(upbeat music) - The Air Force has announced the creation of a new information operations technical training school. - The first command, simply must arm our airmen to out-think, out-perform, out-partner, out-innovate any potential adversary. - Air Force basing military training has an updated curriculum with a new focus on readiness and lethality. - The first command, the Air Force starts here. (loud slam) - Hey hey everybody, welcome in to the pod, thanks for the subscribes, stream or download, however you might be listening in. Have some extra time, and certainly would appreciate some stars or even a review of the podcast. Let us know how we're doing, bringing you great content from across air education and training command. My name is Dan Hawkins from the AETC Public Affairs office and your host for this professional development podcast dedicated to bringing total force, Big A Airmen inside tips, tricks and lessons learned from the recruiting, training and education worlds. Before I get into this episode of the podcast, specifically talking about the LEAP program, I really do want to talk, just for a moment, on the podcast name. As some of you probably know, we recently changed our name to The Air Force Starts Here, but in retrospect, having the creation of the U.S. Space Force in late December, we really tossed around how we want the name of the podcast to reflect across the spectrum of AETC's support. Not just from an air perspective, but a space perspective as well and that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be in the name. So, I just say all that to tell you that we're thinking about a rebrand of the podcast to make it more inclusive and make sure that we understand that we're reaching not just air professionals but space professionals as well, so name's still TBD but just know probably, coming soon, you might see a name change here on the podcast but never fear, still the same great content that you've come to expect here on the pod. So episode 25 today focuses on the Language Enabled Airman Program or LEAP, as it's called which is the Air Force Culture and Language Center's flagship language program focused on cross-cultural communication that helps bring out diversity in the Air Force, spanning an airman's entire career and includes both the building and maintaining of a working proficiency in given language skills. And Senior Airman Francisco Melendez from the A.U. Public Affairs Team sits down with the director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center, Mr. Howard Ward as well as Captain Christopher Price, who is a LEAP Scholar. To talk in-depth about how LEAP helps build a bench of culture and language-enabled airmen that ultimately act as a force multiplier in areas of the world where language and culture-knowledge gaps could potentially hinder our ability as an Air Force and potentially Space Force moving forward, to execute the mission. Something that I really didn't know until we started getting into this podcast, and maybe there's a lot of you out there that don't as well, is that, the LEAP program is not an interpreter development program. That might be one of the myths that gets dispelled here on the podcast. This program really talks to expanding strategic relationships and advancing force development. Of course, those are top priorities here in the first command but also important to our Air Force. And airmen who come into the program already have some existing level of language skills and the LEAP team really helps them professionalize their skills and work on technical vocabulary, that includes doctrine and systems so they can interact with other countries and their airmen. And allow our airmen to think globally and use those language skills as a force multiplier. Mr. Ward talks about how the AFCLC is filling a real need to help airmen be interoperable in today's dynamic national security environment and tells a great story on the pod about one of the 3,200 plus airmen on the LEAP bench currently. Which, by the way, includes some two-star generals who was recently involved in real-world ops in Syria so some real-world correlation there. As well as helping train partner nations around in the world in everything from aircraft maintenance to security. So the LEAP program, a very interesting program. Captain Price, he jumps into the fray, great insight into how he grew up in an environment that really fueled his love of language and culture, how he got started with LEAP, and how the program has helped lead him to an assignment as a Foreign Area Officer which really is his dream job. Tons to unpack here on the podcast, we hope you enjoy it, it's time to jump right in Episode 25, of The Air Force Starts Here, kicks off right now. (zooming) - All right, good afternoon, good evening, good morning or good night depending on what timeframe you're in. This is Senior Airman Francisco Melendez live from Maxwell Air Force Base and I am joined by my two very exclusive guests, Captain Christopher Price. Who works at contracting over at the Gunner Annex and Mr. Howard Ward, director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center. First of all, I wanna thank you guys so much for taking the time, the energy and the effort to come out and visit me. You guys must be very busy. When it comes to innovation, contracting, language, it sounds like a very taxing chore, very difficult. First of all, I'd like to get to know you guys a little bit better, why do you guys do what you do? Let's start with you Captain Price, you're in contracting over at Gunner. Mind telling me a little bit about that? - Yeah, I've been here two years as a contracting officer. I've actually been in the Air Force a little over 20 years, commissioned seven years ago. And I am a Language Enabled Airman Program Scholar, that's why I'm here to talk a little bit about my experience and what I've done with the program, what the program's really done for me. And how I've been able to use these skills in my past and current jobs and what I expect to do in the future. - OK, has it been everything you could have hoped for, your job? - And more, I think with the tools the Air Force Culture and Language Center has given me and taught me, I've been able to be even better at my job. - That's fantastic. - Thank you. - All right, moving on to Mr. Howard Ward. Once again, Director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center, that's a lot of titles, sir. - It's a really great organization and a really great opportunity. I served 28 years in active duty and was able to come back as a civilian and continue doing the one thing that I've really wanted to do in my life and that's be an airman. I get to work with airmen in a great organization that's bringing education to the force in some incredible, unique, dynamic ways. And filling a real need for airmen, that can be interoperable with air forces and civilian populations around the world. - Interoperable, you know, I couldn't say that word for the longest time and you just said it like it was nothing. (laughs) It's a tough word though. - It's a gift. - It's a gift. I have the utmost respect for the civilians I encounter at Maxwell and at Gunner. Providing their vast experience in assisting the Air Force achieve it's mission. Civilians have a different kind of culture, I wanna say, compared to the active duty personnel. What do you guys think? Do you guys think it's a whole different ball game? Different world? Or is it the same in a weird way? - I think the biggest difference is they have to think more about what I'm gonna wear in the morning than when I was on active duty. Otherwise, civilian and active duty, we all live and operate by the core values of integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do. - Very true, very well said. All right, let's get right to it. We're here to talk about AETC's, The Air Force Starts Here episode. You know I could have said that better, but we're jamming, we're vibing, we'll figure it out. The Air Force Starts Here, so we're here to talk about the LEAP program, L-E-A-P. From what I understand, you guys are the professionals. LEAP is, it's kind of extremely innovative. I know we like to toss that word around in today's Air Force but this is truly something else. If I understand this correctly, it's a volunteer program. Yeah, you have to do some legwork to be able to participate, but hopefully you guys can hopefully tell me how to get in on this. My first language is Spanish and this sounds very interesting to me. Could you tell me a little bit about it in your own words? - Certainly, LEAP is just one program that's managed by the Air Force Culture and Language Center. It's actually a very dynamic mission with lots of different moving parts in addition to LEAP. We have an incredible academic faculty that is doing creative education in lots of different ways. One of our programs is doing immersions for general officers who are going to go to certain overseas assignments, particularly in central command where there is gonna be frequent and detailed interaction with senior political, military and tribal leaders. In that first key leader engagement, like our mom's said, you get one chance to make a good first impression, and in a region where the relationships are absolutely key, we work with them on history, culture, some basics of language. How to work with an interpreter so that in that first key leader engagement, when we're deciding, is this a partner that I can really trust and work with or not, they're in a better position to succeed in that one. We're also doing education at all different levels. Graduate level education at Air War College at ACSC, we have courses that are put out for the Community College of the Air Force on introduction to culture and cross-cultural communication. We produce for the expeditionary force, our culture field guides that are available on a mobile app. And that app you can go to the app store, it's totally free, Android, iPhone and government phones. Just type in Culture Guide, we're the first thing that comes up. In fact, last year "Wall Street Journal" found our article, I mean our app, and in an article they entitled, "Six Indispensable Apps for Business Travelers" it was rated number one, actually. And above the fold of that edition. We encourage you to go check that out and use it when you're deploying to a country. We like to say with our app, you can put the world in your pocket. And wherever you're going, found out the basics of what you need to know to successfully interact with that culture. That brings us to LEAP. LEAP is our flagship language program. And the basics of the program is, our mission with it is to build a bench of culture and language-enabled airmen that come to us with some existing level of language skill where we can work with them to professionalize their language skills. And to also work with them on a technical vocabulary that includes doctrine and systems so that they can engage with other airmen in missions. What