The Abongo Abroad: Military-Sponsored Travel in Ghana, the United States, and the World, 1959–1992, by John V. Clune

Excerpt

In The Abongo Abroad: Military-Sponsored Travel in Ghana, the United States, and the World, 1959–1992, John V. Clune traces the experiences of Ghanaian military personnel and their families as they participated in military-sponsored international travel from the time of their nation’s independence in 1957 through the end of the Cold War, focusing especially on the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. By concentrating on the U.S. Military Assistance Program and the subsequent International Military Education and Training initiative, he highlights the promises and limitations of such endeavors and provides useful insights regarding their contemporary relevance. The author also examines the challenges, benefits, and trials of Ghanaians’ service with UN peacekeeping missions in the Sinai from 1973 to 1979 and in Lebanon after 1979. Travel was the conduit that linked all these encounters, although the results often fell far short of ideals and centered more on psychology than development. Audiences interested in interactions between the United States and Africa during the Cold War specifically, professional military education generally, and the vital and intimate connections between them will find this volume most useful. …