The United States Army’s Intermediate Level Education (ILE), part of the Command and General Staff Officers Course, is a challenging and necessary requirement for field grade officers’ career progression. The workload can be daunting, but for a number of students, including U.S. Army Major Jeevan Bhatta, it is a time that provided opportunities for growth, reflection, and even a reminder of his roots.

Born and raised in Nepal, Bhatta moved to United States in 2006 to attend the University of Alabama. While enrolled, he learned of an initial phase for a Department of Defense healthcare program, offering foreign nationals scholarships for health care degrees – and in Bhatta’s case, U.S. citizenship – in exchange for service in the military.

He said that military service is something he was curious about, so he decided to apply for the program.

“Growing up in Nepal, Gurkha culture is big. So growing up, it was a big part of what I saw. Similar to playing ‘GI Joe’ when I was a kid, I would play that I was a Gurkha,” Bhatta recalled. “When I found out about the option to join the military in the U.S., I jumped in.”

Through the program, the DoD has paid for his doctorate and sponsored his citizenship. After spending his initial years in the Army Reserve as an ICU nurse, Maj. Bhatta transitioned to the active component and is currently a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologist (CRNA), assigned to the 160th Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment (FSRD) in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Maj. Bhatta explained that joining the Army as an immigrant was a learning curve at first, but throughout his career he has received valuable mentorship from his peers.

“When I came into the Army I was a nurse in the Army Reserve, so I had a multi-level learning curve,” Bhatta explained. “Even now, the only operational or tactical work I’ve ever done is on a forward-deployed surgical team here in Europe and for [U.S. Army Central Command].”

Bhatta recalls various unique career experiences over the past 15 years – “There are tens of thousands of CRNAs in the United States and only a handful of them will ever have the experiences I have had,” he said.

Despite that, he stays tied to his Nepalese roots as he believes it has shaped the way he views leadership in the military.

“Growing up in my culture, we value empathy and trust. I am always trying to be empathetic with my Soldiers. I will always give them trust and it’s theirs to grow or lose, that is something I keep close as a leader,” he said. “We’re a team. If you fail, I’m going to fail too. We have the same mission ultimately.”

The 7th Intermediate Level Education Detachment, 7th Mission Support Command, operates under a similar purview. In its mission to educate U.S. and international field grade officers to lead organizations under Mission Command in Unified Land Operations, the detachment is a unique capability for the European and African theaters, poised to garner insight and provide direct support to NATO Allies and partner nations.

“Seventh ILE Detachment is unique as it provides Army majors and promotable captains, from all components, the opportunity to complete the common core portion of ILE while serving or being stationed in Europe,” said Lt. Col. Maya Troupe, 7th ILE Detachment commander. “Professional military education is a top priority for senior leaders and the 7th ILE Detachment contributes to this vision by conducting all phases in a resident modality where students learn from all components and from students from European Allied Partners.”

The reserve ILE program operates over the course of a year with distance learning requirements and four 2-week resident phases of classroom instruction. The program graduates an average of 52 Army officers from the active component, National Guard and Reserve, annually. The recent graduation, held at Camp Normandy, Grafenwoehr, Germany in June 2024, saw 50 graduates.

“The 7th ILE Detachment is proud to offer this as an alternative to Soldiers and international students stationed or residing in Europe. It offers them an alternative to conduct their professional military education in-residence rather than online, which has tremendous benefits for networking and sharing real-world examples amongst the instructors and student body,” said Lt. Col. Brittany Riebold, 7th ILE Detachment instructor and Army Reserve public affairs officer. “Most of our reserve instructors are also European-based and employed by U.S. Department of Defense, State Department or private-sector who provide the student body a plethora of experience along with instruction.”

Bhatta said that the course is challenging, but with help from the instructors, it is manageable.

“The instructors want us to succeed and as long as you do the work, you get more out of it and you will succeed,” he said. “Because of my job, I don’t want to leave my practice and my patients for more than two weeks at a time. So to do the reserve course, it was the best option for me and my family.”

In addition to the U.S. Army students, the most recent graduating class included representatives from the Croatian, Macedonian, and Kosovo militaries. This, Bhatta said, was one of the most valuable aspects of the course.

“I’ve learned that every country has a certain culture and it’s been interesting to learn more about how their militaries operate,” Bhatta said. “I’ve learned it’s about the relationships – the relationships matter just as much as the training. If I would’ve had this course sooner in my career, I would’ve known how deep interoperability is, and how important it is for tactical and operational success.”