this isn't is a program for interpreters or translators out there. Specifically education designed for airmen to teach airmen how to interact with other airmen and civilian populations when we're doing missions, humanitarian assistance, disaster response. And we're talking about skills that can't be just-in-time trained. You can't go from no language skills to being able to interact successfully just overnight. We're constantly working with airmen that we classify as willing and abled. Through an application process, they tell us about themselves and really how they got their language skills is really more important to us than how well-developed their language skills are right now, because we will teach them and develop them. But what we're looking for, really, is folks that are engaged in learning and will do everything the Air Force asks them to do in their jobs all day long. But then when they finish, they're still passionate enough about their culture and language skills that they will take advantage of our online platform that we built them with live instructors to develop their skills. And then occasional immersions that we do overseas. So that when the air force needs them for a mission, if you can imagine like in a baseball game, when the manager taps to the bull pen that that reliever walks out and goes straight to the mound and without warm-up pitches, throws strikes. That's what we do with LEAP. - I've always likened the America's biggest strength is its diversity, it's a melting pot of culture. And it sounds to me like the LEAP program acknowledges that philosophy and it's drawing in that diversity and utilizing that skillset to better assist the Air Force's overall mission. - That is a great statement. LEAP is a great way that we leverage diversity of the force. There's certain skills that airmen bring in with them already, that we should capitalize on. When you put it in context this is a world that is only increasingly global connected and coalition at the core. Our ability, and this should be second nature for airmen to think this way, as a global force that thinks in three dimensions not like by the bounds of lines drawn on the two-dimensional map. We think globally, we think connected. Culture and language skills are one of the ultimate force multipliers for airmen to take advantage of those skills and experiences that you bring into the service with you but then provide education to be able to professionalize them and use them in a number of different settings. Your Captain, Price I think your story is a great example-- - Oh? - Of how we've leveraged diversity in the force to do this. - Captain Price, please? - Well I'm humbled by this but thank you very much, sir. Like I said earlier, I joined a little over 20 years ago. I'm a son of ex-pats, born in Singapore, grew up in Ecuador where my mother's from. And I moved to the United States when I was 19. Seven days later I was in basic training. - Wow, so straight moving right to the U.S. of A, you decided to raise your hand and swear the oath. - Correct. - Could you tell me a little bit about that? What made you do that? - Well, at that point I already had a daughter, so I had a family, I was young. And unfortunately the opportunities I had in Latin America weren't weren't enough, I think, to provide for my family. And having the opportunity, being born of a U.S. Citizen, I was born a U.S. Citizen abroad, therefore my father offered that option. Said, "Son, have you thought about joining the military? "I think you'd be great at it and I think it would "offer your family an opportunity." So I took advantage of that opportunity, we reached out to a recruiter before I landed, of course. And, I went straight to MEPS and swore in. And I was in basic training August 5th, 1999. - The American Dream is something really powerful. If you're hard working enough or you have enough perseverance, like they say in New York, "If you make it here, you can make it anywhere." With that backstory, that you just provided, does that make you more passionate about the idea of LEAP? - It does, because I've always felt like I've had one foot in one region and one foot in the United States. Surprisingly of course, I was more, I felt almost closer to Latin America because that's what I'd known through my entire life to the age of 19. So when I moved to the United States, that was a bit of a culture shock to me. I had visited on the summers and that kind of thing, of course, I had cable TV. I had MTV and that sort of resource. But I think it did. I think I grew up with that cross-cultural competency that we look for in our scholars. And it helped really connect because if you see, I know you can't see me but I am a tall, Caucasian, person with last name Price and it really kind of opens eyes up when I'm speaking fluent Spanish or Portuguese or just connecting with somebody from Latin America. Or even in Europe, in Spain and Portugal, and they're kinda like, "Oh hey! "That's cool, tell us more about who you are and where you come from." And you really make that connection. You start probably with the language, that first connection and the second phase to that is that cultural connection from music to what we eat, to just the way we live and how we are in our family dynamics. I think it's helped me to be a good scholar, but I don't want that for people to think, of course he ended up being a good LEAP scholar, because of his background. I'm telling you, there are so many people out there with this innate