NEWPORT – With great sadness, DIILS mourns the passing of two alumni, LTC Vincent Sowa (LADSCA 2014) and BG Muhammad Hasnain (LCT 2014).

During the LADSCA course, LTC Sowa was appointed to head the military response to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone.  He was unable to evacuate his family because of emergency quarantine rules imposed by the government, and by the end of the course he had also lost 5-10 men to the outbreak.  DIILS offered to send him home early, but Sowa insisted on finishing the course, in order to better help the afflicted in his country.  He took meticulous notes and spent extra time with instructors.  When he returned to Sierra Leone, he contacted DIILS.  We put him in contact with military and civilian experts on disaster relief operations, who, as he put it, "greatly helped" him and his forces cope with the crisis, and suggested best practices for the development of educational and financial assistance for the families of the deceased. A year later, Vincent presented a lecture by Skype to the DIILS LADSCA course while deployed as Legal Advisor to the Africa Mission in Somalia (AMISON), in Mogadishu.  He gave great thanks to DIILS for helping launch his career. Vincent was talented, dedicated and personable, and it is tragic that he survived so many things only to pass during devastating floods shortly after returning home. He had a warm heart and winning smile...  He will be missed.

Brigadier Muhammad Hasnain (LCT 2014) was killed in a tragic car accident on his way to assume command of a new assignment in Pakistan in July. BG Hasnain was very concerned about terrorism in his country and world-wide.  During the LCT course, he focused particular attention on developing solutions to terrorism and offered insightful comments during discussions.  After returning to Pakistan, BG Hasnain was selected to attend the U.S. National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, DC. Several DIILS staff had the pleasure of visiting with the general in Washington in 2016. BG Hasnain was a thoughtful, gentlemanly officer who cared deeply about finding solutions to the world's problems.  Always gracious, BG Hasnain will be missed.

The DIILS family has suffered a great loss in these two fine officers. We mourn with their families and loved ones.