MSC and the PLA

I promise this is not a fall out shelter.

So it begins.  This week I went to work for the first time.  I walked 4 blocks, past the Library of Congress and the Capital to the Capital South metro station.  I took the orange line train 2 stops to L’Enfant then hopped on the green line for one stop to Waterfront.  From there I walked 1/2 mile down 4th st SE which very nearly dead ends into the front gate for Ft. Lesley J. McNair, home of the Old Guard and NDU.  From the gate it is about another 1/2 of a mile to Lincoln Hall.

Normally on the first day of work at NDU an unpaid intern would have a long day of in-processing.  This day would be filled with briefings on the history and mission of NDU, filling out paperwork, getting an ID badge, a detailed walking tour of the building, being escorted up to the COMM desk to start the paperwork for computer and email access, and finally meeting with the people who you will be working with.  I was looking forward to getting to work, but hated the thought of “death by PowerPoint.”  Luckily for me the Lord had better things in store for the day.

I was contacted a few days prior and told to come in early (9am isn’t that early but it is still earlier than I had be told previously)  and that I would be rushed through the in-processing necessities and then attending a meeting a Chinese delegation.  When I arrived at NDU I was met by the intern coordinator and we rushed to the cafeteria where she handed me a folder with all the info for the briefings that I should have gotten and was given paperwork to quickly fill out.  We then headed up the stairs and filled out the paperwork for my badge.  A few minutes later I was smiling at myself from my jacket pocket.  Without a breath we were off to IT to put in a request for my computer and internet access, which may or may not be ready this week.  In-processing complete, it was only 9:40am.

With 20 minutes to spare, I was introduced to the Senior Fellow for whom I would be working.  She was just and cordial and engaging in person as she had been on the phone.  She quickly welcomed me and told me that I would be sitting in on a 2 day conference with a delegation from the People’s Liberation Army of China and senior fellows from NDU.  My task was to assist in taking notes to help in the report that will be drafted after the conclusion of the conference.

So for two days I listened intently while members from NDU’s Chinese counterpart (China’s National Defense University) and US scholars discussed avenues for cooperation and obstacles to said cooperation on a military level. This non-official channel of dialogue was a great place for both sides to express frustration and then have a bite of pasta salad and crack a joke.  There were several moments where the tension was heavy, but it always was diffused and cooperation was always the objective.  Gen. (ret.) Richard Myers, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  sat in on lunch the first day and we were able to go off topic and chat with him while we enjoyed some yummy sandwiches.

For the rest of the week I am focused on typing up my notes so the fellows can read them and reading up on some articles that my Sr. Fellow wants me to be knowledgeable on.  Also I will be reading my assigned books for the academic component of my internship with my faculty sponsor from UGA.  He has assigned me 6 books to read and papers to write on each.  That should prove to ensure that any glimmer of free time will be shaded in responsibility.

Moral of the story: Shut up and color. I here to do work and there is no shortage of it.

Advertisement