Page 98 - The Light Dragoon 2024

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Royal College of Defence Studies 2022-23
WHO, Geneva
After three years working at the UK Mission to the United Nations in one of the most exciting cities in the world, the journey home from New York was always going to be tinged with sadness. A slow boat home gave me time to reflect on the many varied and challenging issues the Security Council had wrestled with and my team’s role on the side-lines providing military advice, knee-deep in UN issues including Peacekeeping and the UK deployment to Mali. It was also a chance to look ahead and wonder how to better that. How do you fill the next stage in your career when you think you’ve just done the best job in Defence? And to be fair, swapping a Manhattan apartment for... well, anything in fact was always going to be a bit of a downer. However, I had been selected to attend the one-year Royal
College of Defence Studies (RCDS) course in London and as it turned out, it was the perfect moment to go back to school.
RCDS takes place in Seaford House: an exquisite five-storey white stucco mansion proudly dominating the southeast corner of Belgrave Square complete with courtyard, converted mews and outside the backdoor, one of the finest and smallest boozers in Central London aka The Horse and Groom. Over 100 ‘Members’ (no rank, flat structure) attend annually; roughly half are overseas military officers from 47 countries with a handful of foreign government officials from as far and wide as Chile and Georgia. The other half are from the UK: a dozen Army officers (Col and 1*), same for the Navy and Air Force as well as 2* MOD Civil Service, Cabinet Office to Foreign Office and a few rising stars in Industry and a CEO in the Charitable sector. We even have a couple of Members of Parliament. According to the blurb,
DMZ North Korea
Members are selected for preparation for senior leadership and management roles and the course is designed to develop strategic understanding and the capacity for strategic thinking and rigorous analysis of the international security agenda; to understand the levers that provide for security, stability and prosperity and the key tenets of leadership at the national level. It gives us the freedom to ‘join the dots’ for many who have already worked at the strategic level and apply
Visiting Lotus
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