International officers receive graduation badges

International military students, received the Command and General Staff College International Officer Graduate Badge during a ceremony June 9, 2016, in the Eisenhower Auditorium at the post’s Lewis and Clark Center. In the 2016 CGSC graduating class, there were 109 international officers representing 90 countries.

The tradition of presenting international military students with a badge began in 1964 in response to interest by international military students who wanted a distinctive emblem to indicate they were graduates of the college. Many other military colleges around the world have such emblems. International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth with the arrival of Swiss Lieutenant Henri LeComte in 1894. Since then, international military students have become an integral part of the “Fort Leavenworth experience” and to date more than 7,700 international officers have studied alongside U.S. military and government civilian counterparts.

Students were addressed by Ms. Ann Cataldo, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense Exports and Cooperation.

Badges were presented by Lt. Gen. Michael Lundy, Commanding General, Combined Arms Center (CAC) and CGSC Commandant, along with Command Sgt. Maj. David Turnbull, CAC.

The International Military Student Chief of Staff remarks were by Lt. Col. (GS) Hans-Jakob Reichen, Switzerland.

The class gift was presented to CGSC by Lt. Col. (GS) Hans-Jakob Reichen, Switzerland and Maj. Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman, Indonesia.

Click here to view the full gallery of photos from the ceremony.

Lt. Col. (GS) Hans-Jakob Reichen, Switzerland and Maj. Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman, Indonesia, present the international officer class of 2016 gift to the College during the International Officer Badge Ceremony June 9.