Army interns gain government insight
By Mary Vorsino
Associated Press
With his crisp blue West Point uniform and shoes so shined they reflect his laces, Samarith Srey seems out of place next to the aloha shirt and khakis his boss wears.
Associated Press
Srey is in Hawai'i along with eight of his classmates from the U.S. Military Academy for the first state government internship program in West Point's 200-year history.
Raymond Jefferson, standing, of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism works with his intern, Samarith Srey.
Organizers say the internship program — piloted in Hawai'i and aimed at familiarizing military-minded cadets with the structure of civilian government — is all too relevant as the U.S. military attempts to set up a functioning governing body in Iraq.
"It gives me an appreciation of the challenges Army leaders face," Lynn Jackson, a 21-year-old cadet from Cullman, Ala., said of the military's work in postwar Iraq. "I want to see how to build a team and lead and inspire people."
Because of its isolation and multicultural population, Hawai'i is an ideal setting for an internship designed to teach future U.S. Army leaders how to operate within the realm of an unfamiliar civilian government, organizers said.
Where else, said Jackson, interning with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, would a state department be holding a board meeting on proper native burials for ancient Hawaiian remains?
West Point students are required to serve as interns during the summer before their senior year. Cadets typically work on military installations in areas related to their study interests. Sometimes, they'll go into the civilian sector, following field doctors or civil engineers for a month.
But cadets have never before worked within state government or alongside state leaders and delegates.
Raymond Jefferson, deputy director of the state's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and one of the internship's coordinators, said the cadets hope to learn "how leadership is practiced in the civilian world."
Jefferson, a West Point graduate, said that even though Srey wears his academy uniform, he is learning what it means to work in a place where there are no ribbons to rank superiors.
"In the military, you've got those badges," Jefferson said. But in the civilian workplace "there's no road map on you that legitimizes you."
Srey, from Harrington Park, N.J., said the internship has "allowed me to see an unexpected side of civilian leadership: It takes a little bit of time to develop that trust."
The three-week internship started July 2. Interns were placed in the offices of Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, and six government departments, including human resources, business and labor and natural resources.
The cadets, who expect to graduate in 2004 and soon after take up leadership positions in the Army as part of their five-year commitment, say the program has given them an inside look at the differences between military and civilian power structures and how the latter is organized and maintained.
Charlsey Meyer, a cadet from Kingsport, Tenn., was placed with the director of the Department of Human Services and said in just one week she's learned to appreciate the intricate web that makes up state government.
"They have it down," she said.
But "setting up in another country is another story," she said. During her time with Human Services Director Lillian Koller, Meyer plans to visit all the arms of the department, including welfare and healthcare.
In the course of his internship day, Srey follows Jefferson through days filled with appointments: meetings with the governor and her Cabinet, motivational meetings with staff members and dedication ceremonies — all the staples of a top government employee's schedule. But he also gets a hands-on education — writing agendas, helping to write Jefferson's speeches and preparing and presenting leadership seminars.
The cadets were the top students in a leadership training exercise at the Army's Schofield Barracks in early June.
The program is modeled after the White House Fellows program, which has produced such dignitaries as Colin Powell, U.S. secretary of state, and Elaine Chao, U.S. Department of Labor secretary.