ability, that it really comes down to a passion for learning, that want, that understanding that we are such a small speck on this planet. We are such a small, the United States is one country of many in this world. And if that's what you know and we're so connected right now with information that, the world is at our fingertips and if you have that curiosity, I know we would love to have you. That's the first part, we can't teach you that. You have to come in already with that desire to learn and then we can just kinda really guide you and sharpen your abilities and help you get to that goal. - I really appreciate that you mentioned earlier what you look like, lemme just say right now to our listeners, I am very tall, I have a chiseled jaw and you know, a tan. (laughing) Because that's all I thought about, you're like, "You know, I'm tall, solid frame." (laughing) - Moved to America. - I'm a lot cooler online. - You know what? Mr. Ward, while we're at it, describe to the audience, how you see yourself, physically. - I'm not sure the folks listening can handle that visual. There so, what I think, what I will do is just start to extend that conversation though, that Captain Price said about there are many different ways that folks get an interest and a passion for culture and language skills. In Captain Price's case, being the child of ex-pats and living abroad through his youth, we have many folks in our program that bring similar stories to us like that. But we also have those that have no connection to a particular continent or country other than somewhere along the way in their youth, they found a fascination with a language, with a culture, with the geography of a place. And they pursued that interest academically. In our program, it's not necessary that you grew up in another country to have the skills to come into this program. Many of our scholars are purely academically trained. But they have a passion and they're life-long learners of that language and they're absolutely fantastic in this program. - Before we even get into the finer details of the LEAP program, who's eligible? - Active duty, officers and enlisted, both are eligible. - Do I have to, from the enlisted perspective, do I have to have finished my five-level training? - Our rules for enlisted members coming into the program is senior airmen, four years, CDCs complete. We don't want particularly enlisted airmen to come in and immediately right away, when they're just trying to earn their first skill level, get their CDCs done, to have a competing interest. We want them first of all to be squared away as really good airmen and then when that's done, we'll be ready to assist them into the program. - OK, Mr. Ward, if you have to sum it up, or Captain, Captain Price. How does the LEAP program just work? Give it to me in layman's terms. - Tell you what, we'll tell you that from the perspective of the folks that manage the program. And then I'm gonna let you hear it from someone who's lived the program, to come in too. First of all, we recognize that airmen are busy. So we have to craft delivery methods and curriculum that are suited to today's airmen. The demands that they have in their primary jobs and able to run this dual track of being a really good audio-visual professional. Being a really good crew chief on C130s, being a really good communications or intelligence officer. We deliver the program in two different ways, and I guess our theme of this is, we'll meet you where you are. Based on the time that the member and the commander say, this is a really good time for an airman to do some deliberate development of their skills. That's the thing that sets us into action. And then we deliver training in one of two ways. We have an online platform that we call, E-Mentor. And E-Mentor is a live, synchronous platform where we will pair you up with a live instructor that is a native speaker of the language and you work on your language skills within the context of the culture. So it's not just memorizing words or conjugation rules, you learn to do that in the context of having a conversation about one of the 12 domains of culture, which is our proprietary teaching model. That every culture, no matter where it is, has these 12 specific things that you can categorize attributes in and that's how you start to learn the context. You will learn conjugating some verbs today while you're talking about food health and sustenance. Or while you're talking about religion, spirituality or gender roles, family and kinship. One of those 12 domains, so that's how we infuse that critical element that separates someone from LEAP from someone who just speaks the language. We're going to engage with people so you have to understand that culture to get to the why. Culture is really, it's the human iOS. Now they're (mumbles) to build and operate and you do that. Our other method is through overseas immersions, booster shots, we like to call them. This is where you really get into the culture, where you go and you study at a language school in another country. And our program is active in 86 different countries, right now, so you'll have contact time in the classroom. Many of the countries we're able to do home stays, with sponsor families, to where for about three weeks you are totally immersed in the culture. And the progression in their skills and the ability to connect with that culture increases. So those are the two pillars of the LEAP program, of how we develop and grow your talent. - The Air Force