year's class (and he happened to know one of my sibling). This is despite the fact that Kenya has always been a strong ally of America, a key military partner and a major recipient of U.S. military assistance. I am not sure why there has been no Kenyan attendee every year while there are usually officers from other African countries like Egypt, Nigeria and Tunisia.

For me, getting to meet these high ranking Naval officers has always been interesting. This is because we get to hear their thoughts on not only about the US, but also regarding world affairs. Even though the average age of these officers is 45 years, they are nothing close to boring. If anything, they come close to Sailors, if you know what I mean.

In my conversations with them, I have come to realize that although some of them are political appointees, they are usually full of wisdom. On rare occasions, there has been one or two officers who get carried away by their seniority in their respective countries. Interestingly, these officers have been from nations that don’t enjoy transparency and civil liberties so attitude can be traced to the countries from which they come from.

On the other hand, the most reserved officers are usually from the Middle East or Arabic countries. Even after a few drinks, it is very hard to get them to open up. May be it is because of their poor grasp of English but then again, most of these officers don’t come from English speaking countries.

If I was to choose one group to hang out with, it would be the officers from continental Europe. They are the most liberal thinkers and are never afraid to speak their mind. Even with their strong accents, they are nothing close to boring and show the greatest interest in understanding America. It’s no wonder that these countries have very competitive economies. Unfortunately, I prefer to hang out with the Africans as I connect more with them even though they are half as interesting as their European counterparts. At the same time I use the ocassion to speak my mind regarding the happenings in Africa as they are feared in their countries and may not get to hear the views of the common citizens.

As someone who greatly appreciates the service of the men in uniform, it is always an honor to meet these senior Naval officers. The few hours that I get to interact with them, serves to broaden my horizon and understanding of their different cultures.

Interestingly, the group is usually exclusively male. I am yet to meet a female Naval graduand from the college although there may be a female officer from the US Navy accompanying them . And now that I’m thinking about it, I've never heard of any high ranking female officer in both Kenya and America. It certainly looks like women have a long way to go in the Armed Forces.