WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 4, 1999) -- The Army is short linguists and the Recruiting Command has taken on the mission of enlisting language-qualified applicants.
The Army is especially short Chinese Mandarin, Korean and Arabic linguists, according to Lt. Col. Perry Hargrove. He is the branch chief for enlisted soldiers in Military Intelligence at the U.S. Total Army Personnel Command in Alexandria, Va.
"Our problem is not only getting recruits through the school but also in keeping them in the Army," Hargrove said. Recruits study the above languages for 63 weeks at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio, Calif.
Hargrove added the Army is short skill level 1 linguists, which in turn is creating a shortage of NCOs in the field. "We just don't have the enlisted people to move up the ranks," he said.
To try to offset the linguist shortage, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Parmele, professional development NCO at PERSCOM, said language advocates are placed with the recruiting command, not with a numbered goal to enlist people, but to generate leads for recruiters. They are also targeting ethnic enclaves for foreign-language speakers.
"Most of the time they (ethnic youths) don't know they can get a bonus for having a foreign language, or that even the language they speak is important to the Army," Parmele said.
The recruiting command has received six MI language qualified NCOs to serve as language advocates, with a primary function of augmenting the recruitment of language-qualified applicants for both active-duty and Reserve service, Sgt. 1st Class Frank Marois, program NCOIC, said.
"The language advocacy program is in its infancy," Marois said. "Lead generation is our mission, and we have been getting feedback from the field that our leads are generating contracts. We must penetrate new markets and enhance recruiting in current markets."
He said the language advocates have a series of innovative and time-tested methods to help with their goal, such as a national target language advertising campaign, including an advertisement in Novoe Russkoe Slova, a national Russian newspaper. The language advocates are penetrating native enclaves through community outreach groups also, Marois said, and have been at high schools, colleges and within local communities nationwide giving presentations that center on advantages of an Army enlistment as a way to get an education, to bring adventure into lives and to acquire a marketable skill.
The two language advocates with the 1st Recruiting Brigade, headquartered at Fort Meade, Md., are Staff Sgts. Joe Phillips and Randy Gossert. A large map of the brigade area hangs in their work area with different colored pins identifying geographic areas of large Korean, Chinese, Russian and Arabic populations.
Within the 1st Brigade, Gossert and Phillips concentrate their efforts in ethnic enclaves in New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston, and other areas that have been identified as major markets of opportunity.
Recently, Phillips (a Russian/Polish linguist and voice interceptor) and Gossert (a Korean linguist and interrogator) discussed Army opportunities with Barry Burch's Consumer Education class at Walkersville High School, Frederick, Md. Staff Sgt. Stan Fogg, Frederick Recruiting Station, requested the linguists' support to address 22 high school seniors as part of the Total Army Involvement in Recruiting program (a secondary mission of the program). Gossert and Phillips provided insight into their Army experiences and the benefit of military service.
Gossert tells his audience that more than 20 foreign languages are taught at the Defense Language Institute, in Monterey, Calif., an accredited institution. Soldiers earn 45 semester hours' credit for completing a course of study at DLI and Monterey Peninsula College allows soldiers to combine this and credit for basic training with 12 hours of study at that college to earn an associate degree in less than 18 months.
Another selling point to the program is in the travel and adventure the Army offers to applicants. "I have translated for foreign dignitaries including the chief of staff for the Polish army," said Phillips. "I believe this has been much more exciting than the maintenance work I did back in Detroit, Mich."
Soldier linguists are stationed around the world and throughout the U.S. Phillips tells students that he has had the pleasure of traveling to 13 countries in Europe with his Army skills.
Army linguists receive high-tech training, up to a $12,000 enlistment bonus, opportunities for post-graduate study, travel and adventure. Both Phillips and Gossert make a point of stressing that their foreign language training, coupled with a security clearance, will make them highly marketable to federal agencies, law enforcement and international businesses, diplomatic positions, humanitarian organizations and educational institutions when they decide to leave military service.
"If I can assist with bringing someone into the Army that could not otherwise be persuaded, or that the recruiter could not sell, then I believe I will have achieved success," Gossert said.
(Editor's note: This article was compiled by Sgt. 1st Class Connie Dickey from telephonic interviews and an article by Glenna Linville from the 1st Recruiting Brigade's Advertising and Public Affairs Office.)