March 18, 2022 Speaking Air-Forcefully: The Gonculator Knows Best Today’s Speaking Air Forcefully term is “the gonculator” – a mythical, mysterious problem-solving machine that crunches overwhelming masses of data and then offers an optimal solution.
June 23, 2021 Speaking Air-Forcefully: “I’m a Dot” Metaphors can make people into so many different things – objects (little pitchers), animals (night owl) and even agricultural products (apple of your eye). Today’s Air Forceful term is a metaphor in which an individual uses to erase themselves: “I’m a dot.”
March 30, 2021 AFCLC Faculty Teach Intro to American Culture to Incoming International Officers The Air Force Culture and Language Center’s Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian recently taught Squadron Officer School’s incoming class of International Officers via teleconference on the morning of 8 March. Dr. Khachadoorian, the AFCLC’s Professor of Anthropology, offered a light-hearted but informative
April 28, 2020 Speaking Air Forcefully: REBLUE The Air Force is blue – a crisp, bright lapis. If an Airman’s blue hue fades a bit or gets “rusty” from too much time in a joint assignment, it is recommended that they reconnect with their Air Force community and their identity as an Airman. They must, like a weapon that has lost its protective
April 1, 2020 AFCLC Remains Innovative and Vigilant Amid Pandemic Concerns What began as a course set to take place at the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC) at Air University, the Pre-Assignment Acculturation Course (PAC), could quickly have fallen through the cracks as concerns continue to grow about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Feb. 6, 2020 Speaking Air-Forcefully: Defining “Cage / Re-Cage” When you finished getting spun up on gyroscopes and Air Force slang, you probably thought, “This information really re-caged my assumptions!” Actually, unless you’re in the Air Force, especially in the flying business, you are unlikely to use the word “re-cage.” The first time I heard this highly
July 17, 2019 Speaking Air Force-fully: Defining “spun up” Let’s start with a question: What does it take to get you spun up? Do you need a tranche (another great Air Force word) of information and maybe some well written Standard Operating Procedures? Or would some frustration and aggravation do the trick of spinning you up? Your response to these
July 9, 2019 Speaking Air Force-fully: Defining 'kludge' The first uniquely Air Force word that I encountered was “kludge,” and to this day, I’ve never heard it spoken by anyone outside of the Air Force. Awkward, guttural and inelegant, it was especially notable because I could not, for the life of me, figure out what it meant.
July 1, 2019 Speaking Air Force-fully When I began working for the Air Force Culture and Language Center as a Subject Matter Expert in Culture (aka SME, pronounced like Capt Hook’s clownish pirate boatswain), I recognized that I was immersing myself in a culture that was fairly new to me – that of the United States Air Force. I quickly
Oct. 15, 2018 Diversity Summit 2018: Embracing diversity in the military Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian is a self-described “unicorn” in the Department of Defense. An anthropologist with knowledge on indigenous and tribal cultures, she has been called upon by the Air Force years ago to use her expertise at the Air Force Culture and Language Center at Air University.
