Pashto training required for some COs

[unhappycamper]

Pashto training required for some COs
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 5:54:06 EST

All commanding officers of infantry and light armored reconnaissance units scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan must learn some basic Pashto sayings before they depart, skills the top U.S. commander there has repeatedly emphasized as key to the U.S. strategy in the region.

The Incidental Language Capability program, outlined in Marine Administrative Message 670/09, is intended to give Marine commanders the confidence needed to engage with locals. Marines will be expected to maintain their language training as long as there is an operational demand for it.

Pashto is considered the “everyday” language of the Afghan people. It is spoken primarily in the southern provinces and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where most Marine units will be concentrated, said Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Popham, a chief military language instructor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif.

Enlisted Marines already interact with Afghan role players during pre-deployment exercises, which expose them to the region’s language and culture. The goal of the new program is to give their commanders the tools to “shape local perceptions conduct limited introductory engagements with key local leaders,” said Maj. Stephen Fiscus, a Marine infantry advocate at the Pentagon. It is not intended to eliminate the need for interpreters, he said.

Despite the continued need for interpreters, the gesture won’t be lost on the Afghans, said Col. Daniel Kelly, who retired Dec. 10 as director of the Corps’ Center for Irregular Warfare.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marine_pashto_122109w/