Col. Phillip J. Deppert, commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, passes the saber to Command Sgt. Major Thomas Donehue, during the Change of Responsibility ceremony on Soldier Field at the Presidio of Monterey, June 1. (Photo by Natela Cutter, DLIFLC Public Affairs)
By Natela Cutter
DLIFLC Public Affairs
MONTEREY, Calif. – After serving successfully at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center for two years, Command Sgt. Major Ryan Ramsey relinquished his role as the institute’s most senior enlisted leader to Command Sgt. Major Thomas Donehue on Soldier Field at the Presidio of Monterey June 1.
“I’ve served in many capacities here at DLI and am humbled to serve as the Command Sgt. Major for this historic installation… My experiences here prepared me to serve in the operational force and reach my potential as a Soldier,” said Donehue, adding that he entered a recruiting station 26 years ago in Beaufort, South Carolina, requesting to go to California.
“This institute means the world to me. I have one goal here, which is to help set the conditions to provide the nation professional, ready, linguists who will assist commanders with making sound operational decisions. I will work with the military units, staff and faculty to make this happen,” pledged Donehue.
The change of responsibility ceremony was presided over by Col. Phillip J. Deppert, commandant of DLIFLC.
“Senior enlisted leaders are important because we command together, drive positive change together and lead together,” said Deppert, who himself is slated to change command on June 12.
Several of Ramsey’s achievements during his two-year tenure included the improvement of Non-Commissioned Officer development, the augmentation of number of Military Language Instructors in the schools, and efforts toward allowing service members to choose the foreign language they want to study.
DLIFLC provides resident instruction in 17 languages at the Presidio of Monterey, California, to nearly 2,500 students of all four branches of the Services, with the capacity to instruct another 65 languages in Washington, D.C., graduating more than 230,000 linguists since 1941.
In addition, multiple language training detachments exists throughout the world, spanning all the U.S. geographic combatant commands, in support of the total force.
