GL BEDLIFLC

Serving the military and civilian communities of theDefense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Presidio of Monterey

SPRING 2007

“DLI is the best language institute in the country, perhaps in the world... that’s a fact.” GENERAL WILLIAM S.WALLACE

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GL BE

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Inside

Page 3From the top

Page 4What is Defense Language

Transformation?

Page 5Continuing Education Directorate helps prepare service members for

deployment

Page 6DLIFLC provides support to the

warfighter and linguist

Page 8Rising to the challenge –

women in leadership positions

Page 9International educators get tips

from DLIFLC

Page 10POM Marine nabs military

hero of the year award

Page 11DLIFLC’s “BRAC defender” retires

Page 12Gen. Wallace says cultural language

knowledge essential to the fight

Page 14Living in Korea, one slice at a time

Page 16Iraqi Headstart: savvy new language

program for service members

Page 17Foreign Language Proficiency Pay:

20 years in the making

Page 18DLIFLC celebrates 65th Anniversary

Page 20The Student Learning Center:

Vive la différence!

Page 21The “DLI” Ho Chi Minh Trail:

A path of enlightenment

Page 22DLIFLC & POM bid farewell to union leader Alfie Khalil

Page 23Vance Barracks dedicated at

Presidio of Monterey

Front CoverGen. William S. Wallace, commandinggeneral of the U.S. Army Training andDoctrine Command, shakes the hand

of Staff Sgt. Oliver Kirkham, during ameeting with Foreign Area Officers and other DLIFLC students where they discussed an array of topics,

including language studies, housing,healthcare, etc.

Publication Date: April 2007

Page 12

Gen. William S. Wallace observesan Indonesian Enduring Freedom Task Force class during his visit

to DLIFLC.

Page 9

International educators visitingDLIFLC look at a student’s tablet PC

with curiousity and interest.

The GLOBE is an authorized publication under the provisions of AR 360-1 and the Associated Press Style Guide for members of the Department of Defense.Contents of the GLOBE are not necessarily official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, Department of the Army, orDLIFLC. It is published quarterly by the Strategic Communications Office, DLIFLC, Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006, phone (831) 242-6015 or facsimile(831) 242-7775 (DSN 768). The GLOBE has a circulation of 3,000 and is printed by offset press. The Commandant, Editor-in-Chief and Editor reserve theright to edit materials as necessary to conform to GLOBE editorial policies. All photos, unless otherwise credited, are Department of Defense photos.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Commandant/CommanderCol. Tucker B. Mansager

Command Sergeant MajorCommand Sgt. Major

Nicholas Rozumny

Editor-in-ChiefLt. Col. Deborah Hanagan

EditorNatela Cutter

Staff WriterSSG Brian Lamar

Design & ProductionBert Ihlenfeld

Photo CreditsNatela Cutter & SSG Brian Lamar

Page 5

Iraqi instructor Ibrahim Marogy works with students in the listening lab

at Fort Riley, Kansas. Service members learn basic Iraqi phrases andcultural awareness before deploying

to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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From the top...By Col. Tucker B. Mansager

Col. Tucker B. Mansager DLIFLC & POM Commander

Most recently, we completed a computer-

interactive tool for learning Iraqi that can

be run on a laptop so service members can

study the language astheir schedule allows;

it is called Iraqi Headstart.

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s I read through the draft of this Globe, it truly brought home to mewhat a busy and diverse organization the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center is, and what an essential role we play in the defense of our nation.

This is not the DLIFLC of 20 or even 10 years ago. We are heavilyinvolved in preparing our nation’s combat forces for deployment in harm’sway, be that in Iraq, Afghanistan or any of the other myriad of places our military is deployed today. Our Directorate of Continuing Education, home toresident intermediate and advanced language courses, as well as video tele-training, is on the forefront of preparing military transition teams for theirchallenging duties in Iraq and Afghanistan by providing them survival Iraqiand Dari language skills at Fort Riley, Kansas. For those without the time forformal language instruction, or those en route to another global hotspot, wedevelop and distribute language survival materials with phrases and culturalpoints of interest to help them accomplish their mission. Most recently, wecompleted a computer-interactive tool for learning Iraqi that can be run on alaptop so service members can study the language as their schedule allows;this is Iraqi Headstart.

At the same time, we continue to improve on how we teach our languageprofessionals here at the Presidio of Monterey. Isolation immersions provide agreat opportunity to practice the target language in a simulated foreign envi-ronment all day for several days. Our Student Learning Center not only preparesstudents to succeed in language study, but provides them with the tools to continue their study throughout their careers as they strive for the 3/3/3 goal.

And we still take time to host senior visitors and give them a taste of whatDLIFLC is doing for the war effort, as well as pause to remember those who have left us, either by retirement or death. We are a great organizationbecause we are composed of great, dedicated people, and it is proper that wepause to thank and recognize people for their great work and years of service.

We are busy, and we will stay busy, because what we are doing is importantand contributes to the security of our great country. Keep up the outstandingeffort, strive to be innovative in whatever your job may be, and never give lessthan your absolute best. Many, many people are counting on you, and livesdepend on what we do here.

One Team – One Fight! Sincerely,

Tucker B. MansagerColonel, U.S. ArmyCommandant

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What is Defense LanguageTransformation?By Natela CutterStrategic Communications

Many of you know that The Defense LanguageInstitute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) had itsinception during WWII, and is striving tomeet the demand for foreign language intoday’s ever challenging world. However, notmany people are aware that the Department’sDefense Language Transformation Roadmap,a.k.a. “the Roadmap,” has a lot of influenceover DLIFLC.

At DLIFLC the Roadmap has put the tra-ditionally “sleepy” little seaside school onthe United States map, with big arrowspointing toward Monterey, Calif. DLIFLCwent from an Institute with a budget of$77M in fiscal year 2001 to $203M in 2007,with a twofold increase in staff, faculty andstudent-load.

The Under Secretary of Defense forPersonnel and Readiness, Dr. David S. Chu,leading the effort in Washington D.C., advisespolicy on the state of military readiness,career development, pay and benefits for 1.4million active duty military personnel, 1.3

million Guard andReserve personnel and 680,000Department of Defense (DoD)civilians, and is responsible foroverseeing the state of militaryreadiness. He was asked by theDeputy Secretary of Defense toappoint a DoD Senior LanguageAuthority who would be in chargeof overlooking the transformation

of the Defense Language Program.That person today is Mrs. Gail McGinn, deputy under-

secretary of defense for plans, in the Office of the DeputyUndersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.She advises Chu on language preparedness and futurelanguage requirements of our defense forces. Because ofthis, the Roadmap falls into her many responsibilities.

As the largest foreign language school within DoD andthe country, the Roadmap reiterates that DLIFLC is thenation’s primary foreign language provider.

“DLI is the chief language training institution thatsupports the requirements, not only for training, but pre-deployment training, and testing. It is really the core of

the (Defense) Language Program,” said McGinn, DoD’sSenior Language Authority.

“Within the big picture – the Defense LanguageProgram – DLI is the language school that supports it, sowe look to DLI to do the Initial Entry Training, sustain-ment of language and to help us with pre-deployment train-ing, as well as help us with other kinds of things which areimportant to moving forward with the Defense Language

(Transformation) Roadmap,” said McGinn,during one of her visits to Monterey.

The Roadmap calls for some importantchanges that will ensure that foreign languagetraining will stay at the forefront of militaryreadiness planning in the future. For example,the creation of positions for Senior LanguageAuthorities (SLAs) within the MilitaryDepartments, the Joint Staff, the CombatantCommands, the Defense Agencies, and DefenseField Activities was required. Each SLA isresponsible for assessing foreign language needs and capabilities in their organization.

A Defense Language Steering Committeewas established, composed of SLAs from theabove-mentioned agencies, to provide seniorlevel guidance in the transformation effort andfuture development of DoD’s foreign languagecapabilities. In addition, the document calls forscreening, or assessment, of all military andcivilian DoD personnel for language skills.

Another significant Roadmap directivewas the publishing of an annual “Strategic LanguageList,” which “will outline prioritized languages for whichDoD has current and projected requirements and forwhich training and testing will be provided, incentivesapplied, and other resources allocated.”

The incentive referred to is the Foreign LanguageProficiency Pay (FLPP), whereby service membersreceive a bonus for maintaining proficiency in strategical-ly important languages. In order for qualified members toreceive proficiency pay, they must certify through theDefense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) each year.

“The Roadmap is really a set of … intersecting parts.We had to have the Strategic Language List to (teach) …we have to have the self-assessment in order to know howto apply the FLPP, we have to have the CombatantCommands identify requirements to roll them into a lan-guage readiness index so that we can tell the Department,as a whole, how ready we are in terms of foreign language.We have to have the DLPT5 to test people’s proficiency –so it is really a set of intersecting parts, all of which leadto ultimate goals,” explained McGinn.

Though DLIFLC plays a major role in implementing

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In terms ofadvancing the

Roadmap, DLI’srole is clear;it is really an

essential player.

