Teaching soldiers Arabic: a tactical approach

Dear ARMOR,

The program described in "Theater Immersion: First Army Post-mobilization Training," by LTG Honore and COL Daniel Zajac, is truly impressive. The article, which appeared in the May-June 2005 issue, should save soldiers' lives and contribute significantly to brigade combat effectiveness and achievement of their objectives.

I suggest that a natural enhancement to the training would be a part-time or full-time "spoken tactical Arabic" program for noncommissioned and junior officers who have to deal with Iraqis during daily venues, ranging from conferences to cordon and search operations.

This is not to suggest that you prepare soldiers to discuss Mesopotamian history, but provide them with basic Arabic language skills that will enable them to correctly and politely communicate essential questions, such as "What is your name?" or "What is the problem here?" and understand the answer. Each soldier who receives the training could also be issued a commercially available handheld computer translation device which, combined with the training, would double or triple the soldier's ability to communicate in Arabic. It would also provide the foundation for self-study.

I remember in Vietnam, just speaking a little Vietnamese gave a co van my (American advisor) real advantages: it told counterparts and other Vietnamese that he cared enough to learn their difficult language; it helped keep interpreters honest; and it was a big assist in emergencies when it was necessary to give basic commands such as "Behind that house to the left." Keep up the good work.

TERENCE J. DALY

LTC, U.S. Army, Retired

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