As part of UK defence engagement with Sierra Leone, the UK Ministry of Defence sponsors one officer in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces every year to attend the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC) at the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) in Shrivenham. Capacity building through training is one of the activities of UK defence engagement which is carried out by the British Short Term Training Teams (BSTT) and support for overseas training in UK through the International Security Advisory Team (ISAT) in Sierra Leone. I was selected to attend ACSC 22 after serving as Chief Instructor of Horton Academy for a year. I departed Sierra Leone for UK with my family in August 2018.
Joint Services Command and staff College is a leading British military academic institution that provides training and education for the three services of the British Military and serving officers of other countries. The college is situated in Shrivenham, a small town in southern England about 100 miles from London and 50 miles from Oxford. The college facilities are world class with cutting edge technology and the largest Library in Europe which aids research and academic work. It is affiliated with Kings College London which runs the academic department and offers Masters in Defence Studies for qualified students.
ACSC is a year-long postgraduate residential course which is attended by senior military commanders and civil servants in the defence and security services. It prepares students for senior positions by broadening their knowledge on a broad range of military, political and international issues. Current course load is over 200 students including 70 officers from 50 countries. The course modules include leadership and management, higher management of defence, international security studies, global and regional security, international law and ethics, policy and strategy formulation, formulation of foreign, security and defence policies among others which culminate into the core modules of ends, ways and means. The course is delivered by academic doctors and professors of Kings College London through central presentations and Syndicate Room Activities where topics are debated and discussed in greater depth among students with the guidance of the Directing Staff.
During the military capability stage of the course, students were taken to the Royal Air Force Base at Cunningham and the new UK Strike Brigade location in Salisbury plains to showcase UK’s world class military capabilities and how they are employed to project military power and protect UK strategic interests around the world. Several regional security tours are conducted to various countries around the world to enrich student’s experience and understanding of regional and global security issues and perspectives. One Regional Security Exercise was conducted in November 2018 which took students to Poland, Belgium, Germany and France and another will take place in June 2019 which will allow students to visit Asia, Africa, and North and South America as part of the ends, ways and means modules.
Settling down after my arrival at the college was relatively easy as I had been allocated with a Service Family Accommodation in Shrivenham with all the basic amenities before my arrival. Naturally, it took a while to acclimatize with the rollercoaster English weather and adjust to the British way of life especially due to the fact that every piece of information has to be obtained from the internet. It was initially challenging to deal with my course and the welfare of my family but with time everything fell into place. My children are attending Farringdon Community College about 3 miles from Shrivenham. They are doing very well in school even though the UK educational system is remarkably different from that of Sierra Leone. English food is quite different from ours but that posed no particular issues as we buy all our food stuff from African and Asian food stores in the nearby town of Swindon. Social life is quite diverse in the college with a number of social activities taking place within the college regularly which fosters social networking and collaboration among students. Shrivenham station also has several clubs such as the rugby, tennis, horse riding and biking clubs which many students are members. One of the important social events of the college is the International Day which gives opportunity to International students to showcase their countries. Many embassies and high commissions support their students during this occasion.
It is a unique opportunity to attend ACSC most importantly for my career progression and prospects but also the opportunity to experience the culture, the way of life and perspectives of the UK in particular and Europe in general. I have already spent one term of the course with remarkable performance and look forward to the remaining two terms in 2019. The course has not only broadened my knowledge and understanding of major defence and security concepts but also increased the depth of my understanding of the defence and security thinking of Europe and other regions of the world. I believe that attending the course is a worthwhile strategic investment for RSLAF and Sierra Leone as a country and I look forward to completing the course and returning home to support the development of RSLAF and the Ministry of Defence.