GAIL MCGINN

Dr. David S. Chu

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aspects of the Roadmap, the plan contains many more“intersecting parts” than mentioned in this article. Forexample, the Roadmap calls for the implementation of a National Flagship Language Initiative that providesprograms designed to “produce university students withadvanced competency in languages critical to the nation’ssecurity.” In essence, it is designed to assist graduate-level and undergraduate students to achieve a high-levelof language proficiency.

The overall intent of the Defense LanguageTransformation Roadmap is to ensure that our serviceshave foreign language capability and regional expertise tomeet the demands of the Global War on Terror. However,the Roadmap has a widespread effect by promoting thelearning of foreign languages and the understanding ofother cultures throughout the United States. The time hascome to bring this message into all aspects of our societyand encourage children and students of all ages to learnforeign languages to enhance their understanding of others, and continue the success of our country. ◆

good introduction and a way to get your feet wet.” DLIFLC sends up to six instructors at a time to Fort

Riley, who are a part of the Continuing EducationDirectorate (CED), which maintains Mobile TrainingTeams (MTT) in various languages. The MTTs are dis-patched to conduct sustainment, refresher and culturalawareness courses throughout the nation. In addition, aMilitary Language Instructor, who normally speaks one ofthe languages being taught, acts as a program manager,augmenting the teaching teams.

At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas at the U.S. ArmyCommand and General Staff College (CGSC), DLIFLCinstructors are conducting language familiarization coursesin Iraqi and Pashto.

“We are generally scheduled to be there (FortLeavenworth) twice a year, but this year it will be fourtimes,” said CED Dean for Field Support and SpecialPrograms, Steve Collins. “Our next class will start up inMay with 177 students in Iraqi and Pashto, supported byfour Iraqi and two Pashto instructors,” explained Collins.

“The Army now understands how important culture andlanguage familiarization are. It is crucial to learn a bit of thelanguage because it maintains the authority of the leader –this is the motivation behind this idea,” said MatthewBroaddus, assistant professor of Military Leadership in theDepartment of Command Leadership at CGSC.

The Arabic/Iraqi or Afghan/Pashto courses at FortLeavenworth are broken down into two different types.There is a 48-hour and a 24-hour course conducted in two-hour blocks at a time. These courses are offered to officerswho are expected to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan within12 to 18 months.

“Most officers receive 48 hours of DLI instruction.They study the functional language over six weeks, whichis part of the curriculum. The DLI component involves theinstructors, while Rosetta Stone materials are used as avocabulary builder,” said Broaddus. CGSC students who donot expect to be deployed in the immediate future are urgedto work on their own by using Rosetta Stone materialsavailable through Army Knowledge Online.

Broaddus said that most students were very enthusiasticabout their studies and wanted to learn more. “Some 95 per-cent say that they plan to continue studying the languagebecause they feel it is important,” he said. ◆

Continuing Education Directoratehelps prepare service members fordeployment By Natela CutterStrategic Communications

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center(DLIFLC) provides military transition teams with survivalIraqi and Persian-Afghan instruction at Fort Riley, Kansas,to help prepare service members for their challenging dutiesas embedded advisors to the Iraqi and Afghan militaries.

“This program is a good start. I am more culturallyaware and know that I should put my hand over my heartwhen I say Salem Alekum,” said Maj. Mark Fisher, sittingin a listening lab, working through a Tactical Iraqi programthat teaches simple phrases and gives students culturalawareness tips.

The DLIFLC program at Fort Riley includes 30 hours ofinstruction in the classroom with teachers, and 12 hours ofself paced work in the listening labs, assisted by instruc-tors. The course is given as a part of their 60-day trainingperiod when service members are put into 10 to 15-mangroups, with whom they will be assigned when deployedand integrated into the Iraqi or Afghan battalions.

“Talking with the instructor is better than software. Weneed to learn the culture,” said Maj. Ari Claiborne. “It is a

Iraqi instructor IbrahimMarogy works with studentsin the listening lab at FortRiley, Kansas helping themwork through the programand practice pronunciation.

teaching languages such as Urdu, Kurdish, Uzbek or Hindi,I would have told them they were crazy,” said Hanagan. Buttoday, a Strategic Language List is issued each year byDoD, a Language Transformation Road Map has beenimplemented and structural changes were made to createSenior Language Authority positions within all theServices, Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, and DefenseAgencies to analyze and guide the military’s linguisticneeds.

Only months after the 9/11 tragedy, DLIFLC set up a task force to build courses and train linguists in the majorlanguages of Afghanistan, (Dari and Pashto), as well asKurdish, Uzbek and Georgian. The Operation EnduringFreedom Task Force has since transformed into theEmerging Languages Task Force (ELTF), where languagesof strategic importance, such as Hindi, Urdu, Kurdish, andIndonesian are taught.

“We no longer wait for a region to fall into crisis,” saidCapt. Angi Carsten, Associate Dean of ELTF. “We need to be proactive, not reactive. We need to anticipate whatlanguages will be needed in the future and start buildingcourse materials now. As soon as a language programmatures in our department, meaning that the course hasbeen built, we move it out to one of the eight schools andfocus on something new. Dari and Pashto are examples ofmaturing programs,” she said.

On the DoD level, the need to increase military languagetraining called for an infusion of money into the Institute tobe used on technology, curriculum development, and hiringnew staff, as well as ramping up the production of languagesurvival, and cultural familiarization materials, needed fordeploying service members.

“We have basically doubled the size of our faculty, staffand student load, while our budget has tripled,” said WarrenHoy, Chief of Mission Support for the Office of the Deputy

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DLIFLC provides support to thewarfighter and linguistBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, theDepartment of Defense took a closer look at the linguisticand cultural preparedness of our nation’s military andmore precisely, at the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center, the government’s premiere provider offoreign language training.

A landmark institution since 1941 when Japanese-American Soldiers were first trained to become translatorsand interpreters in WWII, DLIFLC has transformed severaltimes and today teaches 24 languages with courses lastingfrom 26 to 64 weeks, depending on the difficulty of the language.

“Our military missions are so different today,” saidDLIFLC Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Deborah Hanagan, speakingabout the Cold War era, when Russian and other EastEuropean languages were the largest programs at DLIFLC. “Itis no longer the case where we have to defend Germany frominvading Russians coming across the Fulda Gap. Now wehave to interact with the populations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Basic language programs at DLIFLC fluctuate withchanging international situations and the needs of DoD. Inthe post 9/11 era, the largest program is no longer Russian,but Arabic. What has really changed at the DoD level, andthus the Institute itself, is the realization that our armedforces need to be ready at any given time with linguistcapability in many less commonly taught languages.

“If someone had told me six years ago that we would be

Hindi instructor Mehrotra Madhumita teaches DLIFLC students a newlesson on transportation at the Emerging Languages Task Force.

Students of Arabic participate in a Joint Language Training Exercise at Ft. Ord’s “Impossible City” where they must use the target language tocommunicate and resolve problems on the spot.

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Chief of Staff for Operations. DLIFLC’s budget was $77 Min 2001, while fiscal year 2006’s budget was $197 M.

DLIFLC today has over 1,500 professional languageinstructors and is expecting to hire another several hundredteachers in 2007. The student load has grown since 2001and is now over 3,500 at any given time. Linguists comefrom all four branches of the military, the U.S. Coast Guardand other DoD agencies. The Institute graduates more than2,000 students per year and has degree granting authoritywhereby qualified students can receive an Associate ofArts Degree in Foreign Language.

“Technology plays a big role in the classroom becausethe younger generations are used to having access to infor-mation at the tip of their fingers. We now have interactivewhite boards in every classroom, issue MP3 players oriPods to students and are in the process of providing themtablet PCs,” said Associate Dean of one of DLIFLC’sMiddle East Schools, Maj. John Hoffmenschen.

But DLIFLC’s work does not stop with the BasicCourse. The Institute also teaches intermediate, advancedand refresher courses to returning students at theDirectorate of Continuing Education. When units are notable to send linguists back to DLIFLC, teachers are sent tothem, via Mobile Training Teams. These teams are sent tooutlying regions to teach courses for weeks at a time.Distance learning has also become a popular means ofkeeping linguists’ language skills current. The Instituteprovides Video Tele-Training courses, whereby teachers in Monterey can converse with students located around the world. In addition, DLIFLC maintains 12 permanentLanguage Training Detachments located throughout thecontinental United States and Hawaii.

Aside from producing basic language course materials,the Institute’s Curriculum Development Directorate has

been turning out Language Survival Kits (LSK) since thecrises in Somalia and Haiti in the early 1990’s. The LSKs arebuilt for the non-linguist and in 2006, more than 200,000were sent to deploying service members. The LSKs areavailable in over 50 languages and consist of pocket-sizebooklets with a CD. They cover emergency survival phrasesand most languages have additional modules ranging in top-ics from search and rescue to medical terminology to civilaffairs. Products can be ordered by going to www.dliflc.edu

“It is absolutely vital that every Soldier know a little bit

Students use iPods for their listening exercises and to record authenticmaterials in the target language such as a radio program or ethnic music.

about the culture, the do’s and don’ts and know somewords and phrases just to get by,” said the Chief MilitaryLanguage Instructor (MLI) of one of the Middle Eastschools, who asked to remain anonymous. MLIs are Non-Commissioned and Petty Officers who have gone through the basic course, speak the target language fluently, haveserved a tour using their language, and have returned toteach at DLIFLC. “I did a lot of translation, for command-ers, doctors, locals, etc., and knowing the culture was veryhelpful, especially when there were misunderstandings,”she said about her tour in Iraq and experience inAfghanistan.

