FIGHTING IDEOLOGY WITH A BETTER IDEA

  Army Major Matt Konz spoke to Optimist members and guests about his experience and observations while engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  A native of Minden, IA, Konz served as a Rifle Company Commander with the 101^st Airborne Division in 2003.  Konz noted we are now in the fifth year of engagement in Iraqi in our effort to combat the Global War on Terror (GWOT) of which Iraqi is the central focus today.  The GWOT is a war of ideologies, Konz explained, and has been going on for about twenty years.  It is analogous to the Cold War against the Soviet Union and other communistic nations of the past generation.  However, it is a war using the Islam religion and the Koran as justification.  There are no political borders of the GWOT, Konz noted.  The religious extremists have a plan to take control of the world, and the US has a plan of containment and defeat, Konz explained.  Our best tool against the GWOT is our ideology of individual freedom.

  Upon return to his base in Ft. Campbell, KY, Konz was selected as an instructor at the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Ft. Benning, GA.  Currently, he is attending the US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.  Konz stated he was planning to seek more training in strategic planning before receiving a new Army assignment.