November - Department of Defence

Preliminary languageorientation courseThe course normally takes off inFebruary with a five-month Frenchproficiency language course. This isan intensive language proficiencyphase designed to enable Anglophoneand non-French speaking officers tounderstand the main military staffcommand course in French.Six months of intensive Frenchclasses brought her language skills upto postgraduate level. She started thecourse on 8 February and it lasteduntil 24 June 2005. In this time she wasmainly doing the language part of thecourse. She was the first female officerfrom the SANDF in a group of 52 officersfrom different foreign countries.It was a daring challenge, which neededso much determination. She wasmindful that she was representing hercountry and that she had to succeed,which amounted to additional pressureon her. Unfortunately at the endof June 2005 she was informed thather proficiency level in French wasbelow the standard and she was withdrawnfrom the course.She was called back in 2006 andrepeated the language course andpassed in the first degree in the oraland written examinations in 2006. Shecontinued up to the second degreelevel and was able to obtain a seconddegree in the NATO STANAG 3001level 2 certificates in both written andoral French. During the languagephase she was the only female studentofficer among a group of 52 male officers.This time around she succeededin reaching the international phase,which took place in July 2006. She wasstill the only woman during thisphase in which, 66 students camefrom the Francophone countries tojoin them. Altogether there wereabout 113 foreign students from 78countries.She was the first woman from theSANDF and the first woman fromSouth Africa to complete the FrenchJoint Staff and Command Course atthe Ecole Militaire in Paris, France.Colonel Pat Masisi attending a formal function during her course in France.International SessionThe International Session commencedin July 2006. It was an interphase,which allowed interactionbetween the Anglophone andFrancophone foreign officers whoawaited the commencement of the militaryphase in September when theFrench officers joined up. The aim wasto harmonise language and culturaldifferences. Familiarisation visitswithin France were organised to historicsites to further deepen the overallaim.The highlights of this phase werethe visit to Verdun, the World War Ibattlefield and other historical placesin France. The French students joinedin September 2006, only two womenreporting from the French DefenceForce. (Now at least there were threefemale officers among 364 men oncourse.) That was the beginning of thereal Joint Senior and Command StaffProgramme at the Ecole Militaire.From January to March 2007 ColPat Masisi joined the marine groupbecause there were only seven studentsfrom the medical core. Theycould not form a group and were swallowedby the other Services. She choseworking with the Navy and benefitedmuch by working in this group as themarines were broad-minded and confident,which added to the value of thecourse. Next they visited Lisbon inPortugal and other places of marineinterest in France."My stay in Paris was not one ofluxury because I was expected to playthe role of the accompanying spouse. Ihad to sacrifice my husband, my childrenand myself because I was alwaysaway; otherwise I used to attend privateFrench lessons. I have a few basicprinciples that guide me in life: to bepurposeful, visionary and positive. Itwas indeed a mammoth task to thinkfirst in English, translate into Frenchand speak in French. I was able towrite the staff paper and defend it successfullyin French in front of the adjudicator,Mr Xavier de Villepin (thefather of the former Prime Minister,Mr Dominique de Villepin). I obtaineda pass mark of 4/5," said Col PatMasisi."From the South African Embassyin Paris, I would like to thank theAmbassador, Ms Maria Sibanda-Thusi, for her unfailing support duringmy presentations on the culturaland international day at the college.The following transferred officials alsomade it possible for me to succeed inall the tasks that were imposed on meby the college by offering their supportlogistically, psychologically evenphysically, namely, Mr JosephMoshesh, Mr Marius Conradie, MsEvelyn Frank and Ms Seipei Deane.They were at all times ready to assistirrespective of who I was. They weretruly South Africans."I would like to encourage my fellowofficers to nominate themselvesfor this course. I know that the Frenchlanguage is complicated, but this wasthe best opportunity I ever had. Thecourse consisted of 15 modules, 2 supplementarymodules, and I had towrite an article which was compulsoryfor the French students and optionalfor the foreign students. I tried myluck and submitted an article aboutwomen," said Col Pat Masisi.NO VEMB ER 2 0 0 8 • S A S O L D I E R25