The newest product to hit the streets this spring will bethe Iraqi Headstart program. Using computer animationand cutting-edge technology, this product consists of a 10-lesson course that teaches survival phrases in the Iraqidialect. The program is a more powerful teaching toolthanks to the student’s ability to work on interactive exercis-es, hear and repeat phrases, and test his/her knowledge atthe end of the 10-lesson program.

In addition to LSKs and Iraqi Headstart, there are otheruseful web-based materials available to linguists and the general public, located at http://www.LingNet.orgInformation on the site includes area studies called“Countries in Perspective,” providing information on history,geography and socio-political settings of nations. There are online language courses available and over 100,000reading and listening lessons in a dozen languages underthe Global Language Online Support System.

Why put so much emphasis on language learning andculture? “It is all about winning the hearts and minds of thecitizens (Iraqi and Afghani, etc.)... because we don’t wantthem to harbor terrorists within their ranks. It is a wholenew way of using our military force,” said Hanagan. ◆

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Rising to the challenge –women in leadership positionsBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

When a five foot one inch woman walked into a largeevents hall at the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center (DLIFLC), no one really noticed her,save for the fact that she sat in the front row, where theschool’s leadership normally sits.

Halfway through the Women’s History Month celebra-tion on March 29, DLIFLC Commandant Col. TuckerMansager, introduced the little, unassuming woman – andthe show began!

“When I was in the military,” she said, as a couple hun-dred students looked at her doubtfully… “(for women)there was no accessions process to become an officer, you

had to be directly commissioned. Ihad the dubious distinction of stand-ing in front of the board in maternityclothes,” said Dr. Betty Lou Leaver,associate provost of the ContinuingEducation Directorate.

What Leaver was about to describewas the beginning of an amazing

career that would break down barriers for women not onlyin the U.S. military and NASA, but also in nations all overthe world where she worked and built language programs.The crux of her story? Though life may appear difficult, asif sailing through uncharted waters, the main thing toremember is to remain flexible, get your education, anduse the opportunities presented to you well.

Today, women make up nearly one-sixth of the activeduty force and almost two-fifths of the Department ofDefense civilian employee population. DLIFLC is noexception to this rule. Women compose roughly half of allfaculty and staff positions at the Institute, many of whichoccupy important leadership positions for the first time.

To illustrate her interesting career in leadership positions,Leaver offered a series of anecdotes which made one real-ize that having a good sense of humor is also an essentialpart of breaking down barriers, and getting the job done.

Leaver, pregnant, found herself standing in front of anall male officer interview board, where she was ques-tioned not about leadership questions, but about familyquestions. Having found out that she had a husband, onedaughter, and was about to have another child, the officerin charge finally asked: “So, what condition will you bein if your husband dies?”

“Well, I know I will be in better shape if my husbanddies than you will be if your wife dies!” Leaver said, as

the room roared with laughter. “But I did get commissioned, and then I was astonished

again because I got this little paper that said ‘Congress hasappointed you an officer and gentleman’ in the U.S. Army– oh my goodness! I didn’t know that Congress had allthose powers,” Leaver exclaimed, the room once againerupting in laughter.

Though truly an amazing woman, having earned aPh.D. from the Pushkin Institute in Moscow, Russia, pub-lished over 18 books and countless articles in the field offoreign language teaching, and worked in over 20 coun-tries, DLIFLC is an institute rife with well-educatedwomen in leadership positions.

Take for example Col. Mansager’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Deborah Hanagan, the first female to occupy this position at DLIFLC. She applied to West Pointbecause it was free and with fourother siblings, her parents could notafford to send her to college. “I neverintended to stay in the militarybeyond the five years I owed themfor college,” Hanagan said.

Throughout Hanagan’s career newand interesting opportunities wererepeatedly offered to her which convinced her to continueto serve. She was commissioned as a Military Intelligenceofficer in 1987 which took her to Germany to serve in a tac-tical intelligence brigade. Her dream of studying Frenchmaterialized in 1992 when she was awarded an OlmstedScholarship, which sends officers abroad to obtain aMasters degree. She was sent to DLIFLC to study French,and then studied at the Political Science Institute, Aix-en-Provence 1993 to 1995, receiving the equivalent of aMaster of Arts (MA) in French Military History.

“After France I was sent back to DLI to be a companycommander,” she said. By the time Hanagan left Montereyfor a second time, she had completed her training tobecome a Foreign Area Officer by obtaining an MA degreein International Policy Studies (Europe) at the MontereyInstitute of International Studies.

“The key is to take the opportunities given to you, runwith them and don’t look back. Life is a series of oppor-tunities – I never thought that I would ever have theopportunity to go to Europe, let alone live there for 10

years,” she said, adding that she mayend up in Europe again because hertime in Monterey is nearing an end,while assignments for EuropeanForeign Area Officers are mainly inthat part of the world.

Air Force Col. Marilyn Rogers atDLIFLC heads the 311th Air Force

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Training Squadron and takes care of the well being ofnearly 2,000 Air Force students.

Her decision to join the military came as a direct resultof her experiences while working on the police force inPanama City, Florida, where there were few female offi-cers at the time. One night she was working in an areawhich was not her beat.

“A Sheriff's Deputy approached my vehicle at about 2a.m. just to pass the time. When he realized it wasn’t hisnormal buddy in the city police vehicle... he couldn’tthink of anything to talk about and asked me (literally),“So, who’s your daddy?” said Rogers.

The implication was that unless she was “connected”to someone in the town through family, she could not pos-sibly be a police officer.

“It was at that point that I knew the best place for awoman to excel on equal footing with a man – was in themilitary,” she said.

“Excel academically in the field that you chose andexpect to be taken seriously for your credentials,” saysRogers, adding that the most important thing is to “alwaysexplore and keep your doors open. You won’t have justone career, but a series.”

Rogers began her career as a DLIFLC Russian Areaspecialist in 1990-91. She studied National SecurityAffairs, Soviet and East European Studies at the NavalPostgraduate School. Throughout her career she was ableto use her language in Russia, and was deployed toBosnia twice, where she used Russian to communicatewith Russian United Nations forces.

“The key is to be able to plan to be flexible, so you canreact to change. Maybe you can’t plan what will happen,but if you learn how to deal with it and be positive aboutchange, you will succeed,” Rogers recommends to youngwomen.

Luba Grant, dean of Asian School I, remembers the time when there were no deansat DLIFLC, but group chiefs andthen school directors. She came toMonterey in the mid 1970s, becom-ing a supervisor in a few short years,and later, one of the Institute’s firstdeans. �

“Colleagues told me that I was tooyoung to be a supervisor,” said Grant, but added she didnot feel the comment was gender-based, though fewfemale supervisors were around at the time. “I alwaysenjoyed all the positions I held and never thought of‘climbing the ladder,’ but how I can contribute to DLI. Itis important to work as a team, whether male or femalebecause it is not about one individual, but about what isgood for the organization and its people.” ◆

International educators get tipsfrom DLIFLCBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

A group of international educators from 21 different coun-tries visited the Defense Language Institute Foreign Center(DLIFLC) March 26, as a part of the International VisitorLeadership Program run by the U.S. Department of State.

“I am impressed by the strength of the technology youhave here, and together with the training you have for yourteachers, I am surprised how structured it is and good forthe teachers,” said Cezar Azcarate Calle, academic directorof the Piuria Binational Center in Peru.

The goal of the visit, organized by the Institute ofInternational Education, was to have the visitors examinethe host organization’s teaching methodology, give anopportunity to primarily English language teachers tomeet with professional colleagues, and to discuss currenttrends and developments in the field, covering topicsfrom distance learning to multimedia classrooms.

“We are lucky in Bahrain,” said Hana Mohamed ZaidAlkhathlan, “Because it is a small country with only 33secondary schools and we can afford technology. We haveSmart Boards, computers… students go to the listeninglabs, as well as to an E-lesson every week in both Englishand Arabic.”

Alkhathlan was especially impressed with the multitudeof simultaneous tasks DLIFLC teachers give students.

“The students rearranged five sentences to make a storyand it was not an easy task! They ordered the sentencesand comprehended the story. Afterwards they answeredquestions too, and I told them they are doing a good job,”she said with a big smile. ◆

International educators peer over a DLIFLC student’s shoulder to get abetter view of the tablet PC which is issued in certain language pro-grams. The tablet PC allows students to write in non-Latin alphabetssuch as Arabic, Korean or Chinese.

