World Tribune.com

U.S. forces offered training in Arabic

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military is providing incentives for soldiers and commanders to study Arabic. Officials said the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have offered Arabic instruction and reassignment for those who sought to help interpret Iraqi detainees, Middle East Newsline reported.

"It's a huge asset," Staff Sgt. John Fischer, the staff noncommissioned officer in charge of the detainee handling facility at Combat Outpost Rawah, said.

"There aren't always interpreters around, so having someone who can communicate allows us to understand and control whatever situation might come up."

Cpl. Michael Otero was cited as an example of a Marine who found that he had an aptitude for Arabic. Otero learned how to speak to detainees during shifts at Combat Outpost Rawah, located in the Anbar province.

"I write down things I want to know how to say, and head up there to learn how," Otero, a 20-year-old from Chubbuck, Idaho, said. "I'd ask the detainees questions, and remember what they'd say back. Then I would ask the interpreters what it meant."


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Within months, Otero, trained as a Light Armored Vehicle crew member, has been used to help Marines communicate with Iraqis. Otero was selected to work with the Iraqi detainees and improved his Arabic, studied formally in the United States, but often unrecognizable from colloquial Iraqi Arabic.

"The hardest part of the job is communicating," Cpl. Jared Groves said.


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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