An Assessment of the Ability of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Services to Measure and Track Language and Culture Training and Capabilities Among General Purpose Forces

An Assessment of the Ability of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Services to Measure and Track Language and Culture Training and Capabilities Among General Purpose Forces

Jennifer DeCamp
Sarah O. Meadows
Barry Costa
Kayla M. Williams
John Bornmann
Mark Overton
Copyright Date: 2012
Published by: RAND Corporation
Pages: 84
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt5hhv8m
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  • Book Info
    An Assessment of the Ability of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Services to Measure and Track Language and Culture Training and Capabilities Among General Purpose Forces
    Book Description:

    This report addresses questions concerning the U.S. Department of Defense’s ability to measure and track the language, regional expertise, and culture (LREC) training and capabilities of general purpose forces. The authors used interviews with LREC practitioners and policymakers, a policy review, an academic literature review, and an analysis of survey data to address the research questions.

    eISBN: 978-0-8330-8360-9
    Subjects: Business, Technology

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. i-ii)
  2. Preface
    (pp. iii-iv)
  3. Table of Contents
    (pp. v-vi)
  4. Figures
    (pp. vii-viii)
  5. Tables
    (pp. ix-x)
  6. Summary
    (pp. xi-xvi)
  7. Acknowledgments
    (pp. xvii-xviii)
  8. Abbreviations
    (pp. xix-xxii)
  9. CHAPTER ONE Introduction
    (pp. 1-2)

    The Defense Language Office (DLO) tasked MITRE Corporation and the RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) at the RAND Corporation, two federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), to jointly address questions concerning the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) ability to measure and track language, regional expertise, and culture (LREC) training and capabilities for general purpose forces (GPF).

    Government directives provide basic guidelines for GPF personnel with respect to LREC training (e.g., DoD Directive [DoDD] 1322.10 or counterinsurgency [COIN] training guidance). However, although these directives and guidelines are based in field expertise, there is little tracking from them to the...

  10. CHAPTER TWO Methodology and Data
    (pp. 3-6)

    To address the research questions outlined in Chapter One, different methodologies were used, including a review of relevant DoD and service LREC policies and directives and relevant research literature, a quantitative analysis of survey data, and qualitative interviews with LREC practitioners and policymakers. This chapter describes each analysis in more detail and notes how each is related to the research questions.

    The first step in addressing research question 1 (according to the best available data, what is the relevance of LREC training and capabilities to overall unit readiness and mission accomplishment?) involved reviewing LREC policies and directives from both DoD...

  11. CHAPTER THREE Impact of LREC Training and Capabilities on Mission Readiness and Accomplishment
    (pp. 7-28)

    Although intuitively it appears that LREC skills should be causally linked to success in military operations—especially those that involve cultures different from one’s own—the evidence supporting this assumption is sparse and, at best, anecdotal. There are many narratives about the usefulness of LREC skills, especially in certain types of military operations, and particularly among those that occurred as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). For example, in January 2011, General Sir David Richards commented that seeingThe Great Game, a play based on Afghan history and culture, would have made him a better...

  12. CHAPTER FOUR The U.S. Department of Defense’s Ability to Track LREC Training and Capabilities
    (pp. 29-34)

    Despite an increased recognition of the importance of LREC training and recent efforts to improve that training, there are still difficulties in tracking either the expertise of warfighters or the training they have received. With the exception of language proficiency (as evaluated by the DLPT), there are currently no measurable standards that can be incorporated into any database for tracking skills of individuals or units. This lack of tracking can have serious implications for the services’ ability to utilize the right people, with the right skills, in the right times and places. As noted in a recent GAO (2011b, p....

  13. CHAPTER FIVE Conclusions and Recommendations
    (pp. 35-44)

    The objective of the research summarized in this report was to provide information to policymakers about the available data to track LREC training and skills, as well as available information on how LREC affects readiness and mission accomplishment.

    To do this, the research team addressed the following research questions:

    1. According to the best available data, what is the relevance of LREC training and capabilities to overall unit readiness and mission accomplishment?

    2. How does DoD currently track LREC training and capabilities of GPF?

    3. To what extent does this tracking adequately reflect unit readiness and the ability to accomplish...

  14. APPENDIX A Policies and Directives Reviewed for This Analysis
    (pp. 45-46)
  15. APPENDIX B Interview List
    (pp. 47-48)
  16. APPENDIX C Interview Questions
    (pp. 49-52)
  17. APPENDIX D Five-Percent Confidence Intervals for the Status-of-Forces Analysis
    (pp. 53-56)
  18. References
    (pp. 57-62)