Visit to Macedonia opens students' eyes to different culture

A unique opportunity arose this summer when four Norwich cadets traveled to Macedonia with the Army department for 10 days.

 "We went over there as a diplomatic training session and we went over different tactics and they also went over different parts of their military," said R.J. Racine, 20, a junior criminal justice major from Valrico Fla.

"Going to Macedonia was an awesome experience, and we all had the opportunity to be with a different culture and although the Macedonian military is the same as the U.S. military, it was still a lot of fun," Racine said.

Ryan Van Noordt, 20, a junior political science major from Lynchburg, Va., said, "The main reason that (I) went over to Macedonia was for fun, but also to learn about the Macedonian military."

"Last year the president of Macedonia came to Norwich University for a visit and to see what the U.S. military and what a U.S. military school was all about. After President Richard Schneider talked with Branko Crvenkovski, the president of Macedonia, and (he) wanted to have an exchange program," Van Noordt said.

To be selected, cadets needed to be on the Army's order of merit list. They needed a good grade point average, as well as a good physical fitness score, according to Van Noordt.

The cadets chosen were Van Noordt, Racine, Devonta Banks and Joshua Fontanez.

A typical day consisted of waking up in the Macedonia barracks at 6 a.m., and doing physical training.  Then they would do training during the day, "which was just like mil lab at Norwich," Van Noordt said.

The four cadets also trained with cadets from Serbia and Turkey. They were introduced to different styles of leading but mostly the ones leading the training were the U.S. cadets, according to Racine.

A lot of the training that the cadets received while in Macedonia was hands on.

"This was very interesting," Banks said. "We were shown the Macedonian Nuclear Biological and Chemical warfare teams come out and show them what their jobs consisted of."

The cadets also had some class room training in Macedonia. They learned about what is happening in Afghanistan that Macedonian forces are directly dealing with, according to Racine.

Racine described this trip as "an awesome experience." He only had one complaint: the food seemed very "Spartan."  But when he got off the training grounds the food was "fantastic," he said.

Fontanez, 20, a junior political science major from Browns Mills, N.J., said, "This was a great experience which allowed me to grow as a leader in many aspects."

"Having the opportunity to go over to a foreign country and see their military is never heard of for a college student," said Fontanez.

Learning the different types of difficulties and challenges which many people don't learn about until their first deployment was really an eye opener, said Racine.

The four students agree Macedonia should be experienced by everyone.