considers the expansion of strategic relationships, forced development, to be incredibly important. And I was stationed in South Korea for a year, and they told us on day one, "You are an ambassador, "to not just the United States but the Air Force." And it sounds to me that the longer you are a participant in the LEAP program, immersing yourself into another culture, you are improving your skills as an ambassador. - That is correct. The LEAP, it is career-spanning education. If you start with us today, as long as you are working on your training, we will work with you for the duration of your career. The senior ranking member of the program is a two-star. Right now, so we have from senior airmen all the way up to major generals in the program, that we've worked with. And you make a great point about what we're able to do operationally out there. I'll tell you just a couple quick stories that LEAP is providing return on investment to the Air Force today. This isn't the promise of something yet to come. We've been at this for a while. The bench is very deep now. We have 3,253 folks in our LEAP student body. And things that they have done, you may have heard about the hotline in Syria when the Russians started to making a presence in Syria and there were some issues with airspace deconfliction out there, a member of LEAP was pulled in. First of all, because she was a squared away airman, but second of all because she had a really deep education in the Russian language and Russian culture and is credited for being able to help broker that hotline in Syria. Our scholars have been involved in teaching flight line maintenance to key partners in African nations. Come to us with a good level of skill but with our professionalization that we've added to them, have been able to increase the capacity to missions with partner nations where we share similar interests. And even some things as simple as Captain Dustin Tamin, shout out to Dustin today. Who has absolutely no connection to the African continent whatsoever, other than a childhood fascination with Africa. Enough that he studied it, that he took french starting in junior high all the way through earning a minor in it at the Air Force Academy. Applied to LEAP and came in and has done numerous training events on the African continent. His skills have grown, but what he's really done in force some relationships, starting with his very first trip there. We have a great picture that we like to show of him on his first educational experience in Senegal, learning how to eat a meal off the big round platter in the floor, this is traditionally done. Making a good faith effort to fit in with his sponsor family. Later in that trip they find out that it's his birthday and they're curious about how Americans celebrate their birthday. So we have a picture of him sitting there with a cake, there's candles, there's three generations of the family and his instructor from the Bayabog school in the car. But the interesting thing is that birthday cakes are not a part of Senegalese culture. Because of his willingness to connect with that culture, now they wanted to learn more about him and his American, what does it mean to be an American? They did research on their own to find out that we do cakes with candles and did that. And in that one shot, there's three generations of a family and his instructor, they have a completely different definition of what it means to be an American. And it affect those key decisions about, do we work with you? Where we share common interests? Just in that one trip in the course of training. That is the return on investment that we're getting today. And since then he's worked on real engagement missions with African militaries on African partnership flight and studied there. And one day when he grows up to be a four-star general, as the Commander of U.S. Africa Command, who better to be in charge of our interests there, than someone who is learned the continent at the family level, at the street level, at the military level, at the continent level, at the national level? And to build that type of leader from the ground up. - A lot of people joined the military for different reasons, I joined for similar reasons as you, Captain Price, seeking opportunity, career. And I know a lot of people who also joined, a part of something bigger than themselves. And a lot of people, they like to toss that around, but I feel that there's merit to that. And it sounds to me like the LEAP program, is quite the venue towards that feeling of, "Wow, I have a direct pulse "to the Air Force Mission "to develop those relationships with foreign countries, "to make diplomatic improvements." I'm very fascinated by the LEAP program, this sounds fantastic. You also help airmen maintain these foreign language skills. It's not just, we're gonna show you, and you hurry them out the door, good luck. No, you actually take the time to make sure that they're still up-to-date. Please, tell me more. - We have folks at the center, their job is language development coordinators. And they have a certain section of the students that they are constantly working with out there to set up their events. To either build their skills up to the working proficiency level or to maintain them. They're getting very individualized and tailored instructions. Of the 3,253 folks in the program, that's exactly how many training plans there are because no learner comes to us at the same starting point, has the same aspirations, the same job that allows