8/16/2023 0 Comments Russian linguist marinesI had been giving lots of thoughts to joining the military. I also worked as a doorman at a movie theater. Duncan: In early 1950 I was a student at a local junior college. I was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida.ĬorpsStories: How did you become a Marine? The Major served in Korea, was injured twice in Vietnam, and his billets included Russian linguist, cryptologic officer and section leader for 81mm mortars.ĬorpsStories: Am I correct in your age of 70 years? Where were you raised? He served more than 29 years – including time enlisted and commissioned, active duty and reserve, before his retirement from the Corps in 1979. Major Gene Duncan is a renowned author of books about the Marine Corps. Years ago, directions from the Defense Department and the NSA were vague: teach Russian.THE BIRTH OF CLINT McQUADE by Gene Duncan, USMC (Ret.) Retired Marine Author Still Serving Through His Writing, Publishing and Speaking (Interview conducted via the Internet, July 2002) In the past few years, as the school has worked to increase its students' proficiency, it has also changed how its languages are taught. "Moreover, the military service routinely allows students who do not attain a level-two proficiency to proceed to the next phase of training - technical school," the report said. The General Accounting Office in 1994 criticized the school - and the Defense Department - for allowing as many as a third of its students to graduate and then work for the NSA without mastering their language. In recent years, the school has sent many graduates off to their top-secret posts without having reached a level-two proficiency. "Achieving it is no small accomplishment for students who begin their studies with no previous experience in their target language," Devlin said in an October newsletter. Reaching proficiency level two, therefore, has become a "difficult goal." Devlin, commandant and commander of the school, said at a seminar in May that a shortage of linguists in the military requires the school to train more students in basic courses, with less emphasis on advanced training. The goal - established by the NSA and the Defense Department - is for students to speak at a proficiency "level two," which means being able to understand facts and current events, have conversations, ask questions and speak in past, present and future tenses.īut Col. Denise Travers, associate dean of the European I department. "They always seem to think they can cut the training," says Lt. But funding has often been in short supply. In 1981, federal lawmakers said a shortage of military officers fluent in third-world languages posed a threat to the nation's intelligence capabilities and urged the Department of Defense to spend more money on language training. By the 1970s, it was mostly teaching Russian. In 1946, it was renamed the Army Language School and moved from San Francisco to the Presidio of Monterey, at the foot of John Steinbeck-country hills of garlic and artichoke fields.ĭuring the Vietnam War, the school taught an eight-week Vietnamese "survival" course to more than 20,000 military personnel. The school began teaching Japanese to Army soldiers in 1941 in preparation for World War II. Hundreds of people could die if one of our linguists doesn't get the facts right." "Remember, our guys are going into the intelligence community. "Our guys have to get the facts right," Gale says. Though the mood is similar to that of a typical, though slightly rundown, college campus, students are constantly reminded that there are life-and-death consequences behind their lessons.īecause here, language training isn't about ordering moussaka properly in Thessaloniki. Roderic Gale, the school's enthusiastic associate provost and dean of students. "NSA is the biggest sponsor for our students," says Lt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |