DLIFLC celebrated its 67th Anniversary Nov. 1, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel,
Monterey, to honor the accomplishments of the Institute's faculty and staff,
enjoy camaraderie, and set the standard for future annual anniversary events.
"Our 67th Anniversary Event was a complete success due to the hard work
of the faculty volunteers and DLI staff. I hope that this event will becomee
tradition and that we will have even more participants next year," said
DLIFLC Commandant and Installation Commander Col. Sue Ann Sandusky. Guest
speaker, Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Ennis, a DLIFLC Russian graduate and deputy
director for Community HUMINT with the Central Intelligence Agency, spoke
of the increased need for language training. "The need for language...
has increased, and what is important is the quality of the translation."
The
event was attended by more than 300 guests, leadership, faculty, staff, community
leaders, friends, and alumni. Sandusky recognized with a Commander's Coin
more than 20 volunteers who participated in the preparation and organization
of the festivities, including ticket sales, advertising, and preparation of
cultural displays and performances. "This was a wonderful experience,"
said Sameera Sharif, and Urdu instructor from the Emerging Languages Task
Force. It really allowed me to meet some very interesting people, network,
and it gave me the opportunity to learn what is involved with preparing an
event at the Institute. Entertainment performances included a Korean Fan Dance,
Lebanese dances, Chineses soloist Huichu Hsu, and a Vietnamese Tradicional
dance.
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5.
Walter
Scurei Scholarship Fund - Continuation of the previous article
At
the 67th Anniversary Event, the DLIFLC Alumni Association announced the establishment
of the Walter Scurei scholarship fund of $1,000
per year for four years, for up to four individuals. The scholarship was created
for the spouse or child of a former DLIFLC graduate whose death resulted from
any situation caused by direct involvement in any U.S. armed conflict, or
in an act of terrorism against the United States.
Mr.
Scurei, though not a DLIFLC graduated, has established a special relationship
with the Institute and in 2006 donated three panels of the Berlin Wall to
DLIFLC. Today the panels serve as a reminder of the Cold War and the political
changes in the early 1990s which altered the balance of power in the world.
Editor's Note: More information about this scholarship fund will be
diseminated soon by email.
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6 .
Alumni visit DLIFLC's Open House
By
Natela Cutter, Strategic Communications
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held an Open House
event Oct. 31 for alumni who wanted to visit their old stomping grounds, take
a history tour of the Presidio of Monterey, or visit classrooms to see how
much technology innovation has changed they way instructors teach foreign
languages.
"The
use of technology in the classroom not only helps us as teachers but it also
maintains the interest of the students who are accustomed to living in a multimedia
world." said Vatche Ghazharian, language technology specialist at the
Emerging Languages Task Force. "Our teachers make a great effort to create
interactive lessons in order to keep the students engaged.
Nearly
20 alumni visited DLIFLC Friday, as well as Maj. Gen. John Custer who graduated
from the Institute's Russian course in 1975. Alumni were able to view classroom
technology demonstrations, see a Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer demonstration,
tour the Presidio of Monterey, visit the DLIFLC Hall of Fame and Berlin Wall
Memorial. Three panels of the original wall were donated to the iInstitute
in 2006.
The
event was organized as a prelude to the DLIFLC 67th Anniversary Event, enabline
alumni to visit the Institute before participating in the annual celebration.
The
event was advertised by the DLI Alumni Association which made available DLIFLC
T-shirts, cups, license plates, and other items for alumni to purchase. For
more information visit www.dli.alumni.org.
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7.
Swahili Returns to the Presidio
By Gerald Cornforth, Swahili graduate, November 1968
It
was November 7, 2008, exactly 40 years since the five of us had been together
in Monterey. Forty years before, 9 PFC’s graduated from Swahili language school
at the Presidio. We have located 8 of the 9. Five of us were able to travel
to Monterey for a 40 year Swahili reunion.
Swahili? Yes, Swahili was taught for several years at DLIWC in the 60’s. There
had been several classes before us. The class ahead of us was made up of 4
Green Beret Master Sergeants and one PFC. The class after us had 5 PFC’s and
a Marine Buck Sergeant. I have heard that there was only one more class after
that.
How did a kid from Oklahoma wind up in Swahili class? One day during basic
training at Fort Lost-in-the-Woods (Leonard Wood), I went to the ASA office
to fill in my MOS wish list. There were five blanks. I put MP first and lineman
second, either would be useful after I finished my hitch. I put down a couple
of other MOS’s, but left number 5 blank. The Sergeant said no, this is the
Army and all blanks must be filled in. He said I had done well on the ALAT,
so why not put down language school. So, I put down language school and then
he said now pick three languages. If I had known I had to pick three languages
I would not have put down language school. He handed me the list and I started
reading down it. When I got to Swahili, the phrase ‘be the first kid on your
block’ shot through my mind. I put Swahili as my first language choice and
the rest is history.
