Law and Legal Studies Majors Compete Against International Military Academies in Law of Armed Conflict Competition. Cadets Joshua Ramsdell, Luis Weierbach-Chainey, and Seth Gonzales with their Team Leader, LTC Christopher Jacobs participated in the 17th Annual Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) Competition for Military Academies. The competition took place at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy, and included teams representing military academies from France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Malawi, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
The aim of the competition is to teach cadets the LOAC and its application within the context of contemporary armed conflict. The competition complements the national training of LOAC and ensures that military cadets develop an early appreciation of the critical importance of LOAC in multinational military operations. The competition also offers a unique international forum where cadets from various countries with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds learn to work together in mixed teams to solve challenging LOAC issues - just as they might one day experience in a coalition-based military operation. Joshua, Luis, and Seth represented the United States Military Academy in excellent fashion. Various team leaders, Joint Operations Cell leaders, and competition judges remarked on the professionalism, teamwork, and military bearing of the West Point cadets. Cadet Joshua Ramsdell took 5th place overall in the competition.