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My Military
Masters
Information Warfare/Competitive Intelligence
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In July 2008, I was at the supermarket working and a
couple suggested a Masters at the Military Academy. I
went to the official website and was amazed because it
seemed to fit me perfectly.
I said to myself that one year later I would apply for
it, which I did. And, I was accepted in 2009 just like
I had planned.
Colonel VL, who at the time was the head of that
Masters, once told me: “Men
aren't measured by their size but by their inner
greatness”. I will never forget these words.
One big issue with the Masters was that civilians had
to pay 100% of the tuitions, while the military had a
50% discount.
Things there were though since some military were
bullying me, just like a huge Lieutenant Colonel in
the bar who would raise me up in the air and shake me,
making my back hurt.
There was also a ranger guy who would slap my back
saying “Hello little Marco”
and I would hit the floor hurt.
There were also teachers who were very severe in
evaluation, giving bad marks to students.
In the second year of the course, we needed a
dissertation project and a supervisor. I tried to find
a supervisor at the Academy, but they all said they
had too many students or that cyberterrorism wasn't
their speciality. I even tried the Professor who gave
my worst mark and no success.
After many failures, the Academy suggested Professor
Carvalho Rodrigues of NATO and gave me his contact. At
that point, I didn't know who he was and started
sending him e-mails and SMSs. I was extremely lucky
because he accepted being my supervisor.
With an outside supervisor, we required an internal
cosupervisor. I tried Professor Fernandes Thomaz and
he accepted. Time proved that they were the best
supervisors one could have.
I delivered my dissertation on 6.Oct.2011
but the Scientific Commission took around a year to
constitute a Jury, so I had time to improve and make a
new version of the dissertation which I delivered on 4.Jul.2012 to replace the
first one. The new one was larger and a lot better by
improving the grammar and better explanations of the
concepts involved.
On 27.Sep.2012 I
went to the Military Academy HQ for the defence. I had
invited around 30 persons, but only a few showed up.
The audience was mainly military.
The evaluation event took place at 11:30am
and lasted for around 1H30. I had 20 minutes to
present the PowerPoint and, the remaining time, was
for the arguer to ask questions.
After the presentation, I sat down and the arguer
started asking questions. I was very lucky because I
knew all the answers and even gave real-life examples
to what he asked. For example, he asked about the
relationship between the theory of Fisher and Shannon
and I gave a real-life example based on a situation
that happened at the supermarket years before.
When the questions were over, everyone left the room
and the Jury gathered to deliberate. Then, we entered
the room again, and the Jury President said I had “Excellent” as a final
mark: 18 values.
I was the first civilian to finish the course, and 18
values was one of the highest marks ever given by the
Military Academy, which means that I, a mere cashier,
achieved something spectacular. I
knew about a couple of military dissertation
defences in the past, and not even they
accomplished such. History was written in that
day.
On On 7.Nov.2012
I received a reward from Santander Totta for my
course final mark: €1 000. I was the only civilian
to receive a prize at the Opening Ceremony for the
school year 2012/2013.
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