The department head was Bwana Lake. Mr. Lake was a retired British civil servant
who was in the Education Department at the time of Kenyan independence and
stayed for several years to assist the new government. He knew all the Kenyan
politicians and had many stories about them and Kenya as a British colony.
All the rest of the instructors were native Swahili speakers from Kenya. They
were a wealth of knowledge about life and culture in East Africa.
So, 40 years later, we were back with wives who had never been to Monterey
and had only heard stories about this guy or that guy. We did a lot of catching
up with everyone’s lives. But, to make the reunion complete we had to be on
the Presidio on our graduation day. Thanks to Ben De La Selva and the DLI
Alumni Association, we had a fantastic tour of the Presidio on November 7th.
Forty years ago there were no controlled gates at the Presidio. So, our tour
started with something we had never done – enter the Presidio by a controlled
gate. We went to the library and were immediately impressed by the volume
and variety. There were Monopoly games in a number of languages. Forty years
ago, we had a room next to the Swahili faculty offices with several shelves
of Swahili books and a table. We had a briefing by Major Swanson about DLI
and its mission. Wow, have things changed! Our only technology was reel-to-reel
tapes of VOA broadcasts. My favorite tape contained Furlen Husky singing “On
the Wings of a Dove”.
We saw a bunch of young kids in military uniforms walking around listening
to I-Pods, just like young kids at any mall or on any college campus. The
Major explained that those I-Pods had the language the student was studying
including such things as live radio broadcasts from the countries where the
language is spoken. Our barracks are now gone, replaced by an athletic field.
We found our old classroom. It is now a Russian faculty office. As Ben talked
to the lady inside, we pushed our way in and began talking about who sat where
and how the classroom had been arranged. Our classroom had tables, chairs,
one blackboard, and some chalk. So, when Major Swanson started talking about
notebook computers that are wirelessly hooked up to a classroom white board,
we were beyond impressed. The feature of capturing writing from the notebooks
or white board to the computer is remarkable.
The variety of short and long-term language training and follow-up is exciting
to see. Forty years ago there was no follow-up to maintain proficiency. The
only short-term training was an 11-week Vietnamese course for the Marines,
90 at a time. Tragically, one group who graduated during our time at the Presidio
was killed when a missile hit their plane just before landing in Viet Nam.
The Major also showed us two web sites maintained by DLI, one for language
training and proficiency, and the other for country information. Forty years
ago there was no Internet or any microcomputers.
Something that is very different today is the female language student. None
of our group could remember or had heard of a woman in any of the classes
when we were at the Presidio. There could have been a few, but we never saw
them. We did not mix much with the Chinese and Russians who were “up the hill.”
We were always going down the hill to walk on the wharfs or the beach. We
would go to Cannery Row. It was mainly burnt out and abandon canneries with
burnt stacks of can labels still showing in the rubble. There was an interesting
new and used bookstore which we used to spend time in somewhere along the
hill side of the street. The Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club would come every
once in a while and work on their bikes in a building on the Coast Guard wharf
end of Cannery Row. Now the street has been cleaned up, rebuilt, and an aquarium
added.
I am concerned about the state of the ice plant on the Presidio. We spent
many hours tending the ice plant in our day (not by our own choosing) and
it was green, lush, and covered lots of open space. We did have to pull KP,
but not as often as in basic training. It was different seeing civilians tending
the grounds and working in the mess hall. I am continually impressed with
the quality and character of today’s GI’s, however; I just wonder how many
could paint a rock. It appears that the military has moved from slave labor
to quality professionals.
Our group was honored during our briefing at the Presidio when Colonel Sandusky
dropped in and spent some time talking with us. To meet the DLI commandant
forty years after another DLI commandant presided over our graduation closed
some sort of loop that was only open on our reunion day.
The range of DLI products and services has expanded way beyond anything anyone
could conceive forty years ago. Our group was very fortunate to have been
able to talk with Colonel Sandusky, be briefed by Major Swanson, and guided
by Ben De La Selva. Ben added a tremendous amount of detail and information
to what we had heard. Ben also knew almost all faculty and staff members we
encountered on our tour.
