Christian Nattiel

A culture of honour: from West Point to the Oxford MBA

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Christian Nattiel is a 1+1 MBA student, Rhodes Scholar and an Infantry Officer in the US army.

The first African American from the United States Military Academy at West Point to be selected for the Rhodes Scholarship, Christian Nattiel’s route to Oxford University is a story of determination, discipline and selflessness.

The step-son of a military serviceman, he grew up in Florida before moving to Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended an inner-city high school struggling with the difficulties of concentrated poverty. ‘I will always remember my first day there,’ he said, ‘The teacher asked us to introduce ourselves to the class, and to tell them our aspirations. There was one student who felt too defeated to see any opportunities for themselves beyond welfare, and that stuck with me.’ Troubled by these experiences, Christian made it his life’s purpose to help people from disadvantaged communities raise their aspirations and improve their ability to self-determine their futures.

As a young teenager, Christian knew he wanted to serve his country, but the infantry was not what he had in mind. ‘Growing up in the South, I always lived near military bases,’ he said. ‘I grew up seeing a lot of military personnel. And it impressed on me the culture of honour that comes with military service – that was something I looked up to and respected. At the same time, I lived near the MacDill Air Force base. I got to see fighter jets soaring overhead, and I knew then that is what I wanted to do.’

While Christian had the necessary aptitude for maths and science to follow this dream, nature had other ideas: by the time he was 15, he was over 6ft 5 inches – too tall to fly a US fighter jet.

‘I never imagined myself in the army – rolling around in the mud and so on,’ he said with a smile. ‘But while I was exploring my options, a military liaison officer told me about West Point. At first, I said “no way,” but it was my Mom who persuaded me to explore the opportunity further.’

Our Global Strategy module with Dr. Marc Szepan has been particularly helpful. I have a much better understanding now of the relationship between free markets, the rule of law, foreign policy, and where the military fits into this careful balance.

Christian Nattiel

2018 1+1 MBA candidate

Christian Nattiel

A one week ‘summer seminar’ at West Point followed, and Christian fell in love with the academy and its principles. ‘They have a saying there “history was made by the people we taught” and that really inspired me,’ he said. After receiving the necessary congressional nomination, Christian enrolled at the historic academy.

Training at West Point is rigorous, even by military standards, but it was an environment in which Christian excelled. He found the training exhilarating, to – ‘you never forget the first time you wake up to machine gun fire,’ he said, his eyes widening at the memory.

However, while he immersed himself into life at the academy, he could not forget his experiences in Georgia. Determined to help others, he took on the role of president of the Cultural Affairs Seminar, a diversity group at West Point, and recruited fellow students to act as mentors to struggling cadets. His efforts significantly boosted the cadet’s grade averages, and in 2018 he told Poets & Quants that the initiative helped them to realise that the ‘highest honours are to be gained not by focusing on yourself, but by improving the lives of others.’

Getting to know... Christian Nattiel

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Upon his graduation from West Point, Christian was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, and chose to study the 1+1 MBA, combining the MBA with an MSc in Education.

Enrolling at Oxford and studying amongst cohorts that contain a great diversity of backgrounds and opinion has been both enriching and challenging for Christian. ‘I had to reintegrate into civilian life,’ he said. ‘And once you’re outside the US military, you find that not everyone believes in the same ideals. I’ve met people at Oxford who strongly disapprove of my country’s actions, and people who are pacifists and reject even the idea of a standing army altogether. As somebody whose step-father served in Iraq and Afghanistan and consequently suffered from post-traumatic stress, encountering these viewpoints has led me to wrestle with some difficult questions.’

On the MBA however, the lessons Christian has studied have helped him to view military organisations from a broader perspective. ‘Our Global Strategy module with Dr. Marc Szepan has been particularly helpful, and I have a much better understanding now of the relationship between free markets, the rule of law, foreign policy, and where the military fits into this careful balance,’ he said.

Partly as a result of his time in Oxford, Christian’s long-term plan is to become a military lawyer, a role in which he can help foster greater trust in the US military by stewarding the laws of war during military operations.

‘There is a lot of work to do in America, both in terms of domestic and foreign policies. And it’s on people like me, who have had these privileges, to work hard and do something to make things better,’ said Christian.