January 1, 2009:
The U.S. Army has come up
with yet another way to obtain more military personnel who can speak foreign
languages. ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) students will receive an
additional $100-250 a month if they study and learn a foreign language the
military needs (mostly Arabic, Chinese and those spoken in Afghanistan). ROTC
students attend hundreds of colleges in the United States, and have most of
their college expenses paid for (including up to $500 a month for living
expenses) if they graduate and successfully complete their ROTC studies (and
then serve for up to four years on active duty.) The army gets about 55 percent
of its officers via ROTC programs. Many students are eager to learn Arabic or
Chinese, as these languages can enhance ones civilian career. More money is
paid for students learning Dari and Pushtun (the languages spoken in
Afghanistan, the poorest country in Asia.)
Although the U.S. military has about 17,000
troops who speak languages like Arabic, Chinese, Farsi (Iran), Urdu (Pakistan),
Hindi, and Korean, there simply aren't enough for operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan. In addition to the new ROTC program, the Department of Defense has established the
Civilian Linguist Reserve. Those who qualify (in terms of skills, and ability
to get a security clearance) are paid a monthly fee to be available, in an
emergency, to come work for the military. The Pentagon found a lot of American
Arabic speakers during the Iraq war, because these civilians went to work for
contractors, or directly for the government, to provide translation services in
the United States and Iraq. Many of these interpreters are already qualified
for the Civilian Linguist Reserve.
Even though it's easy enough to hire locals
as translators, there are shortcomings to that approach. It didn't take U.S.
troops long to realize that the most dangerous intelligence job in Iraq was
that of interpreter. Another way to get Arabic interpreters is to hire them
from other Arab nations. The money is attractive, and many linguists in nearby
Arab nations have learned the Iraqi dialect in order to get these jobs. There
is also a feeling that Iraq will soon present many economic opportunities,
providing less dangerous work for non-Iraqis who understand the Iraqi dialect.
Some Arabic speaking Americans, after one tour in Iraq, have comes back to help
with screening English speaking Arabs applying for interpreters. To attract the
needed number of interpreters, many of the supervisory and screening personnel
are hired via contractors. That way, these people, who are in short supply, can
be offered enough money to induce them to take on this work.
The Department of Defense can get enough
interpreters for Iraq and Afghanistan operations, but only by hiring a lot of
foreigners. This is risky from a security point of view. Terrorist groups, and
hostile governments, can get to these foreign interpreters eventually, and find
out a lot about American intelligence techniques. This is a long term price to
pay, in order to deal with the short term interpreter shortage. Thus having
more American officers who speak these languages is a major advantage on the
battlefield.