By David Spunt Reporter
News 3 On Your Side
FORT BENNING GA--The leader of Fort Benning's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, better known as WHINSEC, will leave his position next week after more than four years on the job. News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!WHINSEC was established at Fort Benning in 2001. Soldiers from all over the Western Hemisphere come to the institute to study peacekeeping operations, while studying under the U.S. Army.
Colonel Gilberto Perez arrived at WHINSEC in the spring of 2004, becoming only the second commandant of the school.
Over his four years, he not only saw a lot, but helped make many changes within the institute.
“The quality of soldiers, the quality of people you meet in a military career, people with values, people that are selfless in what they do. That's very important to me,” he said.
WHINSEC opened in 2001, after the School of the Americas or SOA closed. The SOA started in Panama, then moved to Fort Benning.
The SOA, like WHINSEC, helped improve relationships between countries in the Western Hemisphere, but the school quickly became very controversial.
Every November, protesters line the streets, leading into Fort Benning to protest, claiming the school's graduates are dictators responsible for the deaths of innocent lives. Perez feels differently.
“Having been an instructor in the School of the Americas in Panama, I can tell you that I’m proud of that legacy in the sense that of the School of the Americas and it was an honorable institution that has been misrepresented,” he said.
Perez prefers to focus on what WHINSEC has accomplished, like its curriculum that teaches human rights and peacekeeping operations.
But that's at work. At home, he has other priorities, his wife of almost 30 years.
“The partnership that we have is very special,” he said.
“It’s been a wonderful time. Out of the 29 years we've been married, the last four have been a wonderful time,” said his wife Isabel Perez.
Perez will be gone from WHINSEC, a new leader will take the reins. The future of WHINSEC is unknown, but one thing for certain is how much this man believes in this institution.
“My hope is WHINSEC continues to exist because it's needed now more than ever,” he said.
Perez says the toughest thing for him will be to wake up and not put on his army uniform anymore.
He's leaving WHINSEC next week, but he's retiring from the army after more than 30 years of service in august.
No word yet on what he'll do in civilian life, but he says it's something he'll enjoy.
