Posted on 05/11/2006 1:06:39 PM PDT by RDTF
Edited on 05/12/2006 3:34:28 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
"It doesn't matter. You can be a native speaker the Army will still send you to learn a different language. They never do things the easy way."
The AF used to be the same way. My first wife was a native German and was sent to learn Vietnamese. In the 90s, the office I was working at provided management oversight to the language program - we were able to get the personnel weenies to see the logic in allowing a person to skip language training if their skills were good enough in a language and go straight to tech school. Likewise, we got them to send people with a background in one language to that same language at DLI.
These language pay programs are problematic. Most of my former colleagues (I'm a retired AF linguist) agree that these programs reward mediocrity in two or more languages over fluency in one. If I understand the new program correctly, what could happen is a linguist who gets a 2/2 in two or more languages will earn more in language pay than the linguist who gets a 3/3/ or higher (now you can test higher with the DLPT V test which is being rolled out) in one language. (Under the current program I was able to get the max $$$ by testing in Russian and Ukrainian - I can barely speak Ukrainian, but the similiarities to Russian make reading and listening a cakewalk. Plus the similiarities in the written tests allowed me to score high on the Ukie DLPT. And, despite traveling frequently throughout Ukraine, I NEVER had to use Ukrainian as Russian is still widely spoken and used. Even though I have near-native fluency in Russian, without the Ukrainian DLPT scores I would have made 100 dollars less a month.)
If the military wanted to get serious about the language program they would work on getting language skills in ONE language higher instead of encouraging mediocre poliglots.
"Luckily we had some sane minds at work and the program was amended to specify that you had to be in linguist billet to receive the pay."
Let me amend this statement to say that if you were claiming Spanish or Tagalog for foreign language pay you had to be in a language billet.
Nothing like that when I was there -- MUCH earlier. (It was still Army Language School.) Monterey was pretty artsy :-)
Trivia quiz. Who was the white lady in the movie AIRPLANE who could speak jive? And what was by far her most famous role before that?
Have you been back since Ft. Ord closed? I went back there in 1996 for the Language Olympics and was SHOCKED. Sand City is quite the shopping mecca - Salinas is withering on the vine because of it.
We always wondered what you old Army Language School students did during the Monterey Pop Festival!?! (Jimi Hendrix, anyone?)
No. But then, I had practically nothing to do with Fort Ord at the time either. I think I was at Ord once, but don't remember why. All of my time was at the Presidio at first, then a couple of friends* and I got an apartment a few blocks away in Pacific Grove. (We financed it by hosting poker games :-) ) We just walked to class (or chow) in the mornings.
*Just spoke with one of them a few days ago. Another passed away, unfortunately.
*Just spoke with one of them a few days ago. Another passed away, unfortunately.
That is unfortunate.
Um, um, I was earlier than that :-) In fact, I enlisted the same month Elvis Presley did (and watched him make rank faster as a bleeping truck driver than I did as a highly trained intelligence expert :-) ). What we did have was the Monterey Jazz Festival (which is still an annual event). It was kind of a big deal too, but not really a powerhouse event yet. I did go to one and didn't much care for it.
Much better was a Kingston Trio concert in San Francisco. No, not at the Hungry i; but darned if I can remember where.
I'll be attending a unit reunion later this month. Guys I haven't seen in 40 years. Where did that time go?
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Now they tell me.......sheesh!
I knew a Ukranian at DLI who was taking Korean. And a few others I can't remember anymore.
My company is based in the Bay area so I go back to check out Monterey from time-to-time. Can't get on anymore without an ID card. I lived in Seaside at the time (1985) and it's STILL a hole. Although now a hole with illegals hanging out by the 7-11.
Ord is falling apart. They put a campus on there and a few other things but it looks really bad. Well, at least the last time I was there.
Good that at least the AF finally saw the logic in getting folks out to the field quickly. And how many decades did it take them? :-)
Good! That kind of opportunity doesn't come along often. Raise a glass to a lot of guys who never got together but wish they could.
I'm not in touch with anyone from my language class (tiny) or my unit. It's kind of sad.
I will tell you the Navy, at least, is very serious this time in improving the quality of its linguists. We are now promoted specifically against those in our language group. For example, as a Farsi linguist, I am up against promotion against other Farsi linguists as well as Dari and a few other dialects. Couple that with the first bullet on a sailor's write-up is his/her DLPT score and you have a very high incentive, just taking advancement under consideration, not incentive pay.
Greater advancement opportunities are also placed on the hi-pri languages. Advancement is wide open for middle east languages. Not so much for others. This encourages migration of skilled linguists into rates where these types are needed.
I need to do more research on the second language issue. I think they have taken steps to avoid passing out money to people who do not use that language in their job i.e. BM3 can not get FLPP pay as a result of his high school Spanish classes.
A 2/2 in two languages may get you extra FLPP pay, but it's not going to put you with the top of your 3/3 primary language peers with regards to advancement.
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