Corner Column

Posted 5/18/23

Around 1999 I had the privilege of attending the National Security Forum.

It was put on by the U.S. Air Force at the Air War College housed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Corner Column

Posted

Around 1999 I had the privilege of attending the National Security Forum.

It was put on by the U.S. Air Force at the Air War College housed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

It is a week-long event in May that culminates the school year for candidates for the rank of colonel.

The students come primarily from the Air Force but also other branches of the service and from NATO countries.

They are divided into ”seminars” of about two dozen students. Ours included officers from Turkey and Senegal, one from the U.S. Navy and two from the U.S. Army. The seminar leader was a U.S. Marine colonel.

Each seminar hosted 4-5 guests for the forum who were nominated by the students, one of whom was a lifelong friend who was up for colonel after more than 20 years in the Air Force, following graduation from the Air Force Academy.

We spent the week learning about the various threats to national security, which had taken an obvious turn after the Cold War.

The term I remember most vividly was “rogue nations,” which was brought home a couple years later when the 911 attacks occurred.

I say all that to say that last week’s security forum put on by the Mineola ISD was a chilling reminder of how our world has changed, that a public school district would even have to hold such an event – something that was once reserved for our armed forces.

The biggest threat I can remember going to school in the 1960s and ‘70s was making sure you were not in the bathroom when someone secreted a substance from the chemistry lab and flushed it down the toilet with explosive results.

To say that it is a shame that school districts need police departments, and they are becoming more paramilitary in their operations, is the understatement of our times.

Many details were shared at last week’s event, while others, out of necessity, were not.

Though the crowd was small, some of those in attendance obviously were seeking assurances that the district is doing everything it can to keep their kids safe.

I have no way of comparison, but it does seem that MISD is in the forefront in doing what it can.

But as was acknowledged, it is not possible to prevent every occurrence, at least without turning schools into prisons. And no one wants that.

It’s been a long time since I sent a kid off to class, so I cannot really appreciate the anxiety parents must feel today.

After hearing from the publisher of the newspaper in Uvalde and from Mineola’s Cheryl Wood who made two trips to assist the florists there, I know that I do not want to have to cover that story.

If the efforts being made at MISD and other schools makes that possible, I’m all in.

The days are gone when we could just walk onto the elementary campus and take photos of cute kids doing cute things to put in the paper.

Such loss of innocence is truly heart-breaking.