UMKC students participate in Walk and Talk

Michael Wizniak, an instructor of International Management in the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) brought 16 of his students on Nov. 17 to tour Fort Leavenworth and the Command and General Staff College. His students, both undergrad and graduate, are part of his “Global Mindset” class.

Doug Tystad, CEO of the CGSC Foundation, and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Rich Keller, a Foundation trustee, worked together to lead the group’s tour. As they drove through Fort Leavenworth, Tystad and Keller relayed the story of how U.S. Army Captain Henry Leavenworth established the fort in 1827, by ignoring orders to build a cantonment on the east side of the river, opting instead to establish a presence on the west side, high on the bluffs overlooking the river. As the bus followed those bluffs, the students viewed the beautiful brick homes, including the “Rookery,” the oldest continually habited home in Kansas and where General MacArthur lived as an Army lieutenant. Next, they passed by the old disciplinary barracks which now houses a café and gift shop, as well as drove by the simulations lab, and the monuments of General Grant and the Buffalo Soldiers.

The next stop on the walk and talk tour was the visit to the Lewis and Clark Center, home of the Command and General Staff College, where they walked through the Fort Leavenworth and International Halls of Fame and had their pictures taken in the MacArthur Room. They also had the opportunity to visit a classroom to observe a staff planning exercise led by a CGSC tactics instructor. Both students from UMKC and the students from CGSC enjoyed meeting and talking with one another. Then they met with faculty member Bub Meador from the CGSC Department of Military History who discussed the curriculum as well as the importance of the writing and oral skills required at CGSC. Finally, Tystad provided the students with the walk and talk standard “Army 101” briefing outlines the importance of education, training, and experience that is required by all Army officers.

As they were getting back on the bus, one of the students remarked, “This was a really interesting visit. I did not even know that the College existed. I am so glad that I attended the tour.”

Contact Joan Cabell, the CGSC Foundation director of development, to schedule your own group’s “Walk and Talk” tour of CGSC and Fort Leavenworth and learn about the education of leaders for the nation. – joan@cgscf.org.