Professional Soldiers ® - View Single Post - Language Training: What Would It Cost To Do It Right?

**The Reaper** · 04-11-2014, 20:54

IMHO, the chain of command has myopia when it comes to language qualifications. They talk a good game, but the dedication to gaining and maintaining the skill are not there.

First, our languages regularly change in most Groups. How many times do you want to spend the resources to train a guy to a 2/2 or a 3/3, and have to retrain him in another language, which he may not get at all?

Second, we are unwilling to take the time and resources to properly train the SF soldier in the pipeline. If you want a 3/3, accept that a large majority of your students, who happen to be otherwise great at their SF jobs, are never going to get there. You could get 100 3/3s in an SFG, if they spent most of their time doing language training, or you took a chance and brought in native speakers who might otherwise be terrible SF soldiers. If you want a 3/3 on the team, and you cannot find a native, be prepared to send the guy to DLI for as long as three years.

Time in the language class is time that your other skills are atrophying. You might need to be able to run that gun or start that IV more than you need language skills, at some point.

Next, we do not want to accept the regular absence from the unit to conduct the refresher training required to maintain the language skill.

Finally, the other SOF services have nowhere near the language requirements SF has, the number of advanced linguists, or the total number of troops who speak the language well enough to get by on the street and teach a class. No wonder SF deploys twice as much to other countries as most other SOF, who will wind up with a translator requirement to do anything, and no one on the team able to get a hotel room or order dinner in a restaurant.

If SOCOM wants to make this a priority, it is going to cost a damn sight more than this estimate, in both cash and time, and there are going to have to be a lot of sacrifices and people standing up to say "No" because the guys need their language training BEFORE deploying.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR

04-11-2014, 20:54	#8
The Reaper Quiet Professional Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Free Pineland Posts: 24,780	IMHO, the chain of command has myopia when it comes to language qualifications. They talk a good game, but the dedication to gaining and maintaining the skill are not there. First, our languages regularly change in most Groups. How many times do you want to spend the resources to train a guy to a 2/2 or a 3/3, and have to retrain him in another language, which he may not get at all? Second, we are unwilling to take the time and resources to properly train the SF soldier in the pipeline. If you want a 3/3, accept that a large majority of your students, who happen to be otherwise great at their SF jobs, are never going to get there. You could get 100 3/3s in an SFG, if they spent most of their time doing language training, or you took a chance and brought in native speakers who might otherwise be terrible SF soldiers. If you want a 3/3 on the team, and you cannot find a native, be prepared to send the guy to DLI for as long as three years. Time in the language class is time that your other skills are atrophying. You might need to be able to run that gun or start that IV more than you need language skills, at some point. Next, we do not want to accept the regular absence from the unit to conduct the refresher training required to maintain the language skill. Finally, the other SOF services have nowhere near the language requirements SF has, the number of advanced linguists, or the total number of troops who speak the language well enough to get by on the street and teach a class. No wonder SF deploys twice as much to other countries as most other SOF, who will wind up with a translator requirement to do anything, and no one on the team able to get a hotel room or order dinner in a restaurant. If SOCOM wants to make this a priority, it is going to cost a damn sight more than this estimate, in both cash and time, and there are going to have to be a lot of sacrifices and people standing up to say "No" because the guys need their language training BEFORE deploying. Just my .02, YMMV. TR __________________ "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910 De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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