After 40 years, none of our group has ever used their Swahili. I still have
the Swahili Bible Bwana Lake gave each of us forty years ago. I did try my
Swahili once on a Vietnamese ranger. He did not speak English and the only
other language I could speak was Swahili. It did not help. However, those
in our group who did not have college degrees did “use” their Swahili. We
were granted college credits for the 37 weeks of language, history, geography,
social studies, and cultural training we had received at Monterey.
I am so proud of the young people who make up today’s American military. They
are truly quality professionals. Forty years ago pride in the military was
out of fashion. Many of my fellow Viet Nam vets, who I talk with today, are
living the pride of their service to their country through the pride they
have for today’s military men and women.
Forty years ago, the 9 PFC’s had a unique once-in-a-life-time experience at
the Presidio. Five of us had another unique once-in-a-life-time experience
at the Presidio last November. We have gone through many experiences and changes
during those forty years and so has DLI. The difference is DLI is speeding
up while we are starting to slow down.
Gerald Cornforth
College Station, Texas
December 2008
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8.
Das Ende der Mauer - The End of the (Berlin) Wall
By
Mark Davies, German graduate 1978 & 1984
I
had not yet celebrated my third birthday when Berlin was divided by The Wall.
It was simply a fact we grew up with, my generation never having known a single
Germany. Most of us did not even realize Berlin sat in the center of East
Germany (the German Democratic Republic or GDR), though we knew it was a divided
city. We assumed it was on the border of the two countries, as did many Americans.
Berlin
was an island in a sea of Red, divided roughly in half: 50% belonged to the
Soviets, while the remainder was split largely between the U.S. and British
forces, with the French holding a small sector. These three sections were
surrounded in toto by a steel and concrete killing field, though there were
no internal barriers among them. Just small signs stating which sector you
happened to be leaving or entering.
My
wife, Linda, and I arrived in November 1987, newly appointed Army warrant
officers, feeling blessed to have received our dream assignment from PERSCOM.
Of the 31 other members of our class, each went to a tactical assignment –
except us.
U.S.
Army Field Station Berlin was our new work site, an indelicately masculine
building perched 100m above the surrounding Grüenwald atop Teufelsberg,
an artificial mountain made of rubble hauled out of the city after the Soviet
onslaught of 1945. Covered with dirt, overplanted with grass, trees, and brush,
T-Berg showed no signs of being man-made. It even had a ski run down its western
flank slope. Nearly 1,000 American and British soldiers, airmen, and civilians
inhabited the Field Station during the week (Day-Hoes) while one-tenth that
number worked the swing and mid shifts.
We
first lived in government housing in Düppel, receiving a nice 3-bedroom
apartment on the 4th floor of a dark red brick building. It was certainly
large enough for the two of us and our dog, but very noisy with the hoards
of children common to families in their 20’s and 30’s. We felt out of place
among the families and the din impacted our unusual sleep hours, dictated
by shift work. Much to our surprise the housing office allowed us to move
off post and pay us BAQ. We found a brand new apartment in the far southwest
corner of the American sector in Wannsee, close to the U.S. golf course and
the Gleiniker Brücke (Freedom Bridge), made famous from the 1962 spy
exchange of U-2 pilot Gary Powers for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
Wannsee
gave us a whole new view of Berlin with hardly an American in sight, giving
us total immersion into the German way of life. The U.S. and German governments
negotiated a deal in which those of us with American IDs could ride public
transportation for free, and we frequently traveled into the city by S- and
U-Bahn. Crime was non-existent, people were friendly, and life in Berlin was
almost ideal. Of course we paid a price to live in this island – it was expensive
and getting out was an administrative hassle. But we loved it there. In 1990
we asked for, and were granted, an in-country overseas tour (IPCOT), but were
unable to fully serve it.
In the late 1980’s the USSR was on shaky ground. Fifteen years of leadership
by Konstantin Chernenko left the country a shambles; the economy was in the
tank, the military technologically infantile, and nine years of fighting a
bloody and losing war in Afghanistan was raising dissent among the population.
The cultural, tribal, and nationalistic differences of its constituent “union
republics” were beginning to swell as people began to sense an opportunity
for change.
Because
of the inherent failings of socialist/communist philosophies, Soviet satellite
states were falling apart. Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, East Germany,
Poland, and Cuba all relied heavily on the Soviets for financial and military
support. The Cubans were draining the Soviets by funding insurgencies in Guatemala,
El Salvador, and Colombia. Polish citizens revolted in 1989, led by Lech Walesa
and his Solidarity Trade Union; the Hungarians followed suit booting its communist
leadership a few months later. Poles began coming into West Berlin to trade
anything they could for Western goods, which they hauled back to their country.
