Brigadier General Marcia Anderson trains Ethiopian troops
A mission to Ethiopia
A mission to Ethiopia
Brigadier General Marcia Anderson at her
installation ceremony at the State Capitol
installation ceremony at the State Capitol
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
During most of her army reserve career, Brigadier General Marcia Anderson has been an educator
and administrator within the United States. Due to the nature of her role within the army reserve, there
is little chance that she will be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or any other hotspot where the U.S. plays a
military role. Anderson was definitely a domestic career officer.
But then an opportunity came her way that she couldn’t refuse. Several years ago, Anderson
managed a unit of professional development course instructors. She kept in touch with one of them
when he wasn’t busy being stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan. She got an e-mail from him earlier this
year letting her know that he was now stationed in Ethiopia teaching professional development classes
for the Ethiopian National Defense Forces School. He suggested that Anderson come and teach a
course on the use of the Army Reserves.
“They have a reserve force that is no where near as developed as ours or as mature,” Anderson
said during an interview with The Capital City Hues. “They also don’t have a lot of senior women in their
military even though during the war for their independence, a lot of women were freedom fighters. And
they are very, very revered in the country.”
Part 1 of 2
During most of her army reserve career, Brigadier General Marcia Anderson has been an educator
and administrator within the United States. Due to the nature of her role within the army reserve, there
is little chance that she will be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or any other hotspot where the U.S. plays a
military role. Anderson was definitely a domestic career officer.
But then an opportunity came her way that she couldn’t refuse. Several years ago, Anderson
managed a unit of professional development course instructors. She kept in touch with one of them
when he wasn’t busy being stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan. She got an e-mail from him earlier this
year letting her know that he was now stationed in Ethiopia teaching professional development classes
for the Ethiopian National Defense Forces School. He suggested that Anderson come and teach a
course on the use of the Army Reserves.
“They have a reserve force that is no where near as developed as ours or as mature,” Anderson
said during an interview with The Capital City Hues. “They also don’t have a lot of senior women in their
military even though during the war for their independence, a lot of women were freedom fighters. And
they are very, very revered in the country.”
It was an opportunity Anderson couldn’t let go by. After being assured that the funding was there for her trip and after the request had gone up the
chain of command, Anderson was approved to teach a one day course at the Ethiopian Defense School.
Anderson’s trip took five days. When she touched down in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia where the school is located, Anderson spent the
first day shaking off the jetlag and getting acquainted with the staff and students at the school.
“I spent some time with a commandant at the school, Brigadier General Negosh, who is 49 years old and I think he has lived at least three
lives,” Anderson said with a laugh. “We talked about his career. He joined the military when he was 18 years old. He got — unlike a lot of people in
their military — two months of basic training and then went to war. He rose pretty quickly through the ranks. He’s a very smart guy. He wants to be a
farmer when he retires. So he tried to drain all of the knowledge about Wisconsin and farming out of me that he could. He was very interesting. He’s
very fascinated with our farming techniques and how we get such large yields. He ended up being a division commander at a very young age. That’s
a pretty significant responsibility. And he is very creative. One of the things that he did during the border war with Eritrea was he decided the key to
their success was to control the water sources. Instead of spending a lot of time fighting over territory, he just made sure they secured large wells or
water sources to break down the Eritrean forces because they didn’t have access to water. I think they want to put him in charge of the school. He
speaks excellent English and has been here a couple of times. He’s been trained at one of our army schools. He’s a good choice for the commandant
and he’s very interested in new ideas.”
When Anderson taught her class the next day, there were 60 men in the room because the whole student body was male. And while Anderson
was used to teaching her course to majors or senior captains, the mix in Ethiopia was different. “The class had seven general officers in it, six
brigadier generals like me and one major general,” Anderson said. “The rest were colonels and lieutenant colonels. It was mostly the army. They don’
t have a navy because they are landlocked. And they had air force officers in the class as well. There were some who were extremely fluent in
English and some who struggled a bit. The class was taught in English. The demands were the same. They had to be prepared for class. They had to
do the readings, which they complained about. They said there were too many readings. I said ‘Well, we have to do this.’”
