A squad of Marines is on patrol in Afghanistan. They see several locals talking in a small group, but can’t understand what they are saying. Several blocks down the road the Marines are ambushed. If the Marines had a basic understanding of the native language would this have happened?
At the air station’s new Language Learning Resource Center, which opens this month in building 8456, Marines can learn these essential skills.
The center has classrooms and many educational tools for unit instructors to develop a pre-deployment program. Regional and operational culture and language skills are taught through computer software and international television for Marines to plan and operate in a joint expeditionary environment.
Rosetta Stone Language Learning software, Transparent Language’s CL-150 software, the Tactical Language Training System and materials from the Defense Language Institute are the software available at the LLRC.
International television is offered to help students understand a language by hearing it, and also to help them understand the culture by seeing it.
The systems also provide basic operational culture training. Through this training Marines gain enough cultural knowledgeto not be offensive.
A lot of Marines don’t understand the culture they are deploying to so the software will help them better prepare for the places they are going, explained Rich Gomez, the Operations Training deputy director for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
“We have developed a framework and model for thinking about cultural factors, which can be used in operational planning, education and training,” said Paul Meeder, project officer, Program Managers for Training Systems, Marine Corps Systems Command. “We want our Marines to be culturally effective, not culturally sensitive.”
The LLRC provides system instructors to educate the unit’s instructor how to operate the systems and can aid in system operations if needed.
If a unit instructor already has a syllabus in place, the LLRC can be very useful if it is utilized correctly, explained Sgt. Joshua Malchow, a system instructor at the LLRC. It can be a great tool to aid Marines learning a new language.
Marines or units interested in using the LLRC can contact the Station Training Office at 858-577-1448.
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