them to have the same schedule, so they are crafting completely individualized and tailored learning solutions for every single member of the student body. And it really leads them and sets them up for that point to when the Air Force needs them and we have a great example sitting right beside me of how LEAP has played a role in developing his skills, that are going to pull him into things where into no-kidding PCS assignments and into a career field, where he's gonna be able to pay back. And the beauty is that the training that he is not going to have to do because of his involvement in this program to step into a future job. Why don't you tell us about how LEAP has led you into your current career path? - Oh, yes, please. - I'm currently a Contracting Officer, but I have been recently selected to be a Foreign Area Officer. - Whoa. - That's my future and again, a lot of what I've done with LEAP, through LEAP, has built up that resume and obviously part of my application for that. There is a development process for the FAO program and by doing as much as I've done through LEAP, that'll curtail that. That'll definitely take some of that time away towards a development piece and put me closer to the assignment part and the actual mission execution. I've been part of LEAP, gosh, almost 10 years now. I was actually, when I was enlisted, I was part of a test program through LEAP to actually, 'cause it used to be for cadets, and so I opened it up and said hey, we have a pool of talented enlisted members, and why not? So they did and they tried it out with myself and some of my other partners when we worked at the Inter-American Air Force Academy in San Antonio, obviously 10 years later here we are with a huge core of enlisted members. And with a value in each to where you take off that rank and you have, you're measured by your cross-cultural competency and your language and who you are as a person, despite that uniform rank. That's kind of the angle of LEAP and AFCLC, that's what they're looking at, not the person's rank but what they bring to the program and how the program can help them develop and get them to where they want to be and can be. And I've been through, Mr. Ward mentioned, several E-Mentors for different languages, obviously Spanish being my native language but I actually got selected for the program for European Portuguese. Of course all I knew, it's very similar, but growing up in South America, I had a lot of Brazilian friends, playing football, you guys call soccer. (laughing) But foot, ball, makes sense right? But football and that's kind of my, I had street talk in Portuguese. But did take the defense line proficiency test which I scored well on, but it was more than just that listening and reading test. You really want to be conversational and more than just (mumbles) when you get to that strategic level. You want to be able to speak properly, professionally in that language, that's where they took me and said, "Let's work on that." And they have, the E-Mentors in Portuguese, also in Spanish. I've also done language immersion training events there, down range from Brazil. Worked in the embassy in Brazil, worked in the embassy in Colombia, worked in the embassy in Portugal. And that really, nothing gets you to where you want to be culturally in your language as actually being immersed. Being in a situation where, they may not speak, or finding people that speak English or at least they communicate in the best manner is not that easy. This force you to really turn that part of your brain on and after a week or two, you're fully immersed and now you're thinking in that language and communicating effectively. Again, 10 years in this program, it's been great. When I commissioned seven years ago, obviously that was seamless. There wasn't a, oh you have to do something else, no, again, they don't care about your rank, they care about you, you're developed, you're an asset no matter what career field you're in. That worked out well. Again, 10 years, developed and I have a lot of immersion, strategic engagement, which is part of the development for FAO, I have a lot of that time already credited for me. My language already is to a very high level. That made me a pretty good asset. Very marketable for that program. Again, I tell enlisted and officers, it's a program for everyone. In my case, too specifically, talking about that bigger purpose outside of me, being able to walk into a high-level meeting with let's say a G.O. or maybe a Colonel in a country, where in their country, their military's may still not have that same view, the officers to enlisted and that relationship, there may be a gap there. By being there as an officer now and speaking in these meetings and then making sure I inject that, "Oh, by the way, "I'm also prior enlisted." That starts the conversation too and that kind of plants that seed in them to be, regardless of his uniform, this is a person who has the capacity and that helps out. That for me has been really a huge blessing for me to be able to do that and have that opportunity. - With the chief's priority on squad revitalization, of making sure that the cake ability that we grow is there to empower what he calls the beating heart of the Air Forces at the squadrons, that whole story comes back to because of his involvement with LEAP. There's about two years of training that he is not going to have to do, which means he's going to be working for the Air Force in his primary career field for two more years. One