A new book out on the role of interpreters in the fiasco in Iraq

[tango]

The soldier was commanding officer of 'C' Company while in Afghanistan. During its six-month deployment from January to August, 2006, the company lost seven soldiers, including Capt. Nicola Goddard, the first female combat death since the Second World War. In addition, another 18 soldiers were wounded.

"I had no idea we'd experience what we did," stated Fletcher, while a slideshow of the fallen flashed across a screen. "Mental preparation was critical. When the guns go off, your first instinct is to go the other way, but you move forward.

"All our soldiers died moving forward."

The Afghan society is "immensely intricate," he said. Even after spending seven months there, Fletcher admitted he could neither read Afghan body language, nor understand visual or verbal cues. Reliance upon trusted Afghan liaisons, including his own 18-year-old interpreter, were crucial, and the development of bodies like the Afghan National Army an important link.

"They are incredibly brave, their bravely is completely unparalleled, he said. "They're becoming a force to be reckoned with, the problem is there's just not enough of them."

[Machjo]

The soldier was commanding officer of 'C' Company while in Afghanistan. During its six-month deployment from January to August, 2006, the company lost seven soldiers, including Capt. Nicola Goddard, the first female combat death since the Second World War. In addition, another 18 soldiers were wounded.

"I had no idea we'd experience what we did," stated Fletcher, while a slideshow of the fallen flashed across a screen. "Mental preparation was critical. When the guns go off, your first instinct is to go the other way, but you move forward.

"All our soldiers died moving forward."

The Afghan society is "immensely intricate," he said. Even after spending seven months there, Fletcher admitted he could neither read Afghan body language, nor understand visual or verbal cues. Reliance upon trusted Afghan liaisons, including his own 18-year-old interpreter, were crucial, and the development of bodies like the Afghan National Army an important link.

"They are incredibly brave, their bravely is completely unparalleled, he said. "They're becoming a force to be reckoned with, the problem is there's just not enough of them."

18 years old. And how is their knowledge of the local language if it's not their mother-tongue? because he said they're local interpreters, we'll assume it's the other way around. So then we can ask, how's their knowledge of English?

And if a soldier can't read local body language, how can he tell whether a stranger is a friend or a foe?

When I was in China, I'd found different meanings for body language. For example it's common for many Chinese to smile when nevous. I've seen cases of foreign tourists complaining about something to a Chinese service staff, and then get furious as the staff member smiles ever more. They thought he was mocking them.

In other cases, in the beginning at least, before I knew Chinese, I sometimes interpreted certain tones of voice and expressions to be signs of anger, only to find out later that it was a friendly conversation with jokes being exchanged.

Now imagine the potential concequences of misunderstandings in a warzone. An Afghan risks being shot to death by Canadian forces for his unpardonable sin of notknowing English.

[Machjo]

http://www.interped.su.se/publications/ANAFGHANDILEMMA.pdf

[Machjo]

And here's a good video on it.

[Army Guy]

Machjo:

We all know that even native speakers of a language don't always know it well and don't always know military jargon. It would seem that the DOD is more cocerned about security checks than with whether interpreters are truly qualified to interpret

Any job with our government and you have to pass security checks, including here in Canada...and more so in Afghan for good reason...

DND like any government org does have checks and bals to ensure that the best person gets the job, there are plenty of Canadian civilians and "other" Canadian depts that are in Kanadar that work on camp, and do security checks, test language abilities etc etc....There are Canadians that have these second or third language abilities and are employed in postions that can best use these.......so we are not operating blindly so to speak...

Where interpreters available?

Any patrol, or convoy that goes outside the wire an interpreter goes with them...

Could they interpret easily?

Yes, they are for the most part very skilled, at 2 or more languages ....ie Dari, or pashtun.

How many interpreters do we have per soldier?

One per patrol or convoy.

If a soldier can't communicate, then the only language left to him might be to fire a bullet to the chest where a common language could have resolved a misunderstanding more peacefully.

There seems to be a big misconception on your part of the options that are available to our soldiers, i could say with some certainity that no one has been shot because they could not communicate, atleast in the Canadian AO....soldiers are taught key catch phases in both Dari, and Pashtun, such as stop...hands up, get down etc etc etc, plus there is hand language, and body language...

When a soldiers dress up in battle kit armed to the teeth is forcefully telling you to stop and get on your knees you quickly get the piont, or your forced to your kness....nobody is shot unless you pose a threat....meaning your armed, or have an explosive device on you....then there is no need to talk is there.

To sum up, a soldier has hand signals, body language, tone of vioce, and physical presence to cummunicate....failing that you defuse the situation by detaining people you need to talk with and wait for the interpreter to arrive. like you said there is always a more peaceful way to end every conflict. most soldiers have to take 6 mths of pretraining before going to Afghan, these type of situations are drilled over and over....

And if a soldier can't read local body language, how can he tell whether a stranger is a friend or a foe?

while i may not know exactly what thier body lanuage is telling me, i can recongize when a person is hostile, or about to commit a hostile act...

this is universal, sweating purfusly, nervousness, constantly looking around, basically out of place with thier surroundings....

our ROE are very clear on what we can engage and when...when a Canadian soldier fires his wpn it is for a good reason....

Once you spot someone that fits the above discription, then you pay attention to how they are dressed, any deformities such as a wpn outline under his cloths, a vest of explosives, a trigger device in his hands, cell phone etc etc ....i won't go into any more depth, but you can tell alot by how they are acting...and there are never alone....i just want to piont out nobody is engaged just because of a hunch....or you think ....the bad guys have pulled a gun or announce they are going to blow themselfs up.....for us mostly it is reactionary after the fact, and then it is very controled....

In other cases, in the beginning at least, before I knew Chinese, I sometimes interpreted certain tones of voice and expressions to be signs of anger, only to find out later that it was a friendly conversation with jokes being exchanged.

Now imagine the potential concequences of misunderstandings in a warzone. An Afghan risks being shot to death by Canadian forces for his unpardonable sin of notknowing English.

It would take more than a raised voice or tone to get us to engage or react...remember each soldier has over 40 lbs of armour, tac vests , is bristiling with wpns, and is backed up with a min of 15 of his comrads....not many people want to get into a shouting match or argument or get confrontational ....when you approach a police officer what is your demeaner....try a police officer on steriods, armed with atleast 2 wpns, grenades, radio, and 15 other officers similar armed....most if not all our conversations are polite, short, and to the piont....little chance of getting shot for not speaking english....I've complete 3 tours in Afghanistan, at 6'3'' over 260 lbs with my kit on, i've not once had a problem with forcefully shouting stop....hand extended ....then telling them to get down again with a hand signal....all complied....