Satisfying the Army's Linguist Needs: How Much is Enough?

The Army has struggled with determining its linguistic needs since the founding of this nation. The recent changes to the world order and the resultant decreases in the Armys force structure have further exacerbated the challenges of determining what languages are required, how many linguists are required in each language and what level of proficiency is needed for each linguist. Identifying the Armys linguists requirements is a constantly changing dynamic caused by surging threats and fluctuating alliances that create a language recruiting and training dilemma. The Armys current language program has been dedicated to constantly adjusting the linguist inventory to match linguist requirements that change several times faster than training for any single language. The result is that the Army is always a day behind in providing trained linguists to satisfy current language needs. To a large degree this problem is simply reflective Of the constantly changing nature of the world, but there are other roadblocks to decreasing the problem that can be addressed and corrected. By looking at each of the four areas requirements, recruiting, training and retention it is possible to identify innovative and daring new approaches to improving the efficiency and productivity of each area.