Delivering Cultural Competence

[Surferbeetle]

CS,

Welcome.

You pose some interesting questions, and its good to see that the British Army finds them worthy of institutional support. Now if we could just get the US Army to get serious about them as well

My intention is to look at the training delivery required to deliver cultural competence to a post-modern Army.

Why this?

Understanding different cultures enable societies to effectively interact with one another in mutually beneficial/productive ways. The flip side of this understanding allows security folks to efficiently find, target, and destroy opposition.

Time being the good old ubiquitous constraint within the military where and when does this training take place? Should it be delivered as on the job training (OJT)? Or should there be bespoke courses provided for those that require it? At what stages throughout a military career should this training be delivered?

IMHO it all starts with small group language training to be followed by a few years spent living 'on the economy' where the language must be used daily. Regular reassignments to the language area over the course of ones career are key to developing ones expertise and ability to add value. This presupposes a training infrastructure focused on language excellence and resourced institutional incentives and traditions which demonstrate that such skills are indeed valued.

Daily bilingual, trilingual, or better training starting at the entrance levels of basic training, rotc, and the academies is where the rubber meets the road. Until that occurs things will be limited to case studies and continual education demonstrating the value of language/cultural training for today's decision makers/resource allocators. Much of the practicing Iraq/Afghanistan cohort has lived through the cost/benefit equation for language and culture and I suspect that as they continue to rise through the ranks we will see the needed changes...it's a slow process however.

Regards,

Steve