Who: Maj. James P. Follwell, Canadian forces liaison officer to Fort Hood

What: A briefing on Canadian forces

When: 3:30 p.m. today

Where: Sid W. Richardson Building, Lecture Hall 2

Canadian officer to give briefing

By Jennifer Koesling
Staff Reporter

Although all of the Air Force and Army ROTC cadets are required to attend a military briefing, Josh Grimes that said he is looking forward to it.When Maj. James P. Follwell, Canadian forces liaison officer to Fort Hood, speaks on campus today, Grimes said he will be paying close attention to Follwell’s personal experiences.

“I’m interested in hearing about what he does, how it works and what it is like to deal with foreign customs, because I am interested in becoming a liaison officer,” Grimes, a sophomore political science and business major, said.

Captain Douglas Owens requested a briefing from a Canadian officer, because it coordinated with an assignment he gave the students in his Military Science I, Introduction to Leadership class about the structure and organization of foreign armies.

“I requested a briefing from a Canadian officer, because it would be an opportunity to hear a personal account about a foreign army,” Owens said.

Follwell said he was contacted by the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and was asked to come to TCU to do a briefing about the Canadian forces.

Leticia Marquez, a senior Spanish and social work major, said she will attend the briefing, because she wants to learn more about the Follwell’s leadership positions.

“My goal is to become a health care administrator for the military, so I want to know what it was like to be a leader in this field,” Marquez said.

Follwell said he plans to discuss the organization, structure, major equipment and current missions of the Canadian forces. He also said he wants to discuss the relationship between the U.S. and Canadian militaries.

“Since efforts began in the common defense of North America against the Soviet threat of the 1950s, the (U.S.) military and Canadian military have maintained a protective relationship of one another,” Follwell said.

“The United States has a separate Army, Navy and Air Force, while all of the Canadian forces are combined,” he said.
Before his assignment to Fort Hood in 1997, Follwell was a staff officer in the Canadian Army Headquarters, the Canadian Representative for the establishment of the Multinational Standby High Readiness Brigade for United Nations operations and a planning officer for the Canada-United States Military Corporation Committee.

He has served operationally as a tank and reconnaissance Troop Commander with the Royal Canadian Dragoons in Lahr, Germany, an airborne armor reconnaissance Troop Commander in Petawawa, Ontario and has served as a liaison and information officer with the United Nations in South Lebanon.

Follwell was an instructor for the Canadian Forces Junior Leadership Course, the Basic Officer Training Course and for Negotiating Skills for U.N. rotation to Bosnia.

Jennifer Koesling
j.c.koesling@student.tcu.edu