Looking for Gold Nuggets in the Melting Pot: Language, Cultural Awareness, and the Fourth Generation Warrior

Abstract : Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) requires more than just superior technology, firepower, and "stand-off" capability. Fighting a 4GW adversary requires boots on the ground, functional language and cultural awareness to facilitate the collection of actionable intelligence, the ability to know when and how to go kinetic, and more importantly, when to show restraint and patience. The training of friendly indigenous forces, initiation of civil affairs projects to restore and improve living conditions, and building relationships with locals are significant factors in the effort to win the "hearts and minds" campaign. However, gaining all-important language skills and cultural awareness is a challenge facing U.S. military forces, and the subject of this paper. Until recently, when language and cultural awareness training occurred, it was limited, conducted "just in time" prior to deployment, and followed by on-site orientation and "on-the-job" training in theater. The Army Special Operations school has long recognized the value of more rigorous, extended language and culture training. Other long-term language and culture training initiatives have been announced by the President to help address the needs of "the long war." Whether such efforts will provide sufficient language and cultural expertise in the U.S. military is open to debate. There is another source of these skills, however, if the military can just can tap into it. America's "melting pot" should provide a sufficiently large talent pool with the requisite language and cultural skills -- the military just needs to take steps to maximize its ability to recruit from it. This paper examines the need for language and cultural proficiency in the U.S. military, the effectiveness of current efforts to gain relevant language and cultural skills, long-term strategies proposed by the current Administration, and the prospects for and potential barriers to their success.