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POM Marine nabs military hero of the year awardBy Ann JohnsonPresidio of Monterey Public Affairs

A student assigned to the Marine Corps Detachment atthe Presidio of Monterey was named the 2007 Military Heroof the Year by the Monterey-San Benito county chapter ofthe American Red Cross for his extraordinary courage inrescuing a 25-year-old woman and her 4-year-old nephewfrom an undertow on Monastery Beach near Point Lobos.

Twenty-two year old Lance Cpl. Justin Wallace was pre-sented with the award at the 2007 Heroes Breakfast at theEmbassy Suites Hotel in Seaside on March 28. Nine other“ordinary people, extraordinary heroes” were also honoredby the Red Cross for their lifesaving exploits at the 2007Heroes Breakfast.

Wallace was nominated for the prestigious award byCalifornia Department of Parks and Recreation/PointLobos State Reserve Lifeguard Kevin Brady who said, “He(Wallace) risked his own life to save two lives. He reactedquickly and the situation turned out on a happy note, ratherthan a sad one.”

Wallace, in fact, saved three lives, according to LovinaRoundy, the 25-year-old near drowning victim the Marinerescued that summer day in June 2006.

“I was two months pregnant at the time,” Roundy said,adding that she and her spouse had not yet told their familiesof her pregnancy. “They found out at the hospital.” Roundywas hospitalized overnight for hypothermia suffered as aresult of her attempted rescue efforts.

“He (Wallace) risked his life to save ours,” Roundy said,adding she was extremely cold and completely disorientedwhen she heard someone telling her to kick, and rememberedbeing dragged to her car by Wallace and another individual.The other person was Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy York.

Wallace said he and York were walking nearby whenthey heard “horrific” screams coming from “our left sidewhile we were looking at the water.”

At that point, Wallace said he knew he was going to haveto go in so he threw his cell phone, wallet and keys downand started running in the direction of the screams. York,who was still suffering the physical affects of a long illnessand severe weight loss, did not have the physical strengthto make the attempt, Wallace said.

“I spotted the boy and the woman in the water,” he said.“I paused to assess the situation. The family members werehysterical and none of them were able to get to the boy andhis aunt, so I knew I had to go in. I got a running start andjumped into the wild water, swam out and reached the boyfirst even though the woman was closer.”

Wallace said he was later told that 4-year–old Camdenthought he was being rescued by a dolphin. “I think it wasbecause I was holding him up above the water with my arm.”

After rescuing Camden, Wallace said he was so cold hecould barely breathe, but knew he had to go back into theviolent water to save the woman despite the fear he himselfwas feeling at the time.

“I was scared I was going to drown, and so cold and so tired,but it was one of those moments when you know you have tokeep pushing.... while in the water, I could see my life flash-ing by... I knew I was riding a thin line, but I kept pushing.”

“Real courage is not the absence of fear,” Marine Maj.Gilbert Barrett said. “It’s the ability to take action in theface of fear.”

Barrett, the Commanding Officer of the MarineDetachment at the Presidio of Monterey, who nominatedWallace for the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, said thatWallace’s actions reflect not only the physical endurance,but the moral fortitude Marines are trained to exhibit.

What makes this ordinary person an even more extraor-dinary hero for his courage in the face of danger is his ownnear-drowning experience while a young man growing upin Manassas, Va.

At 16 years of age, Wallace and two friends jumped fully-clothed from a 60-foot high cliff into a rock quarry; onefriend drowned, and Wallace came close to drowning.

“I had all of my clothes on, including my shoes, and Ifelt myself being dragged under. My friend John tried tohelp our friend Kevin, and it looked like he would be okay, but he was dragged under and drowned.”

While many lessons were learned from that tragedy, theone that stands out for Wallace is that you do not swim fully-clothed. Clothing and shoes act as anchors in the water.

Wallace credits God, his Marine training and strongswimming skills for the successful rescue. ◆

Lance Cpl. Justin Wallace receives recognition from the Monterey-SanBenito Counties chapter of the American Red Cross and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal from his Commanding Officer,Marine Corps Detachment Major Tony Barrett, for saving the lives of two people from the treacherous waters of Point Lobos.

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DLIFLC’s “BRAC defender” retiresBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

Two years ago the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center (DLIFLC) was unexpectedly put on theBase Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list again. The movesent DLIFLC leadership into a tail-spin.

“I remember being recalled from a trip to Ft. Jackson…to come back and prepare for the BRAC Commission visit,”said DLIFLC Assistant Commandant Col. Daniel Scott.What saved the day and turned the tide for DLIFLC, accord-ing to Scott, was a brief given in the Emerging LanguagesTask Force (ELTF) department, by Capt. Angi Carsten.

“The ELTF visit was the first we had scheduled for theCommission and Angi was so effective that it changed theirminds. In fact, they were so impressed that they did not stoptalking about it, even after they moved on to other briefings,”said Scott.

On April 5, 2007, DLIFLC held a retirement ceremonyfor Carsten, marking the end of her 20-year career in the AirForce, nearly four of which were spent at DLIFLC.

In a nutshell, as associate dean of ELTF, Carsten led theadministration of eight languages and was project managerfor the Office of the Department of Defense StrategicLanguage Surge Capabilities program. She was responsiblefor building the foundation for the new language acquisitionsprograms for emerging, low-density, high-demand languagescritical to the Global War on Terror. Additionally, she authoredthe Concept of Operations which created the Department ofDefense (DoD) framework to build DLIFLC’s capabilities in21 additional languages that were incorporated into DoD’sStrategic Language List, a vital part of the Defense LanguageTransformation Roadmap.

“As associate dean of ELTF, Capt. Carsten worked tirelessly to guarantee that DLI developed courses forthose GWOT-critical, low-density, high-demand languagesand dialects, not-already taught at DLI,” said DefenseIntelligence Senior Executive Service-5, Army IntelligenceLiaison to the US Congress, Bob Winchester, who was guest speaker at the ceremony.

“Angi has had a huge impact on the United StatesCongress,” said Winchester, explaining that Carsten con-ducted ELTF briefings on numerous occasions to membersof Congress, using the latest interactive whiteboard technol-ogy as a tool to deliver a message that “Congressmen tookback to D.C.” Carsten also briefed generals, admirals, mem-bers of the House Defense Appropriations Committee,House Armed Services Committee, House Permanent SelectCommittee for Intelligence, and traveled to WashingtonD.C. to deliver briefings to congressional staffers.

Carsten’s career began in 1987 at Airman Basic Training,after which she was selected for Officer Training School onactive duty and was commissioned as an officer in 1999. Duringthis time she was able to earn an Associate in Applied SciencesDegree in Telecommunications Management, a Bachelor ofScience in Human Resources, and is currently finishing up aMasters of Business Administration in Marketing.

What does Carsten have to say about all this? “I’m glad Icould affect an important global mission. I’ve come a longway.” she said. Carsten now plans to work in Public Relationsand spend more time with her 15-year-old son, Dominic.

Carsten received a Certificate of Appreciation fromPresident George W. Bush, a Joint Service CommendationMedal, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and an entry intothe congressional record marking her successful Air Forcecareer and significant contributions to DLIFLC, as well as DoD.

The ceremony was attended by nearly 100 DLIFLC military, staff and faculty, as well as Carsten’s parents, Dianeand Rich Furmaniuk of Pensacola, Florida. ◆

Capt. Angi Carsten gives an Enduring Freedom Task Force brief to former Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, using state-of-the-artinteractive whiteboard technology.

Capt. Angi Carsten receives a gift from Bob Winchester, DefenseIntelligence Senior Executive Service-5, Army Intelligence Liaison to theUS Congress, and guest speaker at Carsten’s retirement ceremony.

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Gen. Wallace says cultural languageknowledge essential to the fightBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

Commanding general of the U.S. Army Training andDoctrine Command, Gen. William S. Wallace believes thattechnology will never replace human interaction and thatunderstanding a culture can be as important as learning aforeign language.

“Just giving everybody an iPod and locking them(Soldiers) in a room for six months or a year… may havethem coming out speaking all kinds of neat stuff, but theirability to actually operate in the battlefield is diminished,”said Wallace, “because they haven’t actually had that humaninteraction that the faculty give them (DLI students), andmore importantly, (expose them to) the cultural aspect.”

Wallace visited the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center March 23 where he toured several schools,had an opportunity to observe classes, and viewed state-of-the-art technology used as sophisticated teaching tools andmachine language translation devices.

“I believe that the culture one learns is as important as

the language itself,” he said, explaining that he attended two six-week preparatory courses for Vietnamese beforedeploying to Vietnam in the early 1970s. Wallace said themost important lesson he learned at the time was the abilityto interact and communicate with locals, even with limitedlinguistic abilities.

“People around the world, regardless of culture, appreci-ate that you can speak their language because they don’texpect Americans to speak a foreign language,” he said.

As head of TRADOC, the organization in charge ofArmy training, Wallace expressed great interest in the vari-ety of programs demonstrated to him in briefings. The gen-eral was particularly interested in the voice recognition abil-ity of both the Institute’s new Iraqi Headstart program andthe machine language translation devices.