Soon East Germans began traveling into Hungary, then escaping to the West
through Austria or Czechoslovakia. The GDR government seemed to grow increasing
impotent.
Erich
Honecker, who in 1961 had orchestrated the construction of The Wall, called
upon Gorbachev for help. Gorbi had plenty on his plate, however, and essentially
told Honecker he was on his own. The USSR had no intention of helping the
GDR put down a revolt as it had in 1953. The Germans as a people had no love
for the die Russen, and the Russians felt the same. Forty-five years after
a shotgun wedding, the USSR – GDR partnership was about to end thanks to a
Protestant clergyman ironically named Christian Führer.
Führer
began “Peace Prayers” in Leipzig in 1982. He and his followers eventually
expanded their protests until the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry
for State Security or Stasi) attempted to crack down on them in October 1989.
The crowds in Leipzig swelled first to 70,000, then to as many as 300,000,
too big for the Stasi to handle. Honecker resigned in a desperate move to
maintain Communist Party control, replaced by Egon Krenz. Emboldened by their
success, Führer moved his base to East Berlin where the population followed
his lead.
At
the Field Station, we could sense change coming, and in early October were
ordered to work 12-hour shifts with no days off. The timing was unfortunate
for us as we had scheduled a trip to The Zone (West Germany) for my 31st birthday,
planning to leave directly from work. No such luck – the trip was cancelled
and we began a long run of non-stop work.
Those
of us at Teufelsberg were scrambling to keep pace with events, and received
heavy pressure from the leadership in The States to report everything we could.
The seriousness of the situation became clear one Friday when I spent 30 minutes
in a small room with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, another high government
official, and the Field Station commander, briefing them on my section’s mission
and what I felt were my woefully inadequate plans. My team happened to be
on the pointy end of the spear, so to speak, and I felt weirdly out of place
as Mr. Cheney asked me how I planned on handling the crisis. I was hoping
he was there to tell me how to handle it – not vice versa. He was patient
and kind, and at the end of the meeting shook my hand and said, “You’ll do
alright, Mr. Davies.” He appeared a lot more confident in me than I did.
Refugees
continued to stream out through Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On a cold Saturday,
November 4th, approximately one million East German citizens gathered at Alexanderplatz
as a protest and show of strength. The Stasi and Polizei could do nothing
but stand and look menacing – there were simply too many of them. West Berlin
began to be flooded by Western journalists and media after the original Million
Man March because the world could see history was about to be made. The end
of the GDR was near.
So
many people were leaving East Germany the GDR Politburo made a concession
on 9 November, allowing private travel out of the country and, for the first
time in half a century, directly into West Germany. The regulation was supposed
to take effect the following day, nobody told Günter Schabowski, the
Minister of Propaganda. He read the ruling at a press conference and suddenly
the population saw a chance to escape. They flooded the border crossings and
the confused Grenzschutz stood by, now afraid to shoot. The Wall had fallen.
My
wife and I, able to get home from work at a reasonable hour, bundled our 3-month
old son against the bitter November cold and drove to Brandenburg Gate, where
we watched first hand as people on both sides pounded their way through the
concrete wall. Further to west, behind the Reichstag, fences were torn down
that blocked the space between the wall and the Spree River where so many
people were shot and killed trying to breach this soft spot in the GDR defenses.
We then drove to Checkpoint Charlie and applauded the thousands of people
who drove Trabants and Skodas, waving as if in a parade. Youthful revelers
asked us for directions to the U-Bahn, giddy for their first taste of freedom.
The
next several days were trying for those of us who lived in the West. Tens
of thousands of Ossies flooded our quiet neighborhoods, gawking at the extravagance
of our lives, amazed at what they saw. Lines formed outside every bank and
they queued up for their Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money), 100 Deutschmarks
each GDR citizen was entitled to receive.
At
the time I owned a Honda “Afrika Twin” enduro-style motorcycle, and was at
a gas station filling it up. An elderly East German man stopped to look at
it, his eyes sparkling with curiosity and amazement. He asked about the bike,
and I gave him a brief explanation, highlighting the water-cooled engine.
“Unglaublich!” (unbelieveable) was all he could say.
Over
the next few weeks we began cautiously exploring the land once forbidden to
us. I rode my motorcycle throughout the countryside, using my knowledge of
Soviet and East German order of battle to visit many of the cities and kasernes
I had studied about. Potsdam, Letzlinger Heide, Danau-Döbritz, Lukenwald,
Jüterbog, were no longer just places on the map to me. They were dirty,
sad towns, incredibly dilapidated, with rows of Soviet military hardware in
various states of disrepair. I was stunned at the poor condition of the infrastructure
and could see the amount of rebuilding that would have to occur to bring the
East to Western standards. But those were worries for another time.
