Culture, Language Center staff launches culture-general training Published Feb. 26, 2010 By Kathryn Gustafson Air Force Culture, Region and Language Program Office WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Today's global environment calls for Airmen to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes with which to build partnerships and effectively communicate with international partners and potential adversaries, manpower and personnel officials said Feb. 22 here. Without the proper training and development to produce cross-culturally competent Airmen, forces will lack the critical warfighting skills to ensure mission success, officials added. In an effort to expand cultural training and education, the Air Force Culture and Language Center staff developed an online, culture-general course through Advanced Distributed Learning System. Per Air Education and Training Command's four-tiered expeditionary skills training system, the Tier 2A Culture-General Course is required for Airmen in the air and space expeditionary force vulnerability period and also serves the total force. "As Airmen, we must be prepared to deploy to any place in the world," said Lt. Col. Brian Chappell, the EST deputy director. "Therefore, it is critical that Airmen develop cross-cultural competence, which will enhance their ability to successfully influence and interact with people of different cultures." Colonel Chappell added that this influence and interaction directly impact mission success. "The culture-general course provides a key 3C foundation to facilitate the understanding of the common aspects and domains of all cultures," he said. The AFCLC's new culture-general training affords Airmen an adequate framework for mission accomplishment. The new module consists of eight lessons, all of which include learning and behavioral objectives. The module provides Airmen the tools necessary to build trust and effectively interact with international cultures. Airmen examine topics such as self identity, culture shock management, methods in anticipating human behavior, high context versus low context communication and conflict resolution. "This training provides the necessary tools to better navigate through culturally-diverse environments," said Capt. Will Cambardella, the AFCRL strategic outreach chief. "I am better equipped for my upcoming deployment as a result of the training." Randy Miller, an instructional systems designer, said about 28,000 Air Force members completed culture-general training in the first full month of its availability. "We expect similar results with the culture-specific training that concentrates on deploying to specific environments, such as Afghanistan and Iraq," he added. Designed for deploying Airmen, the culture-specific training ensures Airmen are trained to meet mission-essential requirements for their specific destinations. The Tier 2B online, Culture-Specific Course is currently available to Airmen who receive taskings to Iraq and Afghanistan. While culture-specific training will enhance expeditionary skills for Airmen assigned to deploy, culture-general training is an introduction that will emphasize common aspects and domains of different cultures, regardless of deployment locations. Expeditionary skills training will give Airmen the necessary tools to function in a culturally-complex environment without having prior exposure to a particular group, region or language. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley noted in a keynote address at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center's 68th anniversary dinner, "Simply put, our Air Force is executing a wider and more diverse range of missions today than ever before, and a large number of these taskings require increased language and cultural training." AFCLC officials said the new culture-general and culture-specific training respond to this need and requirement. The AFCLC staff offers learning opportunities at Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. A synchronized blend of education and training provides Airmen career-long cross-cultural competence learning through professional military education and online training, using both Blackboard and ADLS technologies. For more information, visit the Air Force Culture and Language Center Web site at http://www.culture.af.edu. Find culture-general and culture-specific training through ADLS on the Air Force Portal (www.my.af.mil) under Education/Training.