way to help deal with manning and acquisitions is a pretty stressed career field from its manning, the ops tempo, one way to do that is to have more people doing the primary job longer. And because of programs like this that identify the willing and able. And bring them in and provide education to meet you where you are. And build those skills concurrently out there the flash to bang between moving from the acquisition career field into FAO to where he's contributing to both of those primary jobs, it's almost immediate. This type of education is good fiscal business for the Air Force. - Captain Price and Mr. Ward, it sounds to me like you both have witnessed all, sorry, Captain Price, you just gave a first person telling of I want to say rags to riches kind of story, right, for you? - Yes, sir. - And who doesn't love a rags to riches story in America of all places, right? I don't know, I get pumped up seeing someone win. Despite all those accolades and all those impressive things that LEAP has offered you, these opportunities, let's assume there is a man or woman tuning in right now and they're on the fence. They're like, "You know, LEAP sounds interesting "but I don't think I have what it takes." Or, "I don't want to fail." We all have those doubts or maybe, my leadership won't let me. All are plausible concerns. What would you say to get that person right on the fence to just give it a shot? Roll the dice. - First of all, I would say exactly that, is give it a shot. Which basketball player was it that said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Absolutely, go away. When you apply what, when you want to feel like you have a better chance of getting selected out there, first of all, be a very squared away airmen. Because this is a demanding program and we ask folks to fit in the education around their primary duties. You have to have a strong work ethic and certainly have the confidence of your commander and your supervision to sign off to do that. That is the entering argument in the first thing we look at for the program. Second of all, don't necessarily worry about how good your skills are right now. That's what we're here for, to develop your skills. Apply yourself, learn. Go take the DLPT or the oral proficiency and review if your language doesn't have a defense language, the proficiency test available. And then come give it a try. If not, come back and try again next year for it. But don't fear. But it's very competitive, that's why it's important you be a very squared away airman in your primary duties in order to apply. This past year there were over 12 hundred applicants on our active duty board. We were able to select and bring in 250. It is competitive. We're looking for folks that are self-starters that can follow the instructions. 'Cause we run a pretty low footprint in the organization for managing a pretty large student body. But first of all, folks that are passionate about their language learning and have some sense of where that will lead in service to the Air Force. It's not learning language and culture for the sake of language and culture. It is so you can apply those skills in an Air Force mission that will help us better apply air power. - We're nearing unfortunately, the end of our episode, however I want to reiterate the most important piece of information. How does an airman get considered, and/or apply for LEAP, because surely there's people out there, "This is a sign, I have to go for it." Please, give me options, Captain Price? - As Mr. Ward did mention, first thing, take a DLPT and also a (murmurs) defense language aptitude battery test, just to see your aptitude if you could learn other language besides the one that you may know. You may not know, but again, we want that desire, that curiosity of the world and how everything is. And all these are free, obviously, right? All these tests are free, just schedule them with your local education office. Make sure you're educated on the program and educate your supervisor and your leadership. Let them know that this is all 100% volunteer but you still need their support. They have to sign off on it and say, "Yeah, we're OK with them being part of this program." Again, this program is on your personal time, you try to do it. Every mentor I ever did was outside of, I never did it during work, it was on my personal time. Also the immersions, they're scheduled out plenty in advance, a year in advance. You don't go all the time, every time, every three, four, six months. It's once every two years. Just to give them the idea that oh, OK, it's not that. Once you've reached all the requirements in the language program, which for those that, it's OK because all of this is good things. Whatever your purpose or reason for doing this, know that once you get certified on being a LEAP scholar, you get a special experience identifier. Once you get that special experience identifier in your, in the database, now you're eligible for special language pay. And that's one thing that sometimes that, wait, are you saying I'm gonna get paid for this as well? Yes, you get paid. And again, we try not to lead in with that because that's just an extra benefit, that's awesome. The pilots, right? Do you want the pilots in it for the fight pay or do you want it because they love to fly? It's the same thing, we want you to love to reach out to people and be a U.S. Ambassador. But hey, also, they see the value in this and you do what you need to do, you'll get paid for your efforts. You'll