The Army school where Brad teaches invites several international officers to participate in its program each year. These are some of the most promising mid-rank officers in their countries (~35 years old) and they come to foster a spirit of cultural understanding and perspective. It's kinda cool. Brad and I signed up to sponsor two officers coming in to start in February. Both arrived this week.

On Wednesday, we met our Rwandan guy at the airport and he seems very interesting. He has scars on his head and is missing half an index finger - obtained in the 1994 conflict. You know, I felt very cultured after watching "Hotel Rwanda", but standing before this man with visible scarring from a very real conflict made me feel rather silly for feeling like I knew about it because I watched a movie. He's very open about it and volunteered the information himself. I'm looking forward to getting to know him better.

On Friday, we met our Lithuanian guy and he's great, too. We had a little more time to spend with him and so I got to learn a lot about Lithuania (I didn't have far to go since I knew next to nothing about it before then). He's very friendly and open. He, also, fought in a major conflict - he was a very young man when the Soviet Union fell and so participated in the revolution to overthrow the Russians in his country. He doesn't have physical scars, but you can tell the emotional scars run deep - he's not a big fan of the Russians.

All in all, a very educational week. They're living on post, but we'll be getting together with them a few times while they're here. I'm anxious to learn as much as I can from these guys.