“We had nothing like I saw today being used, such asiPods or laptops. The ability to see your voice patterns andcompare it to that of a native speaker’s is all important forlearning,” he said, expressing his amazement at technologicaladvancements since he had been a student.

But Wallace stressed that technology, though useful as alearning tool and for rapid access to information, cannotreplace human interaction and communication, even if aperson does not speak a foreign language well.

Gen. William Wallace, aided by Col. Tucker Mansager,examines one of DLIFLC’s latest products called IraqiHeadstart. The program has voice recognition featureswhich allows the student to record and match his/hervoice with that of the native speaker.

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Since 9/11, the military has been seeking hand-heldtranslation devices that will allow non-linguists in the field to communicate with local populations. Though the devices can translate simple sentences which are programmed, they cannot translate random non-militaryphrases. “Machines,” he said, “may be able to say thewords, but they don’t say the words in context,” and lackthe touch of human interaction, a smile on a service member’s face, or firm handshake.

When asked what he thought of DLIFLC’s efforts to trainas many linguists as possible, as rapidly as possible, Wallacewas of the opinion that more is not necessarily better.

“I would like the faculty to really appreciate that it is notthe volume of people that move through the school, but thefact that one of those people could have a great impact onworld events. The one translator that provides the rightinformation to the commander to make the right decisionat the right time in the right place, will create a strategicadvantage that we need... this is a big deal.”

Having been the Army’s V Corps Commander leadingthe Operation Iraqi Freedom attack on Baghdad, Wallacehas had an opportunity to see first hand what an impact

cultural understanding and the knowledge of language, orlack thereof, can have in war-time.

Asked if he could have any wish, Wallace took a deepbreath and sighed.

“If I had a blank piece of paper, I would like every officerwho gets commissioned into the United States Army to beable to speak a language with some degree of proficiency.”

He noted that it would be unrealistic to demand a highlevel of proficiency but that “Soldiers who know how togesture, who understand culture, can break down commu-nications barriers,” and ultimately save their own lives andthe lives of others. ◆

DLIFLC Director of LanguageTechnology Mike Emonts andLanguage Technology Specialistof Middle East School II WilliamAlwahab, demonstrate a two-wayIraqi Arabic speech-to-speechtranslation device to Gen.William Wallace. DLIFLC evalu-ates the capabilities of machinetranslation devices for theDepartment of Defense.

DLI is the best language institute in the country,perhaps in the world... that’s a fact. There aremore languages taught and greater numbers ofgraduates here at DLI than in any single universityin the country. It is done in the context of themilitary environment which is, of course, impor-tant to the services. GEN. WILLIAM S. WALLACE

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Living in Korea, one slice at a timeBy John MillerAcademic Specialist, Asian III

Imagine enjoying a morning in the duty-free section ofthe Incheon International Airport in South Korea withabout $100 in Korean cash and a credit card-courtesy ofthe United States government-to spend on gifts. In theafternoon, you interview prospective host families for astudy-abroad experience in the city of your choice.

Fast forward four months: You are back in Korea as anaid worker for the typhoon-ravaged peninsula. During theday you assist victims of Typhoon Mamie and fight backthe tears as you listen to their stories. At night you playKorean games, learn how to cook traditional holiday dishes,watch a Korean movie, and sleep in comfortable billetingdesigned just for you.

Two and a half months later, Korea beckons once more.This time you are in-country for three days and two nightsof nearly non-stop activity, culminating in a contest for acash prize worth nearly $11,000 (10 million Korean won).Your mission? Create a marketing campaign to attractinvestment and tourism to one of three Korean cities. Youand your teammates work feverishly and in a matter of hours…Voila! You present your infomercial, slogan, promotional song, and brochure to judges at a trade fair inthe heart of Seoul.

There is one small catch. During each visit you mustpledge to speak only in Korean. Sounds too good to betrue? Maybe, but it is precisely what is happening thesedays with Korean Basic Program students in Asian SchoolIII. Although the students during these events, known as“language immersions,” do not actually set foot on Koreansoil, from an experiential perspective they are actually inKorea.

Asian School III, like most other schools at DLIFLC,conducts one, two, and three-day language immersions.Two and three-day events are held at the IsolationImmersion Facility located at the Ord MilitaryCommunity (OMC). The so-called Iso-immersion build-ing is an ideal facility for such exercises, with a large openspace in its center, surrounded by small satellite rooms forsmall group work, allowing for seamless movementbetween activities. Movable partitions allow teachers tocreate a variety of venues, transforming the look of thespace quickly. Activities move from board-room, to tradefair, to an open market, at lightening speed.

Drawing inspiration from the immersion designs ofother schools and from half-day immersions performed inour own departments, the program has even added some

new ideas. The marketing campaign and trade fair is just one item designed to further advance the immersionexperience at DLIFLC. Since March 2006, the KoreanImmersion Program has held 27 immersions and hasserved approximately 750 students.

Immersions, Asian III-style, have become a full teameffort. The dean of the school comes to the immersion siteto kick off each event and visits periodically throughout.Chairs have made the immersion site their duty station for the duration, while most are able to linger on after sundown for evening activities. Meanwhile, the immersioncoordinator and academic specialist are at the site from set-up to tear-down while Military Language Instructors(MLIs), when needed, have stayed overnight with students.

Airman 1st Class Robert Hanley proudly shows off the new suit and tiehe just bought with some of the fake Korean money he received for perdiem as a disaster relief volunteer.

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In August 2006, Asian III was the first school to utilizethe Iso-Immersion Facility’s overnight capabilities.Students found the housing comfortable and the Korean-only dictum challenging. Through the cooperative effortsof teachers, MLIs, and students, a simulacrum of Korea atDLIFLC has emerged at each immersion event.

It should be noted, however, that the creation of thissimulated reality is no easy task. Asian III teachers andthe school’s immersion coordinator spend several hoursbefore each immersion to make the site look like Korea.The results are visually stunning. The walls of the Ordimmersion facility’s main room are covered with KoreanTV and movie posters, while gift shops, car rental booths,real estate agencies, video stores, coffee shops, clothingstores, and game rooms are created with racks of cloth-ing, posters, rental forms, dozens of Korean DVDs, andtraditional game boards. Such regalia draws the studentsinto the Land of the Morning Calm through their eyes andears. Their noses also get a work out when Korean samplefood arrives to supplement one of their lunches. Witheach successive immersion, students have the opportunityto internalize not just the language, but also the cultureand begin the process of developing a Korean identity.

Yet creating a visual simulation of Korea is only windowdressing without an innovative academic program that

differs from the everyday classroom grind. With this in mind,the Asian III immersion curriculum focuses on task-basedinstruction in which students play roles and work together tocomplete tasks that culminate in tangible products.

Outstanding student performers receive awards at theend of each immersion. The teachers, meanwhile, wear avariety of hats, both literally and figuratively. Althoughmuch of their time is spent as facilitators, they also play avariety of complex roles. These roles range from host familyrepresentative, to disaster victim, to Red Cross official,testing teachers’ versatility and flexibility. In the evening,they play game show hosts or help students do voice-oversof Korean television dramas. Such non-traditional teach-ing demands make the immersion experience a physicallyand emotionally draining one. Yet Asian III teachers havebeen more than up to the challenge.

All in all, an immersion can be an exhausting expe-rience for teachers and students. The exhilaration andenjoyment evident on student faces as the immersiondraws to a close more than offsets the enormous energythat such an event demands from everyone. Immersionsdo more than simulate a slice of Korea for the participants.Perhaps the most valuable outcome for the students is tohelp create a slice of Korea inside each of them. It is aproduct they will carry with them long after graduation. ◆

Airman 1st Class Ryan Fine bargains with Ms. Junghee Lee, an Asian III teacher, attempting to purchase her goods at a reasonable price.

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Iraqi Headstart: savvy new languageprogram for service membersBy SSG Brian LamarStrategic Communications

One of the most stressful times in a service member’scareer is the gap between getting orders to go to war andactually getting there. Once on the ground, training kicksin and according to some service members, this is whenfeelings of doubt and anxiety begin to fade.

Lack of training can double the tension that is placedon a service member going into battle. The CurriculumDevelopment Division (CDD) of the Defense LanguageInstitute Foreign Language Center (DLFLC) worked longhours for four months this winter to develop an innovativeand interactive Iraqi Headstart language program, hopingto alleviate some of that tension.

“This program is another tool in the kitbag for ourservice members to prepare for a deployment,” saidDLIFLC Commandant Col. Tucker B. Mansager.

The state-of-the-art Iraqi Headstart program is designedfor the non-linguist. This learning tool teaches 250 of themost commonly needed phrases by troops on the ground inIraq, according to the project leader and CDD EducationalTechnology, Director Pamela Combacau.

“The product that we came up with is tied into combatproven phrases the services use while deployed,” saidMansager.

