Joined a class I'm not in to see this, and it was worth it. Everyone was very impressed, the man is a scholar as well as a soldier (and he must excel at the latter, his bio said he'd served in the Airborne, JTF2, Gurkhas, and RGJ before his current post). Part of his talk was based on a presentation he made to US Army officers, dealing with COIN and the "new" way of doing things, though you could tell he had excluded a lot of the military stuff for the sake of time, and the fact that the average Trent student would have no clue anyways. He cracked some jokes too ("We're in Afghanistan so they can vote like we do in Florida" and regarding the "propaganda pictures" the public affairs people wanted him to show "You see? Boys do combat, and girls do development!" I think many of the students (from the comments I heard as we all left afterwards) were surprised that an officer in the military could be so cerebral (he referenced some neo-Marxist thinkers in his bit about "legitimacy and the use of force" and the students just ate it up), witty and funny all at the same time, and I heard a girl say "I want to see him yell at his soldiers now, I can't picture it." All in all, I think it was great for some very liberal (not that there's anything wrong with that!) students to actually listen to someone so influential in the military speak, and even more impressed that the professor whose class it was is actually good friends with the Lt. Col., despite what must be a wide chasm between their respective political views (the prof in question was almost fired by Trent, because he's TOO liberal, and this is Trent we're talking about). Anyways, I was heartened by the sight of political science students listening attentively, and asking some very good questions in the end, and the fact that no one was rude (the prof said "ask anything you want, there will be no censorship as is the university tradition, but also in the university tradition, I expect everyone to be respectful). I think the reminder was unnecessary, as, though some tough questions were asked, everyone I saw was clapping in the end, and many students went forward to shake the Lt. Colonel's hand.
Lt. Col. Hammond Speaks at Trent University
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Lucky class! 
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I think this describes the key to the military being understood and respected by society at large. CONTACT. Negative stereotypes and stupid assumptions melt away in the face of real human contact. Glad to hear that these lectures are happening.
benny88 said:
WLU (Wilfrid Laurier University) article on LGen Dallaire's speech: http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/myweb.php?hls=10034&news_id=1584
National Speaker's Bureau bio: http://www.nsb.com/espeakers/NSB/espeakers/6095/LGenRomoDallaireRet.html
LCol. Hammond's talk was not really an official "Trent" event. He came because a political science professor asked him, and they are good friends. So unfortunately, the talk was just for one class, and others who were interested (he was supposed to come last year, but had to cancel at the last minute, so needless to say, many of us were waiting with baited breath for this). It ended up being roughly 25 students, and it wasn't filmed or recorded in any way.
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LGen Dallaire was unreal. He is SUCH a tremendous speaker, and his subject matter was very insightful and interesting. I won't bother transcribing my notes on here, PM me if you want more info on what he talked about.
And definitely go see him speak if you have the chance.
And definitely go see him speak if you have the chance.
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