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I prepared for the Rwanda mission for two months reading anything I could get my
hands on. Most Westerners are familiar with the 1994 Genocide, mainly from the movie Hotel
Rwanda. From my research I soon learned there is a rich history here, and Rwandans do not
care for the movie as, according to our driver, it made heroes out of people who left the
country and did not return.
The first thing you notice about Kigali, the capital, is how clean it is. President Paul
Kagame emphasizes maintaining a neat and orderly appearance. Vehicle traffic is congested
and motorcycle taxis dart in and out of much larger vehicles. Rwandans themselves are very
friendly, but you get the impression there is sadness and perhaps a lack of openness in their
interactions with outsiders.
We lodged at a former home converted to a bed and breakfast in northeast Kigali. From
there we drove an hour through town and south to Gako where the Rwandan Defense Force
(RDF) Military Academy is located. The battalion we partnered with had been training for a
month in preparation for a peace keeping deployment to Darfur, Sudan. I was immediately
impressed with their comprehension of U.S. military doctrine. They presented an operations
order briefing based on staff planning conducted the previous two weeks. I have seen U.S.
organizations do much worse. If it were not for using English as a second language I am
confident they would have done very well. Of course, I am not too eager to brief in
Kinyarwanda.
The Africa Contingency Operations and Assistance (ACOTA) staff members contracted
through the Department of State are all former U.S. military and experts in their fields. I was
very impressed with the senior mentor who I later learned spent time as a high school teacher
after retiring from the U.S. Army Rangers. Two RDF Academy instructors, Captains Jimmie and
Peterson, probably understood Staff Processes and TOC Operations as well as most U.S. Army
company level officers. To be honest, I would love to have them on my staff. As their mentors,
our interactions with the RDF were generally polite and subdued. When Jimmy and Peterson
interacted with the battalion staff, voices raised and tempers seemed to flare. They seemed
more comfortable engaging with each other than with Westerners.
The Battalion made progress during the command post exercise. Yet, when asked to
continue their security mission and also plan a cordon and search they bogged down. All key
players focused completely on the cordon and search and unknowingly allowed steady-state
operations to grind to a halt. During the after-action review (AAR), quantitative data (message
processing time, task completion rates) told the truth; the battalion had failed to conduct
simultaneous operations.
I felt sad for the staff because I truly felt they were better than the AAR indicated, but
what they were doing was so new to them, I think it is safe to say they learned a valuable
lesson. As I told them while presenting my unit coins to a few worthy recipients, I am confident
if allowed to do the exercise again, they would show much improvement.
 My recollections of Rwanda will undoubtedly include the beautiful hills covering the
countryside and the multitude of people crowding nearly every road. It will include the peace
baskets purchased from local artists at Kaplaki Village and the soccer team we encountered in
Rhungeri. I will never forget the emotion associated with visiting the church in Nyamata where
10,000 were killed and the Genocide Memorial in Kigali honoring the 800,000 killed in 100
Spring days of 1994. I will also not soon forget my impression that soldiers of the Rwandan
Defense Force are serious and smart about their profession. They are intelligent and eager to
learn. Given time and continued partnership I am confident they will.


LTC Greg Mittman, Commander 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, currently deployed as
part of CJTF-HOA, discusses Tactical Operations Center procedures with Rwandan Defense Forces Captain Lambert
Nsengiyumva and Warrant Officer Edward Baquma.



1LT Corey Liess, S-2, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, currently deployed as part of CJTF-
HOA, discusses Cordon and Search course of action development with Rwandan Defense Forces Battalion
Commander COL John Bosco Kananga and his staff.