This revolutionary computer based language programuses human to avatar interaction, games, and other types ofinteractive software to draw the service member into thelearning program. Troops are introduced to the alphabet inlesson one. The rest of the ten-lesson course graduallybrings the participants up to a level in which they can readstreet signs, understand basic greetings, and even ask andanswer basic questions. The course also provides self-assessment tests, allowing the learner to find out exactlyhow much knowledge they have retained after each lesson.

“This program was designed close to the model the Armywants everyone to use as far as instructional design goes,”said Combacau.

The project tasking was issued in August 2006. InOctober, a concept was built and the idea was adjusted andreadjusted to better fit the needs of the troops. Only fourmonths had passed from the time the project was acceptedby Col. Mansager until a final product was ready.

“Normally, the program would take one year (7,416hours) to produce. That is with a team of eight people,without working weekends and holidays,” said Combacau,who explained that the program was immediately sent outfor beta testing upon completion.

Soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia, who had combatexperience in Iraq within the last six months, provided mostof the beta testing of the program. DLIFLC also enlisted thehelp of seven officers who had just returned from Iraq.These two groups confirmed the correctness of the learningmaterial and added 40 more phrases to the curriculum,according to Combacau.

“Fort Benning was the most enthusiastic in helping withthe program,” she said.

Aside from the challenging parts of programming theIraqi Headstart program, there were also fun times forthe graphic designers who worked under a tight deadline.

“I did a lot of graphics and some of the language parts,”said Feyruz Rubeyi a CDD graphic designer and flash ani-mator, who also speaks Turkish and Iraqi Arabic.

“The most interesting part for me was animating theletters, when they convert from English to Arabic. I likedmaking the graffiti, finding the text, the images andimplementing them,” she said.

“While there is always room for improvement, I thinkwe did a great job, since we had done nothing like thisbefore. We combined cutting-edge computer technologywith our (DLIFLC) language expertise to produce a highquality product,” Mansager said.

“There is nothing else like it on the market. It is so com-plete. This is the best product we have,” said Combacauproudly, reiterating that the achievement could not havebeen possible without her incredible team of course writ-ers, graphic designers and technology-savvy programmers.

“This was really a joint effort. I am very luck to havesuch an incredible team,” said Combacau.

Additionally, DLIFLC produces Language Survival Kits(LSK), which are pocket-sized booklets accompanied by aCD that cover essential phrases in over a dozen languages.The LSKs are designed for deploying service members andtreat several different topics in a given language, rangingfrom cordon and search, to specialized medical phrases.These materials can be ordered by going to DLIFLC’s website at www.dliflc.edu, and clicking under Products.The Iraqi Headstart program is also available at this site. Other online DLIFLC materials can be found atwww.LingNet.org ◆

Curriculum DevelopmentEducational Technology DirectorPamela Combacau receives theDistributed Learning MaverickAward nomination from ArmyTraining Support Center ExecutiveDirector Luciano Iorizzo.Combacau received the nominationfor her team in Williamsburg,Virginia on March 3rd of 2007,for producing the Iraqi Headstartprogram in record time.

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Foreign Language Proficiency Pay:20 years in the makingBy SSG Brian LamarStrategic Communications

With a growing need for foreign language capabilitiesand cultural awareness by deploying service members, theForeign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP) for linguists hasbeen increased to reward those who are already linguists,or give financial incentive to others to self-identify theirlanguage skills.

The latest augmentation of FLPP took place in 2006,allowing linguists to receive maximum pay of $1,000 permonth for the languages they speak proficiently. Just 20years ago, the most one could have received for speakingmultiple languages was $100 per month!

The Army is largely credited for having initiated thebeginning of incentive pay for linguists in 1986. As thestory goes, then Secretary of the Army, John Marsh, tasked

the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Lt. Gen.William Odom, to establish a language proficiency paymechanism that would be similar to what the CIA, NSA,and State Department had. Subsequently, a young DefenseLanguage Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC)Foreign Area Officer and Russian graduate, Maj. JamesCox, was given the assignment to gather information andprepare a draft legislative proposal.

Less known in history is the role which DLIFLC’s lead-ership played in attaining the well deserved bonus pay forlinguists across the services. Among them was DLIFLC’sCommandant Col. David S. McNerney.

McNerney, commandant from 1981 to 1985, was instru-mental in the pushing of the FLPP incentive because heunderstood that the only obstacle to achieving this goal wasthe lack of solid criteria to award the bonus.

“This changed when we categorized the languages intofour major groupings based on difficulty for English speakingindividuals and then developed a comprehensive proficiencytest for all personnel, said McNerney, who emphasized thatformer DLIFLC chancellor Dr. Ray Clifford, and former deanof Testing and Evaluation, Dr. Martha Herzog, played aninstrumental role in the categorization.

The second step was relatively easy, according toMcNerney, because the Institute built a “simple matrix basedon language difficulty on one axis, and proficiency on the other.”

“It was approved by Congress without change probablybecause of the directness and simplicity of the proposal, inaddition to the obvious need to encourage serious languagestudy and identification of available assets,” he said.

Congress subsequently passed the legislation in October1986, allowing the Department of Defense (DoD) to startpaying linguists “language pay.” The initial pay given wasmodest and incremental, depending on the service member’sproficiency and difficulty of the language. It amounted to$25, $50, $75 or $100 per month. In 1999, Congress updatedthe law to allow services to award a top end cap of $300 permonth to linguists who possessed a language capability incritical languages.

With the Global War on Terror ongoing, military com-manders have recognized the need for service members tounderstand culture and language in order to win.Additionally, a new emphasis on recruiting “heritage”speakers of strategically important languages has once againcaused policy makers to reassess the FLPP program.

On June 1, 2006 Congress enacted new legislation thatallows linguists to cap out their language pay at $1,000 permonth for proficiency in multiple languages. The highestmaximum pay rate for single-language proficiency increasedfrom $200 to $500 per month, while the maximum pay ratefor multiple-language proficiency increased from $300 to$1,000 per month.

However, DoD identified several languages as being“dominant in the force,” for which sufficient strategic capa-bility already exists, and thus FLPP is not paid. For example,Russian and Spanish are considered “abundant” languagesfor which an extra bonus is not given, unless the servicemember occupies a language dependent job. Each serviceuses a different scale to determine who receives FLPP andwho not. Typically, a score of 2/2 (2 in listening and 2 inreading) on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale isthe minimum to receive the payment. Service members mustretest each year to continue receiving the payment.

The languages that are considered in the FLPP programare subject to change, but the underlying theme of keeping language readiness and proficiency at a high level in theUnited States Armed Forces is, and will continue to be, themain focus. ◆

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DLIFLC celebrates 65thAnniversaryBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

The Defense Language Institute Foreign LanguageCenter celebrated its 65th Anniversary at the Presidio ofMonterey with the induction of the first ten members intothe Institute’s Hall of Fame.

“DLIFLC’s mission of providing foreign languageinstruction, evaluation and sustainment to Department ofDefense personnel is perhaps more critical to the successof ongoing military operations than it has been in the65–year history of this Institute,” said former Secretary ofthe Army Francis J. Harvey, who was guest speaker at theretreat ceremony on Nov. 8, 2006.

Selections for the DLIFLC Hall of Fame were based on each individual’s lasting and significant contributionsto language training or linguist employment in theDepartment of Defense (DoD). Those inducted into theHall of Fame were: Col. William P. Fife, USAF, retired;Lt. Col. Rick C. Francona, USAF, retired; Shigeya Kihara;Maj. Gen. Roland Lajoie, USA, retired; Maj. Gen. DoyleE. Larson, USAF, retired; Hugh G. McFarlane; Col. DavidA. McNerney USA, retired; Glenn H. Nordin; Leon E.Panetta; and Whitney E. Reed.

“Every single assignment I had was because I couldspeak the Arabic language… and I learned it right here,”said Francona, who graduated from the DLIFLCVietnamese Basic Course in 1971, the Arabic BasicCourse in 1974 and the Arabic Intermediate Course in1978. Knowledge of the Arabic language led Francona to

Syria as a military attaché and to Iraq as a liaison officer,where he had an opportunity to meet the family membersof former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The day of celebration ended with an AnniversaryBanquet at the Monterey Marriott Hotel commencing at 7p.m., where Gen. Bryan Brown, Commanding General,U.S. Special Operations Command, was guest speaker.

“In language training, the Defense Language Institute isthe bright spot in DoD, and quite frankly, the entire UnitedStates. The ability to maintain this world class languagetraining school over the past 65 years, often with austerebudget constraints, has simply been remarkable,” saidBrown.

He reminded an audience of over 150 guests that ournation is in a global conflict that it did not ask for, but inorder to be successful it must have a global perspective,along with regional understanding. “We must reach out towilling partner nations, and it is our language speakerswho will be critical to enabling this international dialogue.”

Following 9/11, the Institute rapidly established a newlanguage department called the Operation EnduringFreedom Task Force that began teaching the Afghan languages of Dari and Pashto within a few months of thetragedy. Today, this department is called the EmergingLanguages Task Force and is designed to proactivelydevelop and teach strategically important languages whichare vital to the nation’s national security. ◆

DLIFLC Commandant Col. Tucker Mansager presents retired Air ForceLt. Col. Rick Francona with an honorary Associate of Arts Degree inForeign Language.

