Institute graduates 128 students from five courses

Students at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation are set to graduate Thursday from five courses at the same time, a Fort Benning spokesman for the institute said.

With 128 students representing 16 nations, the graduation is at 10 a.m. in Marshall Auditorium at McGinnis-Wickam Hall. The five courses include Joint Operations, UN Peacekeeping Operations, a Small Unit Leader Course, Medical Assistance Course and an Intelligence Analysis of Transnational Operations.

Guest speaker for the graduation is U.S. Navy Capt. Miguel Cubano, a medical doctor and executive officer of the hospital ship USNS Comfort.

All of the courses started at different times but were scheduled to end on the same day.

“This is a new way of operating the institute's courses,” said Lee Rials, spokesman for the institute. “Whenever possible, multiple courses will be scheduled to end together so that the program can be more expansive and significant to the students.”

During the ceremony, the top student from each class will talk about their experience in the course, Rials said.

In Joint Operations, the course prepares field grade officers to function in missions that require multiple services to work together.

During the UN Peace Keeping Operations Course, instructions help to prepare mid-to senior grade officers to serve as staff officers in UN missions. A trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York was included in the course and students earn a UN certificate along with one from the institute.

Using U.S. Army doctrine, enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the Small Unit Leader Course focus on infantry combat operations in rural areas.

Skills of medics are developed in the Medical Assistance Course. Serving in military or security force units, students are able to perform skills similar to those of an emergency medical technician.

Intelligence Analysis of Transnational Operations Course serves officers, non-commissioned officers and law enforcement personnel. They operate in a joint, inter-agency environment to counter illegal trafficking.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Institute graduates 128 students from five courses."