In
Wannsee, we went to The Wall and hammered out pieces for souvenirs, walking
down the former patrol roads on the east side surround the old No Man’s Land.
The Wall itself was the last barricade an escapee faced. East of it was a
plowed open field, sometimes filled with land mines. Patrol dogs ran on long
leads near it, and fences with trip-wire shotgun mines further back. We climbed
in the bare observation towers, and sometimes even chatted with an East German
guard who was still at his post, unsure if he was allowed to leave, but with
little to do but watch the parade pass by.
10
. Former DLI student publishes two books.
By William H. Henderson, Korean graduate, class 01KP47W0376
Have
you ever wanted to know what really went on during your security clearance
in-vestigation? Why did the investigation take so long? Who did the investigators
talk to? What questions did they ask? How important was that speeding ticket
you got three years ago? If you were like most students at DLI, you heard
wild rumors about the unlucky few who were denied clearances and ended up
washing tanks or airplanes at some remote, desolate military base. Then there
were the barracks lawyers who freely dispensed advice on how to beat the system
by selectively volunteering and withholding important information. For some
students it was a major distraction when the real busi-ness at hand was learning
a foreign language.
Almost
everyone who enters DLI is subject to some level of background investigation
for a security clearance. Many students find themselves cursing their military
recruiter for being less than helpful when they filled out their clearance
application form (Standard Form 86—SF86) and swearing that when they have
to go through their Periodic Rein-vestigation in five years, they will do
things differently—but how? The instructions on the SF86 aren’t very detailed
and in some instances incorrect. The NCOs and officers you normally rely on
for advice, even those who have held security clearances for years, of-ten
have little or no knowledge of investigative or adjudicative standards.
In
June 2007 Last Post Publishing released Security Clearance Manual to help
people understand how the security clearance process actually works. The book
provides de-tailed explanations of the investigative and adjudicative standards
and procedures with step by step instructions for completing the SF86, tips
for mitigating suitability issues, numerous case examples, and information
on how to get a copy of your investigative file. The book is intended for
people applying for initial clearances and those preparing for their periodic
reinvestigations.
In
January 2008 the University of New Haven, CT adopted Security Clearance Manual
for use as a text in their graduate course, NSP—Security Clearance Programs.
In
April 2008 it received a 5-Star review in the American Society for Industrial
Security’s Security Management magazine—“Henderson has written a guide that
will help appli-cants both expedite their applications and increase their
chances of success . . . . The book is a must-read for clearance applicants
. . . . It will give them a better understand-ing of the process and help
them obtain the best possible results in the shortest possi-ble time.” (full
review).
Ever wonder how a security clearance investigation can evolve into an espionage
case? Another recent offering by Last Post Publishing is a novel entitled
Dead Drop that takes place at the Presidio of Monterey involving DLI personnel.
The book is an espionage thriller set during the first Gulf War that vividly
reveals old cold war rivalries that never died. Four years after “glasnost”
and “perestrokia” changed the foundation of the former Soviet Union, U.S.
intelligence agencies were chanting the mantra, “the threat has changed,”
but did it?
The
life of police detective Keith McGuire is disrupted as suddenly as the gunshot
that critically wounds his older brother Howard in a fog shrouded shopping
mall parking lot in a small town on the Monterey Peninsula. Keith knows little
about Howard’s work at the Defense Investigative Service or his former employment
at the CIA. As Keith investi-gates the shooting, he discovers unexpected facets
of his brother’s life—contact with a drug dealer, unexplained affluence, falsified
security clearance reports, and resentment over being fired from the CIA.
Unable to share this information about the case with his partner, Detective
Upham, for fear of being taken off the case, Keith turns to Howard’s coworker,
Gordon Wedgwood for help. Together they delve into Howard’s recent cases and
uncover a convoluted web of blackmail, deception, and espionage. To catch
the person, who shot Howard and learn the truth about his brother’s activities,
Keith must violate department policy and risk his career.
Both
books are available at Amazon.com and sample chapters are posted at the web-site
of Last Post Publishing.
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11.
DLI Memorabilia
Check
the following link to order DLI T-shirts (in most languages), mugs, lapel
pins+, license plate holders, or coins. http://www.dli-alumni.org/dliaa_memorabilia.htm
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