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Peter Wilson '62 Visits History Classes
Peter Wilson ’62 came back to campus last week to meet with boys in the Honors Government class and the Trade, Technology, and Terror elective. Mr. Wilson is a senior defense policy analyst at RAND Corporation and adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.
On Thursday, May 10, he led the Honors Government students through a fictitious, yet plausible, escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. The students, acting as members of the U.S. National Security Advisor's staff, were challenged to quickly craft the United States' response while weighing the consequences of a wide range of possible actions, from diplomacy to the use of military force. After spending close to five hours discussing the scenario, they were nowhere close to a solution.
On Friday, May 11, he spoke to the Trade, Technology, and Terror students about the four Revolutions of Military Affairs, or RMAs, and how they influence warfare today. He stressed the importance of soldiers’ mental health and the psychological impacts of what they are often asked to do.
“Human beings are not natural-born killers,” he said. “They have to be trained.”
The students had a chance to ask him questions about his time with RAND and his thoughts about recent events in the Middle East. “If you do not know the backstory,” he said, “you cannot understand what’s going on now.”
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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