US Army Linguists Get $150,000 Mega Bonus

Reports indicate that the army is set to pay retention bonus of as much as $150,000 to Arabic speaking soldiers.

The US army says that its is increasingly becoming critical for it to retain native language linguists and other cultural-know-how if they are to succeed in their missions abroad.

The only other job in the Army that gives such mega bonuses is the Special Forces. The Army says that they are expanding a program to train and retain native Arabic and other linguists from the same regions in which it is fighting.

The first time that the Army fully recognized the need for linguistic competence was during the invasion of Iraq and the aftermath consequences insurgency that followed afterwards made the US army to rethink their strategy hurried to identify and enroll Arabic and other linguists.

The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., could not roll out enough American soldiers proficient in Arabic, Kurdish, Dari, Pashtu, and Farsi, and the US army resorted to private contractors to fill the gap.

Since then, numerous programs have come up to fill this need. Examples include programs at Fort Lewis, Wash., where soldiers are given a 10-month training program in language and culture.

Source Outside The Belt Away