The Gazette December 22, 2004
3rd ACR bridges cultural gap by learning Arabic
By Tom Roeder
In a classroom at Fort Carson, two dozen soldiers from the Iraq-bound 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment sound like they are talking with extraterrestrials.
"Jundi Amreeki," they sing out in unison.
Translated, that means "American soldiers."
The language lessons are part survival course, part charm school. They fit into a training overhaul for the regiment, which will head to Iraq early next year with beefed-up fighting techniques, new battlefield computers and improved medical skills.
Tough-looking combat veterans can list the top Iraqi holidays. They've learned enough in two weeks to hold halting conversations in Arabic.
They also know how to tell Iraqis to stop or be shot.
Mostly, an officer said, the course is about winning hearts and minds among Iraqis who are not involved in the insurgency.
Language skills will make Iraqis understand that the soldiers are people and make them more willing to share information that will help root out insurgents before they attack, soldiers hope.
"If we win a family, we can win a tribe," said 1st Lt. Barry DeGrazio. "If we win a tribe, we can win a village."
The 5,200-soldier regiment, which went to Iraq in 2003, was designed to fight a fullscale war against an armored enemy. It went to war on short notice without language training or solid plans on how to fight guerrillas.
Now, commanders hope, a combination of charm, high technology and revitalized soldiering skills will help soldiers make Iraqi friends while con- quering insurgents.
"Our techniques have to be different because we have to be able to integrate with the population," said Fort Carson spokesman Lt. Col. David Johnson. "Our leaders need to look at a situation and see the opportunities as well as danger."
Experts don't expect Iraqis to suddenly love Arabic-speaking Americans, but giving soldiers language skills could save lives.
"Every little bit helps," said John Pike, executive director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based defense think tank. "That's a good way to win hearts and minds - if you can tell them to lay down in Arabic rather than just shooting them because they won't follow your commands."
Austin Bay, a retired Army colonel who served in Iraq last year, said the language skills could help soldiers gather intelligence to thwart deadly guerrilla attacks.
Bay, a Texan, said the move to teach soldiers more language skills corrects problems long seen in soldier training.
"We've been haphazard about it," he said, noting that American soldiers traditionally know little of the language and culture of the lands where they fight.
Although language classes may help soldiers separate friends from foes, new technology and tactics will help commanders quickly react to threats.
A truck-mounted computer system should keep everyone from truck drivers to commanders informed about the latest guerrilla moves.
The computers, which look like beefed-up laptops, are designed to use satellite communications to show the locations of friendly and enemy troops on a digital map.
The map can detail likely ambush sites and pinpoint roadside bombs spotted by scouts, soldiers said.
"This is a great tool to have," said Master Sgt. Wigoberto Pagan, whose job is to ensure that the regiment's radios and computers keep running.
If a convoy gets ambushed, red symbols will light up computer screens. E-mail messages will describe the attack and confirm that help is on the way.
Johnson said the goal is to incorporate the eyes and ears of every soldier into a single intelligence source.
Capt. David Olsen said e-mails will reduce confusing radio chatter and that the digital map will cure a problem the Army had early on in the Iraq war, when some units got lost in the desert. "This allows us to have a common picture," he said.
The regiment also is working to use first-aid training to save lives.
Dozens of soldiers have been certified as emergency medical technicians and will be able give first aid long before medics arrive.
The regiment has also started armoring its trucks and has practiced tactics to defeat guerrilla ambushes. Still, officials say some of the most important lessons might be tips about the culture and lives of Iraqis.
"This will save lives of both parties, soldiers and Iraqis," said Ali Abueisa, a Saudi linguist teaching Fort Carson soldiers about the language and culture.
Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who served in the 1991 Gulf War with the regiment's commander, Col. H.R. McMaster, said the changes are vital.
The key, he said, will be working with Iraqis while rooting out guerrillas.
Macgregor, who works as a consultant in Virginia, said the Americans' inability to cooperate with Iraqis is a weakness well-exploited by guerrillas.
"This goes back to the way you operate in counterinsurgency," he said.
"We are far too slow and ponderous in our actions, and we have failed to protect the people who wanted to cooperate."
Pike said it remains to be seen whether Iraqis will want Americans as friends.
"It's going to be a long, hard slog," Pike said. "We still don't understand the nature of the insurgency. One school of thought is they are made up of a small cadre of former regime members, and all we have to do is kill them all.
"The other school of thought is that the insurgency is driven by simple patriotism and for every one we kill, two more will come forward to fight against us."
Copyright © 2004 The Gazette, a division of Freedom Colorado Information
