In a time of escalating conflict, the TCU history department is bringing military personnel, historians and journalists to campus to discuss the costs of war, the wars in Afghanistan and military history.

The Lance Corporal Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Symposium on War, Conflict and Society was launched in 2017 to honor former TCU student Benjamin Schmidt. Schmidt joined the Marine Corps in 2008 after only three semesters at TCU.

Following two deployments, he intended to return to campus to complete his degree in history and then work toward his PhD in military history. Seeing a need in his battalion, Schmidt volunteered for another deployment and was killed in a friendly fire accident in Afghanistan on October 6, 2011.

The Schmidt Symposium honors Schmidt’s legacy and passion for history, and aims to teach the public about the real implications of war.

“Y’all [college students] are tomorrow’s physical and thought leaders,” said David R. Schmidt, father of LCpl. Benjamin Schmidt. “The more students that are educated on war and the personal effects on people, maybe it will help us avoid these conflicts in the future.”

This year’s symposium, The Afghanistan Wars, begins with a keynote address given by Elliott Woods, a veteran-turned-journalist whose Third Squad podcast followed up on his military embed with a squad of Marines in Afghanistan.

“We need to have these conservations about war to showcase the very human consequences of war,” said Gregory Daddis, USS Midway Chair in Modern U.S. Military History at San Diego State University and a panel speaker. “The symposium aims to look at the long-term implications of America’s decisions to go to war.”

The event will take place 7-9 p.m. Friday, March 18, and 8:15 a.m.-noon Saturday, March 19 in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni Center. The symposium is free and open to the public; registration is required.