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Serving Others, Serving Their Country: Georgetown Alumni in Iraq

The dedication to service that characterizes the Georgetown community takes on a special meaning for those who choose to enter the armed forces. There are nearly constant reminders on today’s campus of the connections between Georgetown and military conflict – from the school colors to such university landmarks as Lauinger Library, named for an alumnus killed in Vietnam, and the Walsh School of Foreign Service, founded in part as a response to calls for more diplomacy after World War I. Yet, the university’s reputation for preparing graduates for civil service may make it easy to forget that some alumni are also called to serve in uniform.

The experience of three recent graduates – whose years at Georgetown were bookended by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – demonstrates how Georgetown continues to prepare students for service and leadership of all kinds. Like many of their fellow soldiers, Lt. Henry Brewster (F’06), Lt. Dave Baker (C’06) and Capt. Daniel Feehan (F'05) were motivated to join by the events of 2001.

“After the attacks, I wanted to contribute something to the common good,” Baker says of his decision to apply for an Army ROTC scholarship, “partly to help pay my way and partly to serve.” Brewster was additionally spurred by family history, as his father had served in the Navy ROTC and his brother preceded him in the Army ROTC.

Feehan, who was a freshman at Georgetown in September 2001, had been in JROTC in high school but was not part of ROTC when first coming to Georgetown. The attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center changed that. “Witnessing that event firsthand was an impressing and lasting experience for me, and sparked a serious interest in military service,” Feehan says. “I found the Army ROTC office at Georgetown and joined fully by my sophomore year.”

Calling on Georgetown

While they rely primarily on their military training to perform their duties in Iraq, all three men say that their Georgetown education has helped them assess and understand their experience of war. “I think that receiving something of a liberal education - that is to say reading widely in various disciplines - as well as living with a variety of different students from diverse backgrounds certainly gave me an appreciation for other cultures and other modes of thinking,” Baker says. “It was in some sense excellent preparation for entering into a foreign environment in the ambiguous role of diplomat, advisor and soldier with a mission to teach the Iraqi army as well as respect the Iraqi culture.”

Both Brewster and Feehan mentioned the impact of a human rights class taught by faculty members Dan Porterfield and Anthony Arend. Feehan says the class gave him “incredible perspective and an open mind as I witnessed the effects of sectarian violence in Iraq. While my classroom work heightened my compassion, it also helped me to encompass reason to understand the violence I saw.” He adds, “This understanding was critical in moments that required me to make quick decisions with implications on human life.” (After returning from Iraq, Feehan was among the speakers at the Senior Convocation during 2009 Commencement Weekend. View the ceremony here.)

Brewster also recalls being honored and surprised when he was asked to stand for recognition in a class taught by Madeleine Albright on a day when he was in uniform and she was talking about visiting the U.S. Military Academy. “It was gratifying to know that the strategic policy makers do contemplate the human side of their decisions,” he says. Brewster adds that he also still references a book from yet another class – Islam and Global Terrorism – from time to time.

Lead with Humility

All three officers have led platoons in Iraq, and all have had a hand in helping to train the Iraqi army as part of their mission. Brewster also previously served as an intelligence officer, collecting and analyzing intelligence to provide targeting information for his battalion commander. His platoon’s duties have included repairing schools and providing cash infusions to local businesses, in addition to training Iraqis.

Brewster feels at home in his current role. “I am in my ideal job in the Army right now,” he says. “I have worked with some tremendous soldiers and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) in my platoon leader position.” He adds that as inevitable challenges have arisen, his platoon has worked well together. “I approach it with humility and try to work everything in a collaborative manner,” he says. “In the end, though, I know they are my decisions, and I will have to take responsibility for the successes and failures that result from them.”

For Baker, leading a platoon to train their Iraqi counterparts was a challenging mission, because the young soldiers found it harder “to play the part of diplomat and advisor than soldier,” he says. “However, the soldiers performed admirably and the Iraqi army unit has certainly become more capable since our arrival.” In October, Baker was made executive officer of a support company, handling its logistics and maintenance needs.

Baker lists his completion of Ranger School among his most satisfying accomplishments but is quick to add, “I’m proudest of making a small difference in the lives of my men during my time as platoon leader, and perhaps changing the way a few Iraqis perceive America for the better.”

Count on One Another

While Brewster and Baker are on their first tours of Iraq, Feehan just completed his second and recently returned stateside. In Iraq, he led an engineer platoon whose mission was to discover roadside bombs. His unit was responsible for the security and essential services of Tarmiyah, a city of about 15,000 people. He then led a scout platoon charged with battlefield reconnaissance and tracking down enemy insurgency leaders. Most recently, as an intelligence officer, he provided battlefield information for U.S. and Iraqi forces tracking down insurgents.

“The proudest achievement of my service was to bring every soldier home alive that I had the honor to lead in combat,” Feehan says. “We got each other home safely only because we took care of each other and never lost perspective on the mission at hand.” He says his greatest leadership challenge is “when the chips are down … It's hard to get yourself out there to lead, but you have to when others are counting on you just as you count on them.”

If you have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and would like to share your thoughts about how your Georgetown experience prepared you for it, please send us an e-mail. advcommunications@georgetown.edu