Major Dan Gwosch '98 Visits Middle Eastern History Class

5/15/2020

Director of Studies and Eaglebrook History teacher Nick Leyden had a guest in his Middle Eastern History class in late April. Major Dan Gwosch ’98 joined the group via Zoom to talk about his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. The class has been studying the background, course, and impact of each of those conflicts this spring.

In his first of two visits, the students came up with questions for Major Gwosch about his experience serving during those conflicts. Some of the questions that the students asked him were, “Did you have the chance to meet any people from Iraq or Afghanistan? If so, what were relationships like between soldiers and locals?, Since the war in Iraq was not universally supported, were there also soldiers who disagreed with the decision to go to war? What was the biggest difference between being deployed to Iraq and being deployed to Afghanistan?

While sharing a valuable perspective on Middle Eastern affairs and helping the students gain a greater understanding of the full context of the conflicts, Dan also repeatedly made connections back to the Eaglebrook experience. He spoke fondly about woodworking classes with Carter MacDonald and his Sixth Form assembly, for example. He also wore an Eaglebrook beanie since it was Spirit Day!

For his next visit, he will discuss the specific role he played as the American officer assigned to a well-known Afghan general. The students will read articles about this particular general and then have a more pointed discussion about Afghanistan.

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