get paid for that. And you don't have to work in international stuff to get paid for it. You just have to maintain your currency and good things will happen. With that, that's kind of my two cents on that. My plug for that, I guess. - That was very well said in the April timeframe, if you're active duty, just watch the Air Force portal when you log in every day and there will be a banner right on the landing page of the Air Force portal that you can click to and go to the online application. And we'd love to see you. - So we just gave a whole bunch of love to the LEAP program, which, once again that would be the Language Enabled Airman Program. Please guys, give it a shot, I'm going to. Now, I don't get many opportunities to communicate with the Air Force Culture and Language Center, I think what you guys do is phenomenal. The work that you do is invaluable. Please, just to wrap things up. What other programs does the Air Force Culture and Language Center work on, as well? - Sure, outside of our flagship language program, LEAP, our academic faculty produces a number of great things from immersions for general officers that are going to the central command and other areas. Where they're gonna be doing frequent detailed interactions with senior political, military and tribal leaders so that they'll be prepared in that first key leader engagement. We do teaching at the graduate level at the Air War College at ACSC. We also do teaching at the undergraduate level with courses that are available through the Community College of the Air Force. We produce expeditionary culture field guides and expeditionary training for folks who are getting ready to deploy. So that they'll be able to adapt to the culture where we're sending them to get a mission done. Those are some of the primary programs that we offer. - Mr. Ward and Captain Price, it seems to me like we're gonna have to have future conversations about these other programs, don't we? - Indeed. One of the greatest gifts that Air University has given the Air Force since it's very inception, all the way back to the Air Corp Tactical School, is a constant reinvention and re-imagining of how to educate airmen. And what Air University has given us to do in this mission is the recognition that there is a space between your basic tech training and Resident PME, for skills that airmen need. This is just a great model that keeps Air University connected to every airman, their University for the duration of a career. We will meet you where you are to develop your culture and language skills so that you can immediately come out when the Air Force needs you to interact with the Colombian Air Force, with the Polish Air Force or a civilian population after a hurricane, an earthquake. Those types of things when an airman is gonna answer a huge question, what is America? And it's gonna be the first pair of boots that walks down the ramp of a C130. And that's what's gonna define America in front of a lot of folks. And through this program, we are educating for operational effect to help us better apply air power. 'Cause of all the things that'll be different in the future, what's gonna be the same? Is people are still gonna be people. And we will need to be able to communicate and connect with them, to accomplish our goals and maintain security for ourselves and our allies. That's the greatest gift that Air University gives to the Air Force. - Once again listeners, that was Mr. Howard Ward, Director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center. And also Captain Christopher Price. Thank you guys both so much for taking the time, the energy, the effort to come out here and tell us a little bit about LEAP. I genuinely, truly appreciate it because I'm interested in the programs, so this just happened to work out perfectly. And I encourage anyone listening to this podcast, the AETC podcast that, give it a shot. You have nothing to lose, everything to gain. Thank you gentlemen, once again. - Thank you for having us. - Thank you for having us, you can learn more at our website, culture.af.mil. Or follow us on our social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. - Too easy. All right listeners, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Signing off. (zooming) - What an incredible program that talks directly to revitalizing squadrons and embedding a true force multiplier in the operational environment. Oh and you know, by the way, getting paid to do something you live, isn't a bad deal either. If you're interested in the LEAP program, give it a try. As Mr. Ward said, quoting a famous basketball player, "You're gonna miss 100% of the shots that you don't take." The online application process is opening up in April, please take some time, check it out. Thank you to both Captain Price and Mr. Ward for their insights as well as to see Airman Melendez from the AUPA team for taking time out to record the pod for us. You can also follow the Air Force's Culture and Language Center on social media. Search for them on Facebook and they're on Instagram, as well, and Twitter. As a reminder, you can also follow Air Education and Training Command and the AETC Command Team via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the command on the website at www.aetc.af.mil. Thanks for checking out the podcast as we dive into the world of recruiting, training and education. For our entire AETC Public Affairs Team, I'm Dan Hawkins, so long, we'll talk to you next time on The Air Force Starts Here. (upbeat music)