Former Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey speaks with Dari andPashto instructors from Afghanistan during a tour of cultural displaysset up for DLIFLC’s 65th Anniversary celebration.

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T H E H A L L O F FA M E I N D U C T E E S

Colonel (USAF, Retired) William P. Fife – Father of airborne intercept for the U.S. Air Force; set the standardfor employment of linguists in the Air Force that continues today.

Lieutenant Colonel (USAF, Retired) Rick Francona – Arabic language translator for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopfduring the Persian Gulf War; diplomat in the Middle East; currently military analyst for NBC News.

Mr. Shigeya Kihara – One of the Founding Fathers of DLIFLC; began teaching Japanese in 1941 at CrissyField, San Francisco, using orange crates as tables; graduated thousands of students during his 33–year career.

Major General (USA, Retired) Roland Lajoie – Military diplomat dealing with the Soviet Union and post-breakup countries for over 30 years; in civilian capacity served as the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary ofDefense for Cooperative Threat Reduction.

Major General (USAF, Retired) Doyle Larson – Developer of a career linguist force within the U.S. AirForce; created the precursor of DLIFLC’s Linguist of the Year competition.

Mr. Hugh McFarlane – Designer of the military linguist program for the National Security Agency; mentoredmore than 15,000 cryptologic linguists.

Colonel (USA, Retired) David A. McNerney – Former Commandant of DLIFLC; initiated the building of 25new buildings; developed the system of the Faculty Personnel System and the Foreign Language Proficiency Pay.

Mr. Glenn Nordin – Nationally–known advocate for universal language education and employment; known asthe “conscience of language” in the Pentagon.

Mr. Leon Panetta – Former Congressman and White House Chief of Staff; instrumental to capital improvementsat DLIFLC; driving force behind the National Security Education Program.

Mr. Whitney E. Reed – Former Commandant of the National Cryptologic School; instrumental in bringing com-puter technology to language teaching in the classroom; developed Final Learning Objectives for the basic course.

DLIFLC Hall of Fame inductees: (L–R, front row) Col. David McNerney, retired; son of Shigeya Kihara, Ron Kihara; Glen Nordin;daughter of Maj.Gen. William Fife, Dr. Caroline Fife; Leon Panetta. (L–R second row) Whitney Reed; Lt. Col. Rick Francona, retired;

Hugh McFarlane; Maj.Gen. Roland Lajoie, retired; Maj. Gen. Doyle Larson, retired.

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The Student Learning Center:Vive la différence!By Dr. Leah GrahamAssistant Dean, Student Learning Center

The Student Learning Center’s (SLC) main mission is to prepare Defense Language Institute Foreign LanguageCenter (DLIFLC) students for success in language learningby recognizing and acknowledging students as individuals.This is achieved by training students to become language-learning strategists who are able to consider their personallearning styles and preferences while monitoring and adjust-ing the way they approach their language learning.

The SLC has four programs to support this mission:The Introduction to Language Studies program (ILS), theAutonomous Language Sustainment program (ALS), the Individual Study Management program (ISM), and theWorkshops and Seminars program (W&S).

Recently, two of the SLC programs have been mademandatory for all military linguists at DLIFLC: the ILS andthe ALS. Both focus on how language learners can capitalizeon their individual differences in order to approach foreignlanguage learning in a way that is valuable, effective and efficient for them.

During the students’ first week at the Presidio of Monterey,the ILS provides an introduction to foreign language learningat DLIFLC by making them aware of how personal, linguistic,and cultural differences affect their language training. ILSclasses on learning styles, learning strategies, critical thinking,and problem solving help students understand how a well-planned personalized approach to language learning canallow them to become efficient and effective in the school-houses. The ILS program also raises students’ awareness ofhow such differences in approach can affect performance ontasks such as listening, note–taking, summarizing, gisting,and transcribing.

Moreover, ILS addresses the effects of cultural differenceson language learning in the Cultural Terrain course. Thiscourse uses a staff of Military Language Instructors (MLIs),civilian language teaching professionals, and DLIFLC foreign language professors as resources to help motivate students to learn the target language by presenting the firstpicture of the culture(s) in which their languages are spoken.In addition, ILS’s Grammar Terminology course reviewsEnglish grammar vocabulary to provide students with aframe of reference for understanding the grammar terms thattheir target language instructors will use.

Likewise, the ALS program helps students to continuecapitalizing on their individual differences by advocating a strategic approach to language maintenance in the field by offering a mandatory pre-graduation course for students

during their last week at DLIFLC. The course helps languagelearners construct a clear and achievable plan for maintainingand even enhancing their language skills once they leaveDLIFLC. Students come away with a personalized plan fortarget language sustainment and enhancement, based on theirpreferred learning styles and approaches, and are informedabout the resources available to them in the field such as theCommand Language Program, the Global Language On-lineSupport System (GLOSS), LingNet, and SCOLA.

In addition to the two mandatory programs, the SLC pro-vides support to DLIFLC students by offering academicadvising and workshops. ISM offers personalized, one-on-one language learning advising. Advisors actively listen tostudents and offer personalized advice and suggestions foreffective strategies, skills, and approaches to foreign language learning. Visiting an SLC advisor can help studentsbecome more effective foreign language learners, increasetheir awareness of available resources, and improve learningeffectiveness. The W&S program further supports DLIFLClanguage learners by offering workshops and seminars suchas the DLPT5 Test-Taking Strategies and VocabularyStrategies for Foreign Language Learning which aredesigned to help learners maximize their potential. The SLCalso helps instructors understand their students and their language learning struggles here at the Presidio by offeringworkshops such as the American Student and LearningStyles and Study Strategies for Foreign Language Learning.

In short, SLC asks students to consider the different waysin which they learn effectively and use that knowledge tomaximize their language learning potential both at DLIFLCand in the field. Vive la différence! ◆

Students at the Student Learning Center work on a tablet PC duringtheir introductory class to Korean culture. SLC students learn theirspecific learning styles and brush up on English grammar before startinga language course.

To contact the SLC team you may e–mail:slc@monterey.army.mil or call (831) 242–6490.

(DSN 768)

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The “DLI” Ho Chi Minh Trail: A path of enlightenmentBy Dan HarrellMaster Sgt. US Army (Ret.)

As a four-time former student and military retiree, I wasonce asked about my experiences in Monterey. Fortunately,I can report that there were many fond and interestingmemories from my days as a student.

In retrospect the most special period of my four trips toCentral California was the very first year at the DefenseLanguage Institute (DLI) and in the Army as a BasicRussian Language student and private. Although there werefun dates, great friends, and hilarious moments in class, one of my fondest memories of life at DLI was the simpleprocess of getting to class each morning after breakfast.

Like students of every generation, we all worried aboutmemorizing vocabulary or sweating out grades and testscores. I always tried to optimize my walk to class by finish-ing my homework. This necessity required confronting asfew distractions as possible.

Many students were able to effectively avoid on-comingfoot traffic and distracting, but necessary, greetings to officers,by taking a direct, but rarely used in the opposite direction,pathway straight down the hill. Our daily trek started at theexit of the Bravo Company barracks, which are now theMarine Corps barracks. We proceeded past the Air Force dormitories and (what was) Charlie Company barracks, thenacross Franklin Street to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The trail meanders a quarter mile or so along the southernboundary of the school, ending directly above High Street,just above the Russian School. I often puzzled how the trailcould be named after Ho Chi Minh, and how on earth thename seemed to stick year after year. After all, we had neverseen the real Ho Chi Minh trail and for all I knew, thedarned thing didn’t actually exist. Not to mention that HoChi Minh was at one time ‘the enemy.’

The questions went unanswered, and quite blissful in ourignorance, we always got maximum value of our morningtrek to class. Strangely, it seemed to me that a trail namedafter the infamous Ho Chi Minh, might normally connotesome unpleasantness like bamboo or landmine booby traps.

However, the actual experience was typical Monterey: theHo Chi Minh trail was almost always more preferable to thepermanent sidewalk routes down the hill. In addition, HoChi Minh had other benefits for young enlisted students.First, walking along the Ho Chi Minh trail, one almost neverencountered officers, requiring salutes. Also, fewer peoplemeant no distractions from what I long considered to be the biggest benefit and most serious endeavor while on theHo Chi Minh. The quiet but brief daily sojourns allowed

students to more easily focus on dialogue memorization,new vocabulary word lists, and the new grammar endingsfor accusative case.

A direct benefit of using the trail frequently meant bettertest scores and higher grades. Besides, the trees provided a canopy of shade or filtered light, and the scent of pinecould leave one with the impression of being on a peaceful, contemplative stroll through the woods.

For some it could be argued that the time spent wasalmost like a meditation therapy session. Now older, weknow all too well the benefits of stress relief. Only on rareoccasions was the Ho Chi Minh not an automatic choice;after a strong rain, or when we anticipated an in-ranksinspection. It was a small price to pay for the benefits ofstress therapy and higher grades.

