LEAP Spotlight: Capt Richard Scherl

Capt. Richard Scherl is an 11M (Mobility Pilot) who has been a Spanish Language Enabled Airman Program scholar since 2017. After being accepted to LEAP, he started enhancing and sustaining his language capabilities through an intermediate eMentor course, LEAP’s online language training. The course proved to be more challenging than expected but ultimately improved his skills. Subsequently, he attended a Language Intensive Training Event, which consisted of four weeks at the U.S. embassy in Santiago, Chile, while simultaneously attending an intensive language course. This training would further enhance his Latin American experiences enabling him to become a better ambassador and asset for the Air Force. Spanish language training is critical to his role as a mobility pilot, allowing him to build partnerships with our allies and enhance interoperability as a cross-cultural Airman.

“LEAP has been an amazing and unique opportunity where I can further develop my interpersonal skills and use language to open up a new window to the world. Interacting with others while using Spanish allows me to gain insight into different cultures and become a further well-rounded officer. Language is a perishable skill, and LEAP has allowed me to polish my proficiency, building trust and rapport. These qualities are vital because, as a C130J pilot, we consistently operate in Latin America, in which proficiency is instrumental. Having good communication is key to understanding how military aviation correlates with our allies, thus allowing me better to employ my platform in a variety of engagements,” said Scherl.

-LEAP Scholar Capt Richard Scherl-