For those interested in the Marine Gazette article challenging the usefulness of the Marine FAO program, here is a rebuttal from Lt. Col. A. Che Bolden. Here is a key quote:
That is a really good point. I can't restate it any better.
I had to learn this for myself. I originally wanted to learn Arabic because I believed the U.S. government had a severe deficit of knowledge, wisdom, and experience when it came to the Arabic and Muslim worlds. I envisioned myself trying to help fill that gap. But at DLI I was surrounded by hundreds of Arab-Americans who spoke Arabic better than I ever would. I realized that the U.S. government had plenty of experience and knowledge close at hand, and that I would probably never compare to that native talent. What made me unique, I realized, is that I was an Arabic-speaking regional affairs specialist who was also a uniform-wearing Air Force officer.
That gets at why both the Air Force Regional Affairs Specialist program and the Marine FAO program push FAOs back into their original career field. That is also why my own benefactor, the Olmsted Foundation, wants its scholars to return to leadership in operational career fields rather than tracking into supporting staff jobs.
Academia will always have someone “smarter” or more informed on regional issues and more adept in linguistics skills, but they aren’t Marines, and they won’t be culturally and linguistically adept in our way of life—the application of military power, the planning associated with it, and the readiness to forward deploy to distant and austere locales.
That is a really good point. I can't restate it any better.
I had to learn this for myself. I originally wanted to learn Arabic because I believed the U.S. government had a severe deficit of knowledge, wisdom, and experience when it came to the Arabic and Muslim worlds. I envisioned myself trying to help fill that gap. But at DLI I was surrounded by hundreds of Arab-Americans who spoke Arabic better than I ever would. I realized that the U.S. government had plenty of experience and knowledge close at hand, and that I would probably never compare to that native talent. What made me unique, I realized, is that I was an Arabic-speaking regional affairs specialist who was also a uniform-wearing Air Force officer.
That gets at why both the Air Force Regional Affairs Specialist program and the Marine FAO program push FAOs back into their original career field. That is also why my own benefactor, the Olmsted Foundation, wants its scholars to return to leadership in operational career fields rather than tracking into supporting staff jobs.
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