AFCLC culture courses required in new Air Force RAT program Published Oct. 14, 2022 By Mikala McCurry Air Force Culture and Language Center Outreach Team MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Alabama -- The Air Force Culture and Language Center’s Developing Cross-Cultural Competence course is now available to all Airmen as part of the new Ready Airman Training program that aligns to the Air Force Force Generation model. “The partnership and cooperation between AFCLC and AETC’s Future Operations Division has proven to be a force multiplier. Whether AFCLC supports the foreign area officer program for language and culture-enabled Airmen or furnishes foundational cultural competencies, they provide crucial products and services,” Bob Remey, chief of the training branch at Air Education and Training Command Future Operations Division, explained. Airmen can take the course via myLearning or through AFCLC's free Culture Guide app to fulfill RAT requirements. “Cultural competence is essential to readiness for general purpose force Airmen with a global mission,” said Howard Ward, AFCLC director. “The Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s guidance on ‘integrated by design with partners and allies’ begins with people. These courses ensure every Airman has the knowledge to succeed when working with our international partners.” During his keynote address to Air Force Association’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr. identified the need to drive cultural change within the total force to help Airmen become integrated by design. He acknowledged the new AFFORGEN model and RAT program as key methods to accelerate that change. “The vision for how Airmen train and deploy embraces an emerging culture of support maintaining and building readiness across the AFFORGEN phases,” Brown said. “We must challenge the status quo to prepare our Airmen for operating in environments far more complex than we have in the past.” As stated in the Air Force myLearning platform, the goal of Ready Airman Training is to “develop a more lethal, ready, and resilient force that is better trained and prepared to face the future demands of our nation.” RAT will consist of 12 Ready Training Areas spread over the AFFORGEN cycle, which is two years for active duty Airmen and four years for Air National Guard and Reserve. Once all 12 RTAs are complete, Airmen will have met the requirements for their AFFORGEN cycle. AFCLC’s Developing Cross-Cultural Competence course and Cultural General course are part of the Cross-Cultural Communication RTA. These courses count as credits toward the overall requirements for this RTA. In addition, AFCLC’s culture-specific courses on China, Russia, and other countries are provided as additional resources within that RTA. The Cross-Cultural Communication RTA discusses worldview and its relationship to intercultural communication, cross-cultural influence, and the connection between culture, communication, and interoperability. It also highlights how to find commonalities and understand differences between cultures, which ultimately enhances effectiveness in coalition operations. “The newly established Ready Airman Training program, which replaced the legacy Expeditionary Readiness Training program, recognizes cross-cultural competence as a critical aspect to preparing Airmen for operating in complex environments,” Remey explained. “AFCLC’s products were selected to provide all Airmen with the fundamentals of intercultural communication. Understanding and applying these fundamentals will allow Airmen to help build future relationships with our allies and partner nations and better understand our adversaries in support of integrated deterrence under the National Defense Strategy.” Specific training objectives for RAT are available on the AFFORGEN Connect website.