Dave Cohill, C’79, MBA’10, adjunct professor of military history, has seen and done it all.
During his time at Mount St. Mary’s University as an undergraduate, he studied and received awards for outstanding achievement in English, as well as receiving membership to the English and history honors societies. After his time at the Mount, he joined the United States Air Force for 20 years, starting with Officer Training School. He completed many military courses, most notably Basic & Water Survival Training Course, Flight Instructor Course, Joint Fire Operations Control Course and finally the Military History Instructor Course.
He earned various medals like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Air Force Commendation, Achievement and Combat Readiness Medals. He was deployed operationally multiple times, including as a deputy liaison officer for the NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) Multinational Division North in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999.
Cohill returned to the Mount following his military career where he earned a master’s degree in military history from the Army War College. He has served in various roles at the Mount, such as an office manager for the ROTC program, executive assistant to the Business and Finance Department, MBA student, senior accountant for operations, and finally as an adjunct instructor in history.
His fascinating courses are well-liked by students. The courses become even more vivid when he uses his own experience and insight to give life to the events that have occurred in military history. He has taught courses on World Wars I and II, as well as European and American Military History. Students in his World War II course, according to the description, explore the “causes, course, and consequences of World War II, with an emphasis on the formulation and execution of grand political and military strategy, the role of senior leadership on both sides, and the impact of total war on a global scale. While the course focuses on the higher levels of military command and strategy, selected military campaigns are examined in more detail, and the experience of war is explored at the lowest military echelons through the readings of two classic memoirs of the conflict.”
Cohill has several powerful words of advice for students: