The Club's annual lunch with the International Fellows from the Army War College took place for the 39th time on Monday, with 75 nations represented in this year’s class. That marks a steady increase from the first lunch, back in 1980, when just 8 students participated. Jeff Davis was properly recognized for originally conceiving of the invitation, which has now become a greatly anticipated Club activity. Jack Bogrette was also recognized for his efforts in keeping the tradition going with the excellent meals and meeting set-ups each year. There is a lot of history there as the Fellows usually move up in rank and responsibility in their respective military organizations. For example, the current President of Egypt is an Army War College grad, who would have been one of our lunch guests a few years back.
We provided an overview of what our Club does in keeping with the service and outreach vision of Rotary, and then received a briefing from the Director of the Fellows Program, whose wife is a member of the Carlisle Rotary Club. Many of the Fellows were well familiar with Rotary, including one who had been the president of his Club in Argentina. The lunch culminated with the individual introductions that took us around the world, as each officer stood in military regalia and announced his country of origin.
The Fellows will now begin a ten month long curriculum of strategic theories and thinking at the War College, during which they will attend numerous lectures and participate in a seminar style learning format along with about 200 U.S. military officers from all the branches. Similar to Rotary, the year provides them with great networking opportunities.