GSI learns from local Navy SEAL
Source/Author: Richard Beaton
November 06, 2014
On November 6, 2014, GSI welcomed Lt. Commander Richard Witt, a Navy SEAL who has served two tours of duty in Iraq and just completed a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard. He is currently based at MacDill, and he spoke about the following topics:
1. The divide between the military and civilian communities
2. His military experiences
3. The current war in the ME against ISIS
4. Special Forces - primarily, what it means to be a Navy SEAL
He understands how much the SEALS have entered popular culture through books and movies in the last number of years, but stressed that, though they constitute an elite fighting force, they are not a "silver bullet" for every situation.
He helped us understand how relatively few families in the United States today are military families as a way to understand the divide between the military and the civilian population.
He shared some of his own experiences over the course of two tours of duty in Iraq and discussed what he sees as probable in the near term in that region. Lt. Cmdr. Witt stressed the need for a political rather than military solution to the challenges posed by ISIL (ISIS), and he also helped us understand the conflicting ambitions and concerns of regional and international players in the conflict and did not seem optimistic that the desired political solution was likely any time soon.
Lt. Cmdr. Witt stayed on after his remarks to field questions from students, including a couple of Shorecrest students who are contemplating careers in the military.
