By Brian Lepley, Presidio of Monterey PAO
Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force foreign language-trained service members and civilians gathered at the Presidio of Monterey to attend the Institute’s Advanced Command Language Program Manager’s Workshop held from Aug. 26-30.
The workshop run by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, is regarded crucial for professional development and networking for CLP managers who are tasked with assisting linguist personnel in maintaining their language capabilities.
Naval Information Operations Command-Georgia collected the 2017 best Command Language Program. The award follows NIOC-Maryland claiming the 2016 title. Petty Officer 1st Class Jaimie Biro of NIOC-Georgia is the 2017 Department of Defense Language Professional of the Year.
DLIFLC Commandant, Col. Gary Hausman, and Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Donehue presented all the awards, including those for each service’s top CLP and managers.
Each service’s winners in the 2017 Command Language Program of the Year were the 3rd Radio Battalion, Marine Corp Base Hawaii, at Kaneohe Bay; the 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; and the Army’s 704th Military Intelligence Battalion from Fort Meade, Maryland.
More than 150 command language program managers attended the CLP workshop this year in order to glean knowledge about the trends in foreign language acquisition and new products offered to military service members maintain and improve their foreign language skills.