My name is Rhys McCormick. I am a senior majoring in Security and Risk Analysis in the Intelligence Analysis Modeling Option. As a military brat, I really do not have a hometown and have moved almost every two years. I have lived in Seoul, South Korea for two years, four years in Germany spread between Heidelberg and Kitizingen. While living overseas I had the opportunity to travel around the world. I have been a wide variety of places to include China, England, and Switzerland. Within the continental United States, I have lived in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and Kansas.
This summer I interned at the Peacekeeping Stability Operations Institute at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA. PKSOI is the United States Army Center of Excellence at the Strategic and Operational levels in order to improve military, civilian agency, international and multinational capabilities and execution. While at PKSOI, I completed a research project analyzing how to incorporate local and state police expertise into stability and counterinsurgency operations better. Specifically, I compared the creation of a Civilian Response Corps to a Hybrid National Stability Police Force. Throughout the internship, there were multiple opportunities to listen to lectures from the various members of PKSOI. Some of these lectures included a briefing on USAID, ABCs of Doctrine, and briefings on the Japanese and New Zealand's involvement in stability operations from members of their countries respective armed forces.
The events of my internship at PKSOI was one of the biggest reasons I elected to take IST 445H this semester. Prior to my internship, I only had a slight interested in how the government makes policy decisions are globalization issues. After the internship however, I had a much greater interest in the specifics of the creation of governmental policy. I watched as the full-time staff members of PKSOI were working on the revision of Field Manual 3-07, Stability Operations for the Army. It was fascinating to watch as they worked on revising policy that will actually operate at the tactical and operational levels. I am interested to look at whether the policy decisions created by the Center for Strategic and International Studies Institute and other think tanks are actually applied at the tactical and operational levels of just simply remain at the strategic level.
The reason that I am most interested in taking IST 445H this semester is the field trip to CSIS in November. The field trip to CSIS offers a unique experience I would not otherwise have as an undergraduate student. The opportunity to participate in policy creation exercises and work with policy creation experts sounds extremely exciting to me. I am looking forward to working and networking with the policy experts at CSIS over the course of our 3-day field trip. The opportunities of this field trip will also prove useful in future job interviews and graduate school applications. Being able to sit down and talk about these experiences offers an advantage in today's competitive job market. Any opportunity that gives the candidate the opportunity to stand out will prove immensely helpful.
