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University of North Georgia (ǧÃŬAV) cadets traveled abroad this summer for a wide range of professional development opportunities and events, including visits to international military academy partners and leadership courses.

"We want to provide relevant international programs that provide our cadets insight into our allies' and partners’ national security and military affairs," Wes Pirkle, the director of Global Military Programs said. "We also have generous donors that enable us to provide these programs at a low cost to our cadets."

Cadets who gained experience abroad this summer included:

• Devin Petmecky completed an internship in Suriname for eight weeks.
• Cody Green, Andrew Flournoy, Garrett Cochran, and Hailey Thomas completed internships over the course of two months in the Republic of Georgia.
• George Thompson and Caleb Hubbard traveled to Romania to complete their eight-week internship at the Land Forces Academy.
• Benjamin Smith and Jack Rainbow attended the National Defense Academy of Latvia with other cadets from around Europe for their internships.
• Asher Brinke and Charles Forbes participated in the Swiss Mountaineering Course for two weeks.
• Smith and John Jolly completed the Polish Mountaineering Course.

Rainbow, a senior from Kennesaw, Georgia, pursuing a degree in strategic and security studies, traveled to Latvia on June 6 for eight weeks to participate in his internship. Having never learned any Latvian, some of his favorite memories abroad are a result of studying the language.

"Toward the end of the course we were cleaning and by that point, I only knew a few words," Rainbow said. "One of the Latvian cadets asked how many [of an item] do we need and I was able to communicate '2' in Latvian."

Thomas, a sophomore, also pursuing a degree in strategic and security studies, attended the Sachkhere Mountain Training School. Thomas shared she was able to participate in the hospitality culture of Georgians with supra, which translates to tablecloth and is essentially a big feast.

Two of her favorite memories were seeing the Caucasus Mountains and rappelling off a cliff. She shared that this experience helped her clarify her future aspirations.

"The most fascinating thing for me was sitting through the meetings at the embassy," Thomas said. "After graduation, I'll be commissioning. I'm hoping for infantry or intelligence. I ultimately hope to work in international relations similar to my experience abroad."