“This is the hardest thing I've ever done.” “I love my country and love challenging myself,” Douglas said about becoming a linguist. “Some individuals are capable of working in four or more different languages,” he said.Īlso from a military family, Douglas embraces the hard work and dedication that is necessary for his job. “Linguists are recertified for proficiency every 12-24 months depending on their level of expertise,” Douglas said, noting that limits to the languages learned are based on Air Force needs and an individual’s capability to learn and retain languages. Analysts can read or hear something and know that it goes beyond the literal translation, he said. “Analysts learn to make decisions on the battlefield under time-sensitive situations and under a lot of pressure,” said Douglas, whose rank and last name are also not being used for security concerns.Ī linguist himself, Douglas said they are trained to analyze meaning. “But in order to truly grasp the adversary's intent, they must first understand their culture, and we deliberately include that in their training.” “The most important thing for our analysts is to try to figure out the enemy's intent,” Ganster said. Responsible for translating and analyzing messages, linguists search for, identify and intercept communications that will provide crucial intelligence to leaders and decision-makers. “Rather than be overwhelmed or apprehensive, I was confident because I had already experienced realistic training.” “The training I received at Goodfellow made me feel incredibly capable when I began my actual mission work,” he said. Justin, who has a long family history of military service, first learned Russian and is now teaching Spanish to other service members. Justin’s rank and last name are being withheld for security reasons. “Eight hours of work per day learning a language, with several hours of homework after that. On top of the work there are constant evaluations, so you are studying individually or in groups almost every night.” “The workload is intense,” said Justin, a linguist at Goodfellow. Service members must score 110 or higher out of 140 to become a linguist. The DLAB takes about 2.5 hours to complete and involves both reading and listening portions. It's really a lifelong journey from an education standpoint.”Īs part of the vigorous training, linguists are required to take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery, or DLAB test, to measure their potential to successfully learn another language. “Education and training life never ceases. “Airmen get a preference of what language they want to learn, but it also depends on the needs of the Air Force,” Ganster said. Language options include Persian Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Pashto, Urdu, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese. “Depending on the language, up to 75 percent of the training time for a linguist is in Monterey,” Ganster said. Linguists receive special training in multilingual skills for either airborne or ground support, dividing their training between Goodfellow and the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California.
Alex Ganster, 17th Training Group Commander at Goodfellow Air Force Base. “To get out in the field where they will contribute to combat success, linguistic intelligence analysts go through a lot of training, about one to two years, depending upon their specialty,” said Air Force Col. The job is demanding and requires focused training to adequately prepare for real world situations. Not much can be shared about one of the most important jobs in the military, but what can be revealed is how vital the training to become a cryptologic linguist analyst is.
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