[Off Road]

TR - it sounds like you've done a few Flintlock rotations! Although there's definitely a lot of truth to what you said, I can tell you that things are getting better in some of the countries we're working with over here in West Africa. One good thing about AFRICOM (really JSOTF-TS under SOCAFRICA) is that it's making our engagement here more focused and persistent. That definitely helps.

I think the renewed emphasis that we (3-10) are placing on French language training and cultural immersion here in West Africa is right on - in the last six months I've sent two of my ODAs overseas for extended language training and immersion. The guys get both the classroom training and the ability to practice it out on the town or in the villages as they experience the country they're in. I think it's a great opportunity and wish I could've done it while on an ODA. We also have folks attending language training back at Carson on a continual basis.

Unfortunately, the CF don't do this and that seems to be GEN Ham's point. Most of the CF guys coming down here only have Iraq or Afghanistan as a frame of reference, they don't speak any language, and they definitely don't understand the African culture - local, regional, or otherwise. As you'd expect, this means their training doesn't have the impact it could and everyone gets frustrated because they basically execute the 11 steps as laid out by TR. (They also don't understand that it's DoS, not DoD, who has the lead down here.... but that's a whole different topic.)