International | Army War College Foundation, INC. - Part 3

Army War College Foundation, INC.

Enriching, Enhancing & Encouraging

International

Nick Larsen, DDE ‘15

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Nick Larsen, DDE ‘15

I am currently consular section chief at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, China working on a few lines of effort related to the fight against COVID-19.  The consular section has been working to protect the interests and welfare of U.S. citizens in China.  Along with our Embassy in Beijing, we were part of the task force that helped evacuate approximately 850 Americans from the city of Wuhan after the city was locked down.  This included getting in touch with all of the citizens, building a flight manifest and coordinating their departure.  My team provided two officers from Chengdu as part of the team of 10 U.S. diplomats from different posts in Mission China that accompanied U.S. citizens on all of the Wuhan evacuation flights.  They had to remain in protective gear throughout the entire operation.  This involved multiple flights back and forth for several days to escort all of them back to the U.S.  In addition to the evacuation, we handled an endless flow of emails and emergency calls 24/7 to ensure citizens had access to vital services such as emergency passports and information.  We also negotiated directly with Chinese authorities to assist large number of stranded or medically detained Americans to successfully depart China.  We have been assisting immediate family members of U.S. citizens by providing U.S. visas so their families could return to the U.S. together and also processing visa applications for Chinese medical professionals who are working to combat the coronavirus in the U.S.  For example, we just issued a visa to a virus researcher who is working at a U.S. lab to understand and counter COVID-19.  Our Chengdu team was part of a larger USG-wide effort with many helping hands.

Mr. Nick Larsen
Distance Class of 2015
Consular Section Chief
U.S. Consulate Chengdu, China

 

 

Bill Zeller, RES ‘06

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Greetings from Europe and Africa.  I am a member of the 405th AFSB team stationed here in Stuttgart, Germany.  I support U.S. AFRICOM as the AFRICOM Senior LOGCAP Integrator putting LOGCAP support on the African Continent.  We are a small but elite team that supports Operation New Normal (ONN) and figuring out LOGCAP where no other support would be possible.  We travel frequently to up to thirteen locations in Africa in support of AFRICOM’s Theater Security Cooperation Mission.

COL (Ret) William E. Zeller
Resident Class of 2006
AFRICOM Senior LOGCAP Integrator

John Gimbel, DDE ’19

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I am serving as Country Consular Coordinator at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission to South Africa. My team was responsible for the evacuation of private U.S. citizens from South Africa. American tourists and business visitors had been stranded in the country since the government implemented a strict lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Some of the logistical challenges were daunting — with issues like FAA-mandated crew rest, landing rights on the ground, restrictions being placed here and around the globe on entry of foreign flight crews, as well as on-the-ground restrictions due to the risk of exposures and infections of this pandemic.

Mr. John H. Gimbel IV
Distance Class of 2019

Chuck Brady, RES ‘18

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As the Coordination and Contingency Branch Chief for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), government civilian Chuck Brady is overseeing emergency management and continuity of operations for DTRA and its worldwide presence. He and his team are working with all the combatant commands and warfighting units that DTRA supports globally to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 virus, maintain mission essential functions, and assure critical tasks are performed. DTRA is a 24/7, worldwide, critical enabler to the Department of Defense, the interagency, and allies and partners in their mission to detect, deter, and defeat weapons of mass destruction, improvised threats, and the threat networks that employ them.

Mr. Charles P. ‘Chuck’ Brady
Resident Class of 2018

Jon Stover, RES ‘19

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I am currently serving at U.S. Africa Command as the Joint Operations Center Chief, monitoring and tracking the impacts of COVID-19 as they relate to U.S./partner force operations on the African Continent.

COVID-19 has impacted us quite a bit on the African continent.  Besides the most obvious issue of trying to protect the forces that we have deployed there, it has been increasingly difficult to get accurate reporting from the various countries, as nearly all of the embassies have either closed or gone to minimal manning.  It is difficult to know whether or not the COVID-19 situation in Africa might be worse than most realized/is being reported.  From a USAFRICOM perspective here in Germany, we have gone to great lengths to telework and form shift teams that work in separate spaces and do not come into contact with the other teams.

COL Jonathan S. ‘Jon’ Stover
Resident Class of 2019

Don Modder, RES ‘12

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I am supporting the Federal COVID-19 response through my current job at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC.  I am currently assigned to the Federal Agricultural Service (FAS) in the Office of Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs.  FAS is the lead U.S. agency tasked with promoting exports of U.S. agricultural products and advances the growth of U.S. agricultural exports through market intelligence, trade policy, capacity building, and trade promotion programs.  The U.S. annually exports over 20% of its agricultural production to overseas markets.  As a strategic advisor and managing director to one of the FAS Deputy Administrators, I am responsible for overseeing the potential and actual trade barriers realized by the pandemic.  Our office advises the Administrator and the Secretary’s office on how the pandemic may impact foreign agricultural trade policy or have a strategic impact on exports.  We work closely with the Dept. of State and the U.S. Trade Representative.   We’re on mandatory telework, so our work with our overseas posts consists of conference calls and Microsoft Teams sessions.  Even our meetings with the U.S. Trade Representative and the agricultural industry advocates have been switched to conference calls.  It’s a strange work environment, and I hope it ends soon.

Mr. Donald J. Modder
Resident Class of 2012
Department of Agriculture