Regional Language Familiarization

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One effort that highlights the Corps’ recognition of the importance of regional knowledge for all Marines is the Regional Culture and Language Familiarization (RCLF) program. RCLF is a training and education program that seeks to develop basic language, regional expertise, culture (LREC) in Marines to ensure that the Corps has assets to assist in operational planning and execution in all significant regions of the world. However, RCLF is not a substitute for operational experience and long-term analytic stare or dwell time. While likely sufficient for the general force, 120 hours of training and education on culture spread over 20 years under the RCLF program is an insufficient amount of time to reach the desired level of cultural knowledge …show more content…
One recommendation is to continue pursuit of the LREC “MOS to degree” program. It takes advantage of formal education opportunities from civilian institutions in topics ranging from foreign language and regional studies to anthropology and international relations. Although any solution to this problem will incur an expense, these programs are offered at an economy and quality that cannot currently be matched by military service schools.
In the near term, bolstering the RCLF program curriculum to take advantage of current educational technologies like webinars, videos, online books, communities of interest, and blog posts will provide a cost-friendly foundation from which to prepare a regionalized intelligence Marine. LREC capabilities are a direct enabler of intelligence professionals because they promote interoperability, access, and relationships necessary for crisis
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military services have already recognized the benefits of specialization. In the Army under Office of Personnel Management System (OPMS) XXI, military intelligence officers generally follow requisite assignments for the operations career field officer. They will be developed as generalists until they reach the grade of Major, at which point they will be given the opportunity to become a specialist, with relatively the same opportunity for promotion that has historically belonged to the operations/command-track career field. In essence, it allows for the career progression of functional