Cadet Austin Willard while on a West Point trip to Sri Lanka. Photo credit: Dr. Lionel Beehner

Cadet Austin Willard Wins Martin Beitler Ethics Essay Award

Cadet Austin Willard won the 2017 Academy-wide Martin Beitler Ethics Essay Award for his thesis “Lost in the Dark Heart of Africa: American Military Engagement in the Congo and the Story of the 391^st Commando Battalion.”  Cadet Willard’s work, which included extensive interviews and in-country research he conducted, explored the United States’ training of Congolese troops as part of broader American efforts to professionalize the Congolese military and prevent future atrocities.  Some of these U.S.-trained troops were accused of significant human rights violations, including brutal rapes. The U.S. immediately disengaged from the battalion, as required by U.S. law. The incident was controversial, as some U.S. bureaucrats felt the charges were manufactured and that abandoning the battalion was the wrong decision. This incident raised questions about how the US should best use military cooperation to prevent human rights abuses and atrocity crimes. His extensive thesis explored the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s turbulent and genocidal history, the history of U.S. military assistance in the Congo, and the specific story of the Congolese Army’s 391^st Commando Battalion. The paper concluded by offering suggestions for future U.S. security force assistance programs based on lessons learned from the U.S. Army’s experience with the 391^st Commando Battalion.  Now Second Lieutenant Willard graduated among the top 20 in his class and conducted some of his research as part of his XH 415 “Genocide” course.   The Colorado native branched infantry and will be stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the famed First Brigade of the 101^st Airborne Division.