The conditions that Anderson taught were hardly ideal. “One of the things — and this is common in Third World countries — is in order to have
the presentation; they had to hook it up to a generator because there was no electricity that day,” Anderson recalled. “We had the generator as back
up, but we had no electricity so we ended up doing it in a cafeteria because it had windows for natural light.”
There was one woman at the school, but she was in charge of the reproduction center. “She’s a major,” Anderson said. “I spent some time with
her the next day. She was very excited that I kind of singled her out. I told her that she needs to come to the United States and visit. She said ‘I don’t
know.’ I said ‘I’m going to talk to someone. You need to come to the United States.’ That’s the only way they are going to get to a place in their
defense forces where they are able to move up just like us. Unless you are included in certain things, you don’t have an opportunity to move up in an
organization.”
The Ethiopian and U.S. militaries have developed this relationship, in Anderson’s opinion, is because the Ethiopian leadership wants to develop
a more professional army. “Their leadership really wants them to become more strategic thinkers,” Anderson said. “They are very impressive
warriors, but they want them to rise to a different level in terms of thinking and then being critical when they assess situations and problems and
how they solve problems.”
Next issue: Impressions of Addis Ababa
chain of command, Anderson was approved to teach a one day course at the Ethiopian Defense School.
Anderson’s trip took five days. When she touched down in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia where the school is located, Anderson spent the
first day shaking off the jetlag and getting acquainted with the staff and students at the school.
“I spent some time with a commandant at the school, Brigadier General Negosh, who is 49 years old and I think he has lived at least three
lives,” Anderson said with a laugh. “We talked about his career. He joined the military when he was 18 years old. He got — unlike a lot of people in
their military — two months of basic training and then went to war. He rose pretty quickly through the ranks. He’s a very smart guy. He wants to be a
farmer when he retires. So he tried to drain all of the knowledge about Wisconsin and farming out of me that he could. He was very interesting. He’s
very fascinated with our farming techniques and how we get such large yields. He ended up being a division commander at a very young age. That’s
a pretty significant responsibility. And he is very creative. One of the things that he did during the border war with Eritrea was he decided the key to
their success was to control the water sources. Instead of spending a lot of time fighting over territory, he just made sure they secured large wells or
water sources to break down the Eritrean forces because they didn’t have access to water. I think they want to put him in charge of the school. He
speaks excellent English and has been here a couple of times. He’s been trained at one of our army schools. He’s a good choice for the commandant
and he’s very interested in new ideas.”
When Anderson taught her class the next day, there were 60 men in the room because the whole student body was male. And while Anderson
was used to teaching her course to majors or senior captains, the mix in Ethiopia was different. “The class had seven general officers in it, six
brigadier generals like me and one major general,” Anderson said. “The rest were colonels and lieutenant colonels. It was mostly the army. They don’
t have a navy because they are landlocked. And they had air force officers in the class as well. There were some who were extremely fluent in
English and some who struggled a bit. The class was taught in English. The demands were the same. They had to be prepared for class. They had to
do the readings, which they complained about. They said there were too many readings. I said ‘Well, we have to do this.’”
The conditions that Anderson taught were hardly ideal. “One of the things — and this is common in Third World countries — is in order to have
the presentation; they had to hook it up to a generator because there was no electricity that day,” Anderson recalled. “We had the generator as back
up, but we had no electricity so we ended up doing it in a cafeteria because it had windows for natural light.”
There was one woman at the school, but she was in charge of the reproduction center. “She’s a major,” Anderson said. “I spent some time with
her the next day. She was very excited that I kind of singled her out. I told her that she needs to come to the United States and visit. She said ‘I don’t
know.’ I said ‘I’m going to talk to someone. You need to come to the United States.’ That’s the only way they are going to get to a place in their
defense forces where they are able to move up just like us. Unless you are included in certain things, you don’t have an opportunity to move up in an
organization.”
The Ethiopian and U.S. militaries have developed this relationship, in Anderson’s opinion, is because the Ethiopian leadership wants to develop
a more professional army. “Their leadership really wants them to become more strategic thinkers,” Anderson said. “They are very impressive
warriors, but they want them to rise to a different level in terms of thinking and then being critical when they assess situations and problems and
how they solve problems.”
Next issue: Impressions of Addis Ababa
