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New cultural distance learning courses boost Airmen's readiness

  • Published
  • By Kimberly L. Wright
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala --  Three new distance learning courses designed by the Air Force Culture and Language Center - one Culture-General course and two Culture-Specific courses - are available to increase Airmen's cross cultural competence. Through the course instruction, large numbers of Airmen are increasing their ability to effectively operate in diverse cultures, particularly as they prepare to face the cultural challenges of deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Air Force 2A Culture General Course, the U.S. Central Command Air Force Culture Specific Iraq and the USCENTCOM Air Force Culture Specific Afghanistan courses were created by the AFCLC's Expeditionary Skills Training team. "These courses went through a robust research and development process to ensure we provide Airmen with an in-depth cultural foundation grounded in our twelve domains of culture and reinforced with specifics of Afghan and Iraqi society," said Hank Finn, director of EST.

Airmen have taken advantage of these courses in large numbers.

More than 43,000 personnel have taken the Air Force 2A Culture General Course, since it was posted in November. Another 8,711 have taken the Iraq-specific course and 8,622 have taken the Afghanistan-specific course since the course became available in December according to Lt. Col. Brian K. Chappell, deputy director of EST.

The first expeditionary course, the Air Force 2A Culture General Course, is a preparatory course that examines the meaning of culture and the associated twelve domains of culture. Cultural domains are categories of life that exist universally but are expressed or practiced according to the norms of a society or region, such as religion, politics, social relations, economics and sports.

"The culture-specific courses are geared towards deployment-tasked Airmen and are available through a combination of ADLS and classroom instruction," said Mr. Finn. The tier 2B courses also serve as the prerequisite for Airmen who attend specialized and advanced training courses, such as the Air Advisor course at Ft Dix, NJ. The AFCLC's two culture-specific courses have been released on the Advanced Distributed Learning Service ADLS, and the AFCLC is developing another course for the Horn of Africa. Colonel Chappell added, "These culture-specific courses are further enhanced by our Expeditionary Airman Field Guides and our live-actor immersion film project called Visual Expeditionary Skills Training. VEST is a computer-based interactive training project that allows Airmen to immerse themselves in films set in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are designed to allow Airmen to make critical decisions, pertaining to culture, and to see the outcome and impact of those decisions."

VEST will be available for download from an AFCLC website in the spring. The field guides for both Afghanistan and Iraq should be released in March, according to Maj. Charles F. Carver, curriculum manager with the Expeditionary Skills Training team. The guide will also be available on the Air Force Community of Practice concurrent with the release of the printed version, said Major Carver.

Colonel Chappell stated that he is pleased with the initial response from the field, "We distributed a limited number of Expeditionary Airman Field Guides and have received very positive feedback."

The Afghanistan and Iraq courses are designed to help Airmen understand the fundamentals of Islam, and Afghan and Iraqi culture so they are able to effectively interact with the diverse ethnic groups within the CENTCOM area of responsibility. "These courses will aid our Building Partnership efforts," said Mr. Finn.

Lessons include religious topics such as the theological doctrine of Sunni and Shi'a Islam, comparative religion, and the concept of jihad. The course contains information about social, including the treatment of elders, the social separation of women and Afghan and Iraqi attire for men and women.

"Important background information about Afghanistan and Iraq is included in the courses, including health and welfare issues, pivotal points in history, education systems and recent economic challenges in Afghanistan," said Mary Newbern, EST curriculum developer.

Mr. Finn concluded, "The courses are a component of a larger emphasis on developing cross-culturally competent Airmen with the knowledge to assess and operate in a way that brings positive results a culturally complex environment despite not necessarily having in-depth knowledge of the area prior to deployment."

Through the efforts of the Air Force Culture and Language Center, Airmen are given the cultural knowledge and expertise to work in a culturally diverse environment while building partnerships and strengthening relations across the globe.