Rensselaer alumni have traveled the world far and wide to apply their technical knowledge and enthusiasm to help others for the greater good. Five alumni recently found themselves in a very unique and challenging situation. Roughly 7,000 miles away from Troy, on the other side of the world, five Rensselaer alumni are indeed making a difference to the underprivileged members of the African community. Their efforts are largely centered on helping Africans improve their own way of life and build lasting relations with the United States. The concentration of this effort begins in the Horn of Africa, including countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti.
The five alumni, Ande Smith ’87, Hassan E. Bermiss ’92, Brian Durant ’92, Steve Eron ’92, and myself, are all part of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, a unit of the United States Central Command. CJTF-HOA’s main mission is to assist in the development of African nations and to support those nations as they battle extremists in their part in the Global War on Terror. According to CJTF-HOA’s official website, “[Our] philosophy is to provide for host nations a stable, secure environment where all people have the freedom of choice—a place where education and prosperity are within each person’s grasp and where terrorists, whose extremist ideology seeks to enslave nations, do not infringe upon the right to self-determination.”
While all five members of this unique alumni group are in the military, our mission is not warlike. “Our mission has a humanitarian focus: increasing the capability of the African governments to assist their citizens,” states Bermiss. However a large percentage of the population throughout the region doesn’t see its government as friendly. Eron puts it simply, “Our hardest challenge is to get the local governments engaged in providing services that are standard in the U.S.—such as clean water, full primary education and reliable medical facilities. We can build the schools and drill the wells, but getting the infrastructure in place to maintain and support the whole program is the end goal.”
Through efforts such as working with the various African governments to bring to their people the very qualities of life most Americans take for granted, the 1,500 members of CJTF-HOA can achieve these goals. Something as simple as providing clean drinking water, functional schools, improved roadways, and improved medical facilities drastically improves the living standards of people who have never known such “luxuries.” The military’s efforts in the Horn of Africa are mostly non-violent, including military-to-military training, but center largely on civil affairs efforts such as engineering projects, humanitarian support projects, and medical, dental, and veterinarian civil action programs (one or two day clinics), all of which foster a lasting and positive relation with host African nations. The mission’s focus is ensuring that African nations have the capacity to secure their territories and can contribute to the Horn of Africa’s future.
This myriad of efforts to improve the lives of African nations brings us to our non-traditional Alumni Reunion. While impromptu RPI reunions occur all the time throughout the world, it isn’t often a reunion as peculiar as this one takes place.
The members of our African reunion include:
Commander Ande Smith ’87, from North Yarmouth, Minn., who graduated with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from RPI. Following graduation, he entered the Navy’s nuclear program and joined the submarine community. Now an active duty reservist, he is the Director, Theater Security Cooperation Plannning, CJTF-HOA. Smith arrived in Africa in February 2007, and will leave in March 2008 after a year-long tour of duty.
I am Lieutenant Ben Miller ’98, from Newburgh, N.Y., graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Now with U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, deployed out of Gulfport, I am the officer in charge of 136 Seabees, the Navy’s military construction force. The Seabees are currently involved in the construction of multiple schools throughout Africa as well as the drilling of several wells in Kenya. I am on a scheduled six-month deployment that began in February and concludes in August.
I have been active duty Navy since graduation and spent some time at sea. My first two tours were onboard USS Hayler with Amphibious Squadron Eight. Following a tour as an instructor in Newport, R.I., he transferred to the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps and worked at the Navy’s Public Works Center in Norfolk, before joining the Seabees of NMCB 133.
After 15 years and several thousands of miles between them, three of us alumni were finally reunited in Djibouti, Africa. Their last time together was on graduation day.
Major Hassan E. Bermiss ’92, of Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated with a B.S. in Science and Technology Studies (Environmental Engineering focus). Unlike the other four alumni, Bermiss chose the Marine Corps. His current position with CJTF-HOA is in the Intelligence Section—and that’s all he can tell you! He is scheduled to depart in mid-July after a six-month tour.
Commander-elect Brian Durant ’92, of Weymouth, M.A., graduated with a B.S. in Physics. He is assigned as the deputy engineer for eight engineers supervising over 60 Humanitarian and Civic Aid projects in eight African nations. Durant is serving as an Individual Augmentee on a six-month tour of duty to Africa, having arrived in January with an expected homecoming date in July.
Durant has been active duty Navy for the last 15 years since graduation. His first tour of duty out of Long Beach and San Diego, C.A., was onboard USS Jarrett as a Division officer. Following his time at sea he attended the Naval Postgraduate School and studied applied physics and mechanical engineering before becoming an Engineering Duty Officer. He put his skills to use working first at shipyards in Japan and then managing the development of an advanced satellite communications terminal to be installed on future naval vessels.
Lieutenant Commander Steve Eron, ’92, from Syracuse, N.Y., graduated with a B.S. in Biology. Also an activated reservist, he is the officer in charge of the Contingency Operating Location at Manda Bay, Kenya, a small base located just off the Indian Ocean. Eron arrived in Africa in February and will depart one year hence.
A secondary but almost as important mission of CJTF-HOA is improving the United States’ relations with the people themselves in the Horn of Africa. There is an atmosphere of distrust and dislike towards Americans, when in fact there is merely a misunderstanding between cultures. As I explained, “If everyone took the time to learn more about other cultures, you will find you can form long lasting, positive impressions that will shape our future.”
Compassion and caring goes a long way in bridging the gap between our cultures; simple acts like having an English conversation with the locals, playing soccer, or community service projects go a long way to foster good will. While we all look forward to the day we return to the United States, none of us have regrets on our time spent overseas. We know our efforts not only help the world community in the War on Terror but most importantly, they have had a positive impact on the way of life for thousands of people.
“You can see it on their faces when you bring their village water for the first time, or dedicated a new schoolhouse when the last building was nothing more than a one room shack. It’s brings a deep feeling of satisfaction to see the pure look of gratitude on their faces and I’ll take that back with me for the rest of my life,” I conclude.
Indeed ... Why not change the world?
