“They have to understand the mission’s military language … so they can grasp, ‘This type of person is probably talking to this type of person in this role about these things,’” he said. Eric Armstrong, an RC-135 Rivet Joint pilot who now serves as deputy director of the base reconstruction effort at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, where airborne linguists are first stationed at the 97th Intelligence Squadron. “We have our own slang and acronyms and things we talk about that are not conversational language,” said Maj. That comes in handy for tracking troop movements on the ground in real time as well as longer-term mission planning. But it’s more complicated than knowing how to ask for a bathroom.Ĭryptologic language analysts, as they are formally known, intercept the messages and conversations of foreign troops and decision-makers so the U.S. Those airmen tend to specialize in one of a few key tongues at a time - typically Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Arabic. The most difficult courses can last more than a year. The Pentagon’s Defense Language Institute trains service members in about a dozen languages, including French, Spanish, Indonesian, Farsi, Russian, Tagalog, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Pashto and four Arabic dialects. and NATO operations related to the four-month-old war, citing operational security. McAndrews declined to answer how many Ukrainian and Russian linguists are currently supporting U.S. The Air Force “surged to meet emerging requirements” for Russian language analysts at the beginning of the conflict, she added. “The Department of the Air Force has the ability to track language capabilities in the military personnel systems and can quickly identify airmen/guardians with the required language skills, to include Ukrainian,” service spokesperson Laura McAndrews said Friday. Airmen who study Russian could help out in a pinch as well, since the two share similar alphabets, grammar and vocabulary. Some with family ties to the country already spoke it, while others with an appetite for languages set out to learn. ![]() Bobby Brown, airborne language analyst program manager, recently told Air Force Times on a visit to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.Īs the situation along Ukraine’s borders - and eventually, inside them - grew more dire, the Air Force rushed to find troops who could pass the Pentagon’s Ukrainian language proficiency test. “We have no Ukrainian-specific linguists. ![]() had pledged solidarity with Europe’s second-largest country and approved more than $1 billion in military aid. The Pentagon knew something was coming in Ukraine.Īir Force reconnaissance planes had flown over eastern Europe for months, staffed with military linguists who could interpret what nearby Russian forces were discussing as they prepared to invade neighboring Ukraine in February.
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