Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
October 17, 2007 By Jill P. Capuzzo
WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. — A dozen students sit at long white tables, some intently scribbling notes, some with that glazed-over expression that greets so many professors trying to impart obscure knowledge. In this way, the night class in Eastern philosophy here at McGuire Air Force Base is similar to many college courses being taught around the country.
But the students here are officers and enlisted men and women of the United States Air Force who could be called into action at any time. And the class is part of the Air Force’s push to prepare its troops better for service in the Middle East and Asia by offering instruction in foreign languages, history, philosophy and sociology that focuses on the cultures and populations they will encounter.
“The military mission is not as easily defined as it used to be,” said George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State College, which, along with Burlington County College, is providing the courses at McGuire. “Today, the military is actually engaged with the civilian population where they are stationed. They need philosophy, religion, history to have a greater understanding of where they are.”
Soon after the United States toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan and invaded Iraq, military leaders began acknowledging the need for troops to become better educated in foreign cultures. The first major effort came in 2005, when a Defense Department report recommended adding a regional language component to professional military education.
The Air Force decided to take the recommendation a step further, seeing a need for troops not only to speak foreign languages but to understand foreign cultures as well. Last year, the Air University in Montgomery, Ala., which provides professional military education to the Air Force, added a new Culture and Language Center to its campus.
“Language is useful, but we want people to build relations across cultural barriers,” said Dan Henk, the director of the center. “We asked ourselves, ‘Is it possible to give people the skills to go anywhere, quickly see patterns and be able to respond?’ The answer was yes.”
To build what Dr. Henk, an anthropologist, called “cross-cultural competency,” the center has been developing courses and programs intended to help acclimate soldiers to foreign cultures.
As word of the effort spread, the Edison and Burlington college presidents collaborated with Representative H. James Saxton of New Jersey and Col. Rick Martin, the base commander at the time, on the idea of offering cultural classes to the 5,000 airmen and women at McGuire.
“It started off with language — Farsi, conversational Arabic,” said Robert C. Messina Jr., Burlington’s president, speaking of his meetings with Colonel Martin. “Then he said, ‘Could you get someone to talk about the culture of the Middle East? How you don’t go up and hug someone, and no bikini wearing?’ So we did that.”
McGuire’s program was rolled out at the end of last year; other bases around the country are also offering similar classes. At McGuire, about 60 enlisted men and women and two officers are participating.
With classes in Arabic, Islam, comparative religions and East Asian history, among others, McGuire hopes to provide active-duty troops with tools to help them during battle but also beyond, said Linda Richardson, director of education and training at the base.
“It’s been eye-opening,” said Staff Sgt. Adam Crepeau, an aircraft maintenance instructor and a student in the Eastern philosophy course who is pursuing a degree in human resources. “The more knowledge I have about different cultures, the better.”
While learning the difference between Taoism and Confucianism, the subject of a recent evening’s lecture, may seem of little practical use in war, Sergeant Crepeau said he could have used some of what he was learning in the course, which is provided by Burlington, during his four-month tour in Iraq last year.
“We had no briefings except on a need-to-know basis,” Sergeant Crepeau said, referring to cultural briefings. “You might tune in to the radio and hear prayers and wonder, ‘What is that?’ You know they have prayers and customs, but you don’t understand them.”
The classes can count toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree; students receive “wing recognition” — bars on their uniforms — as an added incentive. Officers can also earn a pay raise, as much as $12,000 more for foreign language proficiency, Ms. Richardson said.
Because the students can be deployed at any time, the program is flexible, with shorter semesters and a blend of classroom and online teaching.
Burlington refunds the base if students are deployed midway through the semester. Edison, one of the country’s largest distance-learning institutions, allows students to take their lessons online, overseas. About 8,000 active-duty members in all branches of the United States military take Edison classes, Dr. Pruitt said. About 1,000 are enrolled in cultural classes.
Lt. Jason Anderson, an intelligence officer with the National Guard in Minneapolis, finished his bachelor’s degree while in Iraq by completing Edison’s introduction to Islam online course, which he said helped him understand Iraq.
“We were on a security convoy escorting supplies from Kuwait up to northern Iraq, so our guys were encountering many various areas,” he said. “We had to pay attention to all the cultural differences between Sunnis and Shiites, and what was going on in each territory, and the course helped.”
