Command and General Staff College Foundation News Spring 2021 - 26

Arter - Rowland

National Security Forum

A new Foundation outreach initiative
by Mark H. Wiggins, Managing Editor
In 2020,

prior to the restrictions imposed on public

gatherings, the

CGSC Foundation had devised a new
to maintain relationships with alumni of the
Foundation's long-running and popular National Security
Roundtable Program (NSRT). The new program was named
after the CGSC Foundation's Founding Chairman, Lt. Gen.
(Ret.) Robert Arter, and Landon H. Rowland, a founding
trustee of the CGSC Foundation and a very well known
Kansas City businessman, philanthropist and president
of the KC Chapter of Business Executives for National
Security (BENS).
Originally, the intent was for the forum to convene
periodically at guest speaker breakfast events in downtown
Kansas City. Upon imposition of COVID-19 restrictions in
March 2020, the Arter-Rowland National Security Forum
(ARNSF) would be forced to begin as an online gathering,
much like other similar events around the country in the
year of the pandemic.
After a period of reassessment and adjustment the
Foundation and its co-host, the Kansas City Chapter of the
Association of the U.S. Army (KCAUSA), conducted the
first ARNSF online on Sept. 23, 2020, with a presentation
on the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) in
Manhattan, Kansas, by Dr. Ron W. Trewyn, the National
Bio and Agro-defense Facility Liaison from the Office of
the President of Kansas State University.
Foundation President/CEO Rod Cox and KCAUSA
President Scott Weaver both agreed the presentation was
well attended and received and began planning to build on
that success.
The second presentation of the forum was on Jan.
12, 2021, with Dr. John R. Deni, Research Professor
of Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College and
an adjunct professorial lecturer at American University,
who lead a presentation on the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) entitled " Coalition of the unWilling
and unAble? - European Realignment and the Future of
American Geopolitics. "
Again, the co-hosts agreed the online meeting of the
forum was well received and the lively question and answer
period between the presenter and attendees had proven the
concept once again.
The most recent conduct of the forum was on March 29,
2021, and was focused on Vietnam in honor of National
Vietnam War Veterans Day, which is recognized annually
on March 29. March 29, 1973 is the day the U.S. withdrew

26 - CGSC FOUNDATION NEWS | www.cgscfoundation.org

VIDEO CAPTURE BY MARK H. WIGGINS

program

A screen capture of Dr. Jim Willbanks as he delivers his presentation onlin
during the Arter-Rowland National Security Forum on March 29, 2021, in
honor of National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

combat and combat support units from South Vietnam.
To properly recognize the day and honor Vietnam
veterans, the Foundation was fortunate to garner the
support of Dr. James H. Willbanks, a nationally-recognized
scholar of the Vietnam War and Professor Emeritus of the
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Willbanks
led the presentation and follow-on discussion with his
presentation entitled " Remembering the Vietnam War,
1950-1975. "
" We are here to observe National Vietnam Veterans Day, "
Willbanks said as he began his online presentation, " and it's
appropriate that we meet at this time on this day because
it was this day, 46 years ago, that the last troops departed
South Vietnam in the wake of the signing of the Paris Peace
Accords. "
" Dr. Willbanks did an outstanding job of synthesizing
a tremendous amount of detail in a short amount of
time, " said Bob Ulin, a Vietnam veteran himself and the
Foundation's Founding CEO/current Chief Development
Officer, who kicked off the program.
Willbanks honored the day with his presentation, starting
with U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia in 1945 and walking
the attendees through the major points in the development,
conduct and conclusion of the war through 1975. After his
summary of the major movements, Willbanks spoke about
the troops who fought the war citing statistics about troop
levels, casualties and troops still missing in action.
" Most troops who left active service after the war became
productive members of their communities, " Willbanks said.
" In a survey conducted in the late 1990's, the preponderance
of Vietnam veterans stated they were proud of their service
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Command and General Staff College Foundation News Spring 2021

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