Foreign Warriors Visit Area for Taste of Real America

A group of mid-grade military officers from foreign countries who have been learning the American way of war courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps received a special treat over the weekend when they came to the Upstate and were given a lesson in the American way of life.

Officers from Bahrain, Canada, New Zealand, and the Ukraine assembled at City Scape Winery about seven miles outside Simpsonville to enjoy wine and barbecue from Bucky's Bar-B-Q and to let down their hair, so to speak.

The event was a special perk for the officers, who are going through a year-long course of study in American warfare conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps' Command and Staff College, explained instructor John Valentin, a retired USMC Colonel who lives in Simpsonville with his wife, Cindy, herself a retired USMC Judge Advocate General.

The officers spend a portion of their year together receiving instruction in Quantico, Va., and a portion receiving online instruction back in their home countries, Valentin explained.

"What we really do is talk about the employment of violence on behalf of the nation," Valentin explained. "When do, where do, why do. Why does the United States employ violence, manage violence, deploy its military in this region and not that region?" 

So why come to the Upstate?

"We start with a precept. We are going to study the American way of war," Valentin said. "To me that's very functional. How we go to war. But what's important is the American way of life. Because that war machine, that function, has to coincide, has to defend the society. It's what you're defending. Not so much the individual, but the American way of life. The values, the things that we hold dear. That's what we're protecting.

"So while we were in Washington," Vaelntin continued, "I said I would love for you to come out to Simpsonville and I will show you Middle America. We talk about it, we talk about entrepreneurs, we talk about opportunity, but why don't you come out here and see it — because you are not going to see it in Washington, DC. So I brought them all out here and said, 'C'mon take a look.'"

While the excursion is a nice change of pace, Valentin said the visit in his mind was crucial for the officers' education in the American Way. In addition to visiting the winery, owned by entrepreneurs Anita and Wayne Tamme, Valentin also wanted the officers to meet other entrepreneurs, people who have capitalized on good old-fashioned American opportunity, such as Valentin's neighbor, who has parlayed his skills and interests into a successful small company.

"It's so crucially important for officers who are not Americans to view America as it truly is," he said. "There is a reason we are so enamored with our country. There is a reason why people come to this country. It's because of opportunity; it's because of what we stand for."