Class of 2016 Cadets Eric Fenton, Calvin Stokes, Bailey Widman, Ben Andrews, and OIC Assistant Professor LTC Matt Kemkes, represented USMA at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law's 15th Competition on Law of Armed Conflict for Military Academies in Sanremo, Italy. The competition brought 67 cadets from 19 military academies representing 13 countries and mixed them into 2 or 3 person teams acting as fictitious countries working as a coalition going to war. Over four days, the teams worked in Joint Operation Centers (JOCs), acting as legal advisors to the JOC commander to demonstrate they could effectively deal with a complex geopolitical situation. Cadets had to conduct an efficient military operation implementing the coalition's mandate, while simultaneously integrating specific instructions each team received from their own fictitious government as to their own national priorities.
Beyond having an extraordinary opportunity to explore the various nuanced dimensions of the laws of war, the USMA cadets, all law majors, had a tremendous cultural immersion experience by teaming with cadets from Japan, Sweden, France, Uganda, and Switzerland. The legal dilemmas facing the coalition tested cadets’ knowledge of treaties and customary international law, as they advised their commander on how to wage war lawfully. For example, the issues they faced ranged from determining if people fleeing from the rogue nation qualified for refugee status, to if preemptive self-defense was justified when one coalition member's satellite seemed to be targeted, to whether a computer virus could be used as a weapon, to how a detainee who allegedly knew the location of a ticking bomb should be interrogated. At the end of the competition, each cadet left the exercise with invaluable insights into working in a JOC, with an appreciation of the complexity of the applying the law of armed conflict, and with new international colleagues.