American Marine Raiders from Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) recently completed a two-week language immersion program with French Marine Forces Special Operations Command, specifically working with the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment as a part of the.
When working with local counterparts during deployments, language ability is a key to making those partnerships work. French is spoken across nearly thirty countries, most of them in West and Central Africa.
In order to bolster their language abilities, the Marine Raiders participated in blocks of instruction that were immediately relevant to their occupation, from reading road signs to learning military terminology. Aside from classroom work, the Marines were then paired up with their French counterparts to be shown around French cities.
"They guided us through the civil aspects of the culture to an extent beyond what a constrained training environment can typically provide," one Marine Raider commented.
The next phase of training to them to the French Pyrenees mountains where the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment helped them conduct mobility, mountain warfare, and survival training. This provided another opportunity to work on French language skills that directly pertain to military operations.
The military and cultural exchange is an outgrowth of the Marine Raider Regiment Language Program, which is specifically designed and targeted to teach Marines the realistic applications of foreign languages to their assigned mission set. The goal is "to give the operational aspect of language and culture that cannot be learned in books or classrooms," explained Ed Walsh the program director.