After too many years of wondering how the name Ho ChiMinh stuck to the trail, I happened recently to come acrossthe answer. Over the years it always seemed mysterious tome why everyone seemed to know the name of the trail, yethad no idea how it was so.

During a recent reunion at DLI, I casually asked a formerstudent of the 60’s era if he had any idea how the trail wasnamed. He responded matter of factly that the trail waswidely used by students studying French and Vietnamesethroughout the 1960’s. French and Vietnamese are of course,the predominant languages used in Vietnam.

Moreover, the students studying those languages weremost likely to be assigned to South East Asia. In the mindsof those students, their daily stroll to class really meant theywere taking a direct route to Vietnam. They were literallytaking the Ho Chi Minh trail to Vietnam every day theywalked to class! As the inimitable Paul Harvey would conclude, “Now you know the rest of the story.” ◆

DLIFLC students walking along the Ho Chi Minh trail.

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DLIFLC and POM bid farewell tounion leader Alfie KhalilBy Natela CutterStrategic Communications

Presidio of Monterey – Over 400 family members, friends, faculty, staff, and leadership of the DefenseLanguage Institute Foreign LanguageCenter and Presidio of Monterey bidfarewell to DLIFLC and POM unionleader Alfie Khalil at a memorial service Nov. 30, 2006.Khalil died Nov. 18 at his home in Monterey.

“He was a good, caring, generous man. I miss him,” saidDLIFLC Commandant Col. Tucker B. Mansager, who saidhis relationship with the union and Khalil had been goodand productive.

Khalil came to DLIFLC as an Arabic language instructorin 1979. He joined the union about a year later, and in 1988was elected union president of the American Federation ofGovernment Employees, Local 1263, a position he held for17 years.

Khalils’ tenure as union president saw an unprece-dented cooperative spirit between the Union and DLIFLC management, which ultimately led to the successful imple-mentation of the Faculty Personnel System (FPS). The FPSallowed teachers to rank advance and get promoted in theclassroom where they were best qualified, as opposed tomoving up into supervisory non-teaching positions.

When the installation faced the very real possibility ofclosure, the Union worked tirelessly to provide statisticalinformation to the Base Realignment and ClosureCommission (BRAC) when the commission was consider-ing moving the Institute to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona in 1993and again in 1995.

“If it were not for Alfie, DLI would not be in Montereyright now, but maybe Arizona. When DLI was on the clo-sure list, Alfie was at the center of the efforts to keep us

here… he would get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to goto San Francisco or Sacramento to testify,” said DLIAlumni Association President Ben de la Selva, a long–timefriend of Khalil. “Thanks to Alfie we don’t live in thedesert, but in paradise.”

In 1993, Khalil cooperated with the City of Monterey toconduct a survey of faculty asking if they would relocateout of Monterey, should the Institute move. Over half saidthey would stay in Monterey and the BRAC commissiondecided not to move the Institute.

“He was always the one who had the passion, everybodyelse had the figures,” said Congressman Sam Farr, a personalfriend of Khalil, who worked with the Union for years onvarious issues regarding the Institute. Farr said that Khaliltold the BRAC Commission “You just can’t do it! Thefaculty will not move to Ft. Huachuca, it will destroy theability of the military to have a language school.”

Farr said that possibly one of Khalil’s biggest accom-plishments as union leader was his fight to gain a localitypay raise for government employees in Monterey County.

“We were able to get locality pay because of AlfieKhalil,” said Farr, adding that the two working togetherfound a formula that allowed government workers to gaina one-time pay increase that would put them on par withareas such as San Francisco.

“I never got to give him a medal, so I went to the floorof Congress and wrote a memorial to him... this resolutionis in print and Alfie is recorded in history for the greatdeeds he did and we are thankful that he came toMonterey,” said Farr, who said that he was so devastated by the news of Alfie’s passing that he cried when hereceived the phone call.

“My dear, sweet brother, I will miss you for ever,” said

Alfie Khalil and Dr. Donald Fischer testifying before the House ArmedServices Committee, March 1992.

Alfie Khalil’s brother Ragaei Khalil, who traveled from Egypt to attendthe funeral and memorial service, receives the United States flag thathad been flown over the Presidio of Monterey.

23

Ragaei Khalil, his brother who traveled from Egypt toattend the funeral and memorial service. Family memberspresent at the service included Khalil’s second brother HaniKhalil, brother-in-law Reda (Ray) Beshai, sister-in-law EsisBeshai, niece Diana Khalil, step-son Miles (Wally) Masters,Master’s wife Vanessa, and step-daughter Judy.

Khalil was famous at DLIFLC for his big smile, warmthand genuine interest in helping each person he knew,regardless of union membership. As testimony to his friend-ship and good working relationship with DLIFLC manage-

ment throughout the years, several former commandantscame to the service, David McNerney (1981-1985), DanielDevlin (1996-2000), and Kevin Rice (2000-2003). Alsopresent was former DLIFLC chancellor, Dr. Ray Clifford.

The United State’s flag, flown over the Presidio ofMonterey, was presented by Mansager to Khalil’s brotherRagaei. A shadow box for the flag was presented by theUnion. The Institute’s staff honored the family with flowers,wreaths, and memory books, as well as beverages whichwere served during a repast provided by the Khalil family. ◆

Vance Barracks dedicated atPresidio of Monterey By Natela CutterStrategic Communications

A Ribbon–Cutting Ceremony markingthe official opening of Vance Barrackstook place on Friday, Aug. 25, 2006 at the Defense Language Institute ForeignLanguage Center (DLIFLC) and Presidio of Monterey.

“I can’t think of anything more appropriate for such agreat patriot... It is beautiful here atop the mountain witha view of the bay. He loved DLI,” said Lisa Vance, widowof Staff Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr., a 38-year-old Persian-Farsi linguist killed by enemy small arms fire in Afghanistan on May 19, 2002. Mrs. Vance, along withStaff Sgt Vance’s mother June Steele, and several otherfamily members, attended the official unveiling of theplaque bearing the name of her husband, thus marking theofficial opening of the barracks.

“We here at the Presidio are committed to rememberingour fallen brothers and sisters in arms. Naming a buildingin honor of one of our fallen is perhaps the most enduringand obvious way we can honor those who have gone beforeus,” said Commandant and Commander of DLIFLC andPOM, Col. Tucker Mansager.

The distinguished guests attending the ceremonyincluded Vance’s mother, sister Ms. Jamie Vance-Minc,

brother Master Sgt. William Vance, Mr. Fred Meurer, citymanager of Monterey, Lt. Col. James Porter of the ArmyCorps of Engineers, which oversaw the construction of thebarracks, Maj. John Hess, commander of Vance’s unit, the2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, 2nd Lt. GregCarden and Sgt. Maj. Kevin Harry, two Soldiers of the19th Special Forces Group, Mr. Carlos Garcia, represent-ing Garcia Construction, and 17th district representativeCongressman Sam Farr as guest speaker.

“The Global War on Terrorism is a new war. It is unlikeconventional warfare, it is asymmetrical. It requires themilitary to think out of the box, to think differently, todevelop capability and forces that can adapt quickly to thenew challenges of unexpected circumstances,” said Farr.“DLI students represent the new capability that the militaryneeds to win the Global War on Terrorism.”

To honor Vance and his family members, Farr presentedVance’s widow with the United States flag which had beenflown over the nation’s capitol.

Following the unveiling of the Vance Barracks plaque,featuring Vance’s face sculpted in bronze with an inscriptiondedicated to his life and achievements, family members,Farr, Garcia, Garrison Commander Col. Pamela Martis, Spc.Vanessa Fantasia, a 229th soldier who lives in the barracks,performed the official ribbon cutting and opening of the barracks.

“It is important for us to know that he will not be forgotten,” said Master Sgt. Vance. ◆

Vance Barracks

Our new Iraqi Headstartprogram is available fororder!

If you would like to take a “dry-run”of the Defense Language ProficiencyTest 5 (DLPT5) in English, go visit your Command Language ProgramManager (CLPM) or LanguageTraining Detachment (LTD) director to take the mock exam. The DefenseLanguage Institute Foreign LanguageCenter has provided each CLPM and LTD director with copies of themock test, in order to familiarize youwith the mechanics of this computer-driven exam. To find out more aboutthe DLPT5 in your specific language,please go to www.dliflc.edu and clickon the drop-down menu in the lefthand corner of the screen.

Join us at the DefenseLanguage Institute ForeignLanguage Center andPresidio of Monterey for afun-filled day of music,dance, food, and a culturalexperience you will neverforget! DLIFLC is celebratingits annual LANGUAGE DAYevent May 18, 2007 from 9 am to 3 pm. To enter theinstallation and find outmore about Language Day,please call (831) 242-5104/6429.

DLPT5

To request copies of this new 10-lessoninteractive program, which teaches you

how to read Arabic signs, pronouncebasic phrases and understand what is

going on around you when you aredeployed, please go to www.dliflc.edu

and click on Products.