October 17, 2007 By Jill P. Capuzzo
WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. — A dozen students sit at long white tables, some intently scribbling notes, some with that glazed-over expression that greets so many professors trying to impart obscure knowledge. In this way, the night class in Eastern philosophy here at McGuire Air Force Base is similar to many college courses being taught around the country.
But the students here are officers and enlisted men and women of the United States Air Force who could be called into action at any time. And the class is part of the Air Force’s push to prepare its troops better for service in the Middle East and Asia by offering instruction in foreign languages, history, philosophy and sociology that focuses on the cultures and populations they will encounter.
“The military mission is not as easily defined as it used to be,” said George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State College, which, along with Burlington County College, is providing the courses at McGuire. “Today, the military is actually engaged with the civilian population where they are stationed. They need philosophy, religion, history to have a greater understanding of where they are.”
Soon after the United States toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan and invaded Iraq, military leaders began acknowledging the need for troops to become better educated in foreign cultures. The first major effort came in 2005, when a Defense Department report recommended adding a regional language component to professional military education.
The Air Force decided to take the recommendation a step further, seeing a need for troops not only to speak foreign languages but to understand foreign cultures as well. Last year, the Air University in Montgomery, Ala., which provides professional military education to the Air Force, added a new Culture and Language Center to its campus.
“Language is useful, but we want people to build relations across cultural barriers,” said Dan Henk, the director of the center. “We asked ourselves, ‘Is it possible to give people the skills to go anywhere, quickly see patterns and be able to respond?’ The answer was yes.”
To build what Dr. Henk, an anthropologist, called “cross-cultural competency,” the center has been developing courses and programs intended to help acclimate soldiers to foreign cultures.
As word of the effort spread, the Edison and Burlington college presidents collaborated with Representative H. James Saxton of New Jersey and Col. Rick Martin, the base commander at the time, on the idea of offering cultural classes to the 5,000 airmen and women at McGuire.
“It started off with language — Farsi, conversational Arabic,” said Robert C. Messina Jr., Burlington’s president, speaking of his meetings with Colonel Martin. “Then he said, ‘Could you get someone to talk about the culture of the Middle East? How you don’t go up and hug someone, and no bikini wearing?’ So we did that.”
McGuire’s program was rolled out at the end of last year; other bases around the country are also offering similar classes. At McGuire, about 60 enlisted men and women and two officers are participating.
With classes in Arabic, Islam, comparative religions and East Asian history, among others, McGuire hopes to provide active-duty troops with tools to help them during battle but also beyond, said Linda Richardson, director of education and training at the base.
“It’s been eye-opening,” said Staff Sgt. Adam Crepeau, an aircraft maintenance instructor and a student in the Eastern philosophy course who is pursuing a degree in human resources. “The more knowledge I have about different cultures, the better.”
While learning the difference between Taoism and Confucianism, the subject of a recent evening’s lecture, may seem of little practical use in war, Sergeant Crepeau said he could have used some of what he was learning in the course, which is provided by Burlington, during his four-month tour in Iraq last year.
“We had no briefings except on a need-to-know basis,” Sergeant Crepeau said, referring to cultural briefings. “You might tune in to the radio and hear prayers and wonder, ‘What is that?’ You know they have prayers and customs, but you don’t understand them.”
The classes can count toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree; students receive “wing recognition” — bars on their uniforms — as an added incentive. Officers can also earn a pay raise, as much as $12,000 more for foreign language proficiency, Ms. Richardson said.
Because the students can be deployed at any time, the program is flexible, with shorter semesters and a blend of classroom and online teaching.
Burlington refunds the base if students are deployed midway through the semester. Edison, one of the country’s largest distance-learning institutions, allows students to take their lessons online, overseas. About 8,000 active-duty members in all branches of the United States military take Edison classes, Dr. Pruitt said. About 1,000 are enrolled in cultural classes.
Lt. Jason Anderson, an intelligence officer with the National Guard in Minneapolis, finished his bachelor’s degree while in Iraq by completing Edison’s introduction to Islam online course, which he said helped him understand Iraq.
“We were on a security convoy escorting supplies from Kuwait up to northern Iraq, so our guys were encountering many various areas,” he said. “We had to pay attention to all the cultural differences between Sunnis and Shiites, and what was going on in each territory, and the course helped.”