Eight African military officers who are students at the George C. Marshall Center visited U.S. Africa Command May 11, 2012, to learn more about AFRICOM's mission and objectives.

The seven men and one woman are taking part in the Marshall Center's Program in Advanced Security Studies (PASS), a 10-week graduate-level course that focuses on security policy, defense affairs and international relations.

The class is targeted at international military officers and civilian government officials and takes place at the center in Garmisch, Germany.

The visitors were impressed with AFRICOM's wide-ranging mission, and the fact that so many agencies play a role in the command.

"The interoperability is really wide," said Colonel Leonidas Bandenzamaso, an armor brigade commander from Burundi.

Bandenzamaso said it was interesting to see the importance of interagency cooperation, whether the mission is humanitarian or operational.

Eric Young, the group's leader and a professor at the Marshall Center, said the students who visited AFRICOM are enrolled in an elective course on African security. It was the first time any of them had visited the command.

"The main purpose is for them to see AFRICOM and meet people here," said Young.

Senegalese Navy Commander Papa Toure said that will help him better explain AFRICOM's role and intentions to his fellow military leaders back home, and to his country as a whole.

"It's very fruitful," Toure said of the relationship with AFRICOM. He said a briefing Friday from General Carter Ham helped him see the broader security implications of threats like piracy and drug smuggling. Toure cited programs as the African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership as effective and useful ways for AFRICOM to engage its partner nations and counter those threats.

"I better understand that these operations are part of a much greater global view," Toure said.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Nahabwe of the Uganda's People Defense Force agreed.
"That relationship is for the good of Africans," Nahabwe said. "That should be explained by us."

In addition to his regular class work at the Marshall Center, Toure is also writing a thesis on women in the armed forces. Senegal decided five years ago to allow women to serve, and Toure has been charged with assessing the integration process.
His time in Garmisch has allowed him to create a presentation that he will take back to his ministry of defense.

Several of the visitors added that their time at the Marshall Center has also brought them closer together with their counterparts.

Dania Woodstock, a second lieutenant in the Seychelles People Defense Force, is the most junior participant. She is one of only of three female military officers in her country, and was interviewed by Toure for his paper.

Yet she found it easy to relate to her fellow PASS students, all male and more senior to her.

"We are all the same. We all have the same etiquette," Woodstock said. "We think alike."