ROTC hosts third annual leadership symposium

Lizandra Portal/Staff Writer

The U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Southern Strike Battalion at Florida International University, in partnership with the University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, held their third annual Operational Global Engagement Leadership Symposium on Thursday, Nov. 2.

The event was hosted by LTC. L. Craig Halsey, a professor of military science in the department of military science and leadership and Hector Cadavid, the assistant director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy.

FIU Cadets and other University members were given a broader viewpoint upon small-scale issues regarding the tactical level, all the way up to global engagement, of how the United States’ government acts to solve international issues, according to Capt. Kenneth Goetz, an assistant professor of military science for the southern strike army ROTC battalion.

“Our end goal with this is that the cadets realize that… once they leave here [FIU] that they’re not done. They’re not complete,” said Goetz to Panther Magazine. “And having the presenters that we have… the cadets have that opportunity to see and learn that they… have to continually be that person that is going to refine themselves and be an expert at this. There are implications on every action that you do.”

The guest speakers at the event were Col. Kevin Petro of the U.S. Southern Command; Ms. Yvette Wooley, an adjunct professor at the JGI; Brian Latell, a former CIA service member and senior research associate at the JGI with a doctorate in history and Anthony Atwood, an adjunct professor at the JGI with a doctorate in history.

The event was open to the entire University and all majors were welcome.

“The target audience was obviously the ROTC cadet battalion, but there are also implications here for people studying public policy, political science and strategic studies and the intelligence fellows that are here at FIU and have a strong interest in the topics we’re covering,” said Goetz. “Because it does affect anybody that is covering government policy, international policy and international relations, all these topics have a significant draw in for them because you can’t have one [military strategy] without the other [diplomacy]. Military operations are always part of a larger diplomatic approach.”

Senior psychology major Vivian Ramirez, who is performing as a cadet Sgt. Major in the ROTC program, attended the event because she believed that it offered a lot of leadership learning.

“I expected nothing less than how to be a good leader, especially since most of us in the ROTC program are going to be in leadership,” Ramirez said. “We’re going to be guiding American women and men so we need to have that knowledge of how to be a good role model for them.”

The symposium, Ramirez said, taught her how important emotional intelligence is.

“Most of all it’s just how to have emotional intelligence, how to handle myself, how to communicate with others better,” Ramirez said. “To never let your emotions control you. You’ll always need to rationalize the information that you’re being [given] and don’t let it unstable you.”

Featured Photo by Nicole Malanga/ PantherNOW