{"id":11444,"date":"2013-01-31T15:55:29","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/the-nato-defense-college-celebrates-the-graduation-of-senior-course-121\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:02:16","slug":"the-nato-defense-college-celebrates-the-graduation-of-senior-course-121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/the-nato-defense-college-celebrates-the-graduation-of-senior-course-121\/","title":{"rendered":"The NATO Defense College Celebrates the Graduation of Senior Course 121"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/121Graduation_8_1.jpg\" alt=\"The Senior Course 121 Course President, Colonel Vansina (BEL F), receives his graduation diploma from Admiral Clingan (right) and Lieutenant General Dalhaug. \" \/><figcaption>The Senior Course 121 Course President, Colonel Vansina (BEL F), receives his graduation diploma from Admiral Clingan (right) and Lieutenant General Dalhaug. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">On 31 January 2013 the NATO Defense College (NDC) celebrated the graduation of Senior Course 121 (SC 121). <\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">The ceremony was opened by NDC Commandant Lieutenant General Arne B\u00e5rd Dalhaug (NOR A), who had the honour of <a class='photo' href='\/images\/121Graduation_1_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title= ' Commander Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Admiral Bruce W. Clingan  (left), is warmly welcomed by NDC Commandant Lieutenant General Arne B&aring;rd Dalhaug.'>welcoming<\/a> guest speaker Admiral Bruce W. Clingan (USA N), Commander of the Joint Force Command in Naples. LtGen Dalhaug also warmly welcomed the Ambassadors of Slovenia, T\u00fcrkiye, the Czech Republic, Norway, Belgium and Jordan, as well as Defense and Military Attach\u00e9s from NATO and partner countries, and Italian military authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">In his address, <a class='photo' href='\/images\/121Graduation_7b_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title= \" LtGen Dalhaug's final address to Senior Course 121.\">LtGen Dalhaug<\/a> expressed his pride, gratitude and satisfaction regarding Course Members\u2019 academic achievements. He dwelt briefly on the Course\u2019s main highlights, underlining the increasingly high quality of lectures and the opportunity, for students and NDC Faculty advisors, to use Field Studies as a unique means of engaging in fruitful and challenging discussions with key policy-makers. The interaction among Course Members, Staff and distinguished guests constitutes the core of the College mission \u2013 the achievement of the human interoperability that will characterize the leadership of the future, and that will enable the next generation of decision- and policy-makers within NATO and partner countries to communicate and cooperate as they face upcoming security challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">LtGen Dalhaug then left the floor to <a class='photo' href='\/images\/121Graduation_6_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title= ' Admiral Clingan  delivers the graduation address to Senior Course 121.'>Admiral Clingan<\/a>, whose graduation address was a source of motivation to an attentive and appreciative audience. Particularly inspirational were his remarks on the need to have a courageous generation of leaders in command: current and emerging security challenges are multifaceted and immense, and the approach to security has not only to be comprehensive, but also \u2013 and above all \u2013 to find its implementation thanks to the vision of able leaders. Only they can possess the will and the courage to decide wisely among multiple courses of action, and to react quickly to sudden changes in the security environment. Admiral Clingan also emphasized that the experience of SC 121 is by no means over, and must be seen as a means rather than an end: the Senior Course is actually a critical enabler that perfectly balances and mixes education and friendship, affording Course Members a priceless opportunity to grow together and to establish professional and personal bonds that will last a lifetime. <\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">Admiral Clingan then joined LtGen Dalhaug and NDC Flag Officers in presenting individual Course Members with their diplomas, accompanied by warm applause from families, fellow students and NDC Staff.<\/p>\n<p><em>NDC Public Affairs Office<br \/>(Prepared by Ms Eleonora Fuser, ITA C)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senior Course 121 Course President, Colonel Vansina (BEL F), receives his graduation diploma from Admiral Clingan (right)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_badge":[],"class_list":["post-11444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"modified_by":null,"author_meta":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"featured_img":null,"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","trp-custom-language-flag":"","morenews-featured":"","morenews-large":"","morenews-medium":""},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":0,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/category\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/span>"]}},"relative_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 13 ans il y a","modified":"Mis \u00e0 jour 6 mois il y a"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le janvier 31, 2013","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le janvier 31, 2013 15:55","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026 09:02"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11444"},{"taxonomy":"post_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_badge?post=11444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}