“The Army is a School, The School is an Army”: The Nation’s Two Fronts

Abstract

We were walking down the stairs towards the cafeteria for lunch with Colonel Yilmaz, when he turned to me and said, “you know, there are only two ministries that have the title ‘national’ before them: National Education and National Defense. That in itself speaks to the significance of the National Security course.” He said this with great pride and looked at me to see my reaction. I affirmed that this was indeed an interesting relationship between the two ministries. In many ways, this relationship marked him as a person, as well. He was not only a commander, but also a teacher. For years, he had been teaching the high school course, National Security Knowledge, in the schools near his command posts.