Page 11 - FF Spring 2022 Final

Page 11 Falcon Footnote

Impressions of an Old Hand

Donald M. Bishop
After my 31 years in the and congratulating the cadet. history majors are learning
Foreign Service, some time on These are happy ceremonies. history from them at a very
Capitol Hill and five years at This summer, 35 majors in high level.
Quantico, I needed a change History and Foreign Area
of scenery, a change of pace, Studies-History will graduate. Some other impressions?
and a change of subject. I Members of the faculty teach a
volunteered to rejoin DFH for The Academy has an even generation of cadets that have
the Spring 2022 semester, more intense STEM focus grown up with laptops and
teaching two sections of the than I recall “back in the day.” smartphones. Adjusting teach-
core course in World History, Many cadets who were histo- ing to this new reality is a work Don Bishop is a volunteer
now taught to Second Class ry major prospects a genera- in progress. For me, another instructor in DFH for the
2022 spring term. He fin-
cadets. tion ago now choose the De- surprise has been how poorly ished his USAF assignment to
partment of Military and Stra- the high schools have prepared DFH in 1979, and then spent
After four decades away tegic Studies. Currently, the cadets in history . . . and geog- 31 years in the Foreign Ser-
vice. Most of his tours were
from the Academy, some Department with the largest raphy! in East Asia, and he was sent
things have changed, and number of majors is Manage- by State to the Pentagon as
some have not. ment. All that said, the cadets are Foreign Policy Advisor to
CSAF General Norton
smart and eager. The Depart- Schwartz. In Kabul, his final
The old cubicles have long The Department now has a ment has a different profile, but assignment, he led U.S. Pub-
been removed, and each mem- different faculty profile. Air morale is high. And the zeal to lic Diplomacy at the front end
ber of the Department now has Force officers are just over teach history for the profession of the civilian surge. He was
Donald Bren Chair of Strate-
an office. The Department’s half of the Department, and as of arms is unabated. There are gic Communication at Marine
hallways are corridors of Air I write, all of them are in the two slogans at an entrance to Corps University for five
Force history with paintings, field grades. The civilian DFH: “Know the past, shape years.
posters, photos, and memora- members of the faculty are the future” and “Teaching his-
bilia of Air Force greats. teaching in the core as well as tory today to those who will
offering challenging upper make history tomorrow.”
When a cadet declares a division courses. They natu-
history major, the faculty as- rally have longer and deeper
semble for the ringing of a bell academic backgrounds; the

Summer Holocaust Education Trip

Eight handpicked cadets tries. Already having com- the physical evidence of hor-
and their escorts will be trav- pleted the 3-semester hour rific crimes carried out by
eling to Poland and Germany course offering Humanities Nazi perpetrators and those
this summer engaged in Hol- 430, "The Holocaust," they crimes' impact on vic-
ocaust Studies. Led by Pro- will further benefit from true tims. The cadets will also
fessor Merideth Scott, the on-site learning. come to understand the hero-
excursion is being monetari- ic resistance, both passive
ly supported by generous Apart from grappling with and active, of millions of the
donations from Ms. Cheryl several related learning out- threatened and en-
Halpern, her family, along comes -- knowing the origins, slaved. Additionally, they
with the Academy's Re- development, conduct, and will weigh the role of by-
search and Development results of mass industrialized standers and rescuers. Final-
Institute. After de- murder during WWII -- the ly, by coming to grips with
tailed academic preparation cadets will doubtless become German military and civilian
before departure, the cadets especially sensitized to issues resistance to Hitler, they will
will visit Jewish historic relating to antisemitism, veiled ponder their legal, moral, and
sites, synagogues, museums, hate speech, bigotry, populism, ethical roles as future mili-
former ghettos, and as many and super nationalism leading tary officers in a democracy.
as four concentration camps to virulent radicalism of any
across the two coun- kind. They will see firsthand