examples of CAOCL products include “The al-Anbar Awakening: Comparative Assessment of Strategies and Tactics Used
to Instigate the Awakening Movement”, “Culture and Language Survey: Importance of Culture vs. Language”, and most
recently, quick reference guides and pamphlets concerning the
epidemic in West Africa, such as “Cultural Considerations for
Ebola Impacted Countries”. It is, in Army vernacular, a “Center
of Excellence” for LREC capability development.
University which should be retained or may need improvement
are not systematically incorporated into best practices, leading
to the evolution of future training materials. Given the coincidental partnering, Dagger University’s unique advantages are
not easily exportable to other brigades outside of Fort Riley that
may be assigned to the same region as the 2ABCT.
The Marine Corps’ Language, Regional Expertise and Culture
(LREC) capability development initiative for the General
Purpose Force, which is based out of the Center for Advanced
Operational Culture Learning (CAOCL) is one such program
designed to provide linguistic and cultural training material
across the spectrum of operational locations. One of CAOCL’s
most wide reaching curriculums, the Regional, Culture and
Language Familiarization (RCLF) program, is an excellent example of integrating regional cultural awareness with language
starter programs in one structured curriculum, as opposed
to utilizing the cultural training from the Army’s TRADOC
Culture Center and nesting that with the Defense Language
Institute’s linguistic introductory material.
One of the most wide reaching programs directed by CAOCL
is the Regional, Culture and Language Familiarization (RCLF)
Program. The RCLF program was established for the active
component of the Marine Corps in 2012, and was expanded
to the reserve component in 2014 and serves as part of a career
long professional military education program for Marine Corps
Sergeants (E5) through Lieutenant Colonel (O5). The RCLF
Program grew out of the recognized need for a more robust,
intentional effort to instill a foundation of core cultural skills
and concepts, regional understanding, and language skills across
the GPF. Lessons from DoD missions over the last decade
highlighted the need for the services to place more emphasis
on developing LREC knowledge and skills within their forces
to maximize operational effectiveness. Like the proposal at
the beginning of this article, RCLF is not designed to replace
country or region specific subject matter experts, or designated
language professionals. RCLF is a familiarization program that
lays the foundation to produce Marine units that are “globally
prepared so that they are effective at navigating and influencing
the culturally complex 21st century operating environment.”
The Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning
(CAOCL) is the institutional foundation of the Marine Corps
culture and language familiarization training. CAOCL addresses many of the shortcomings of the Army‘s efforts like Dagger
University. Along with being a resource for operational culture
and communication skills to units prior to deployment, CAOCL conducts research to support broad Marine Corps missions
and requirements and serves as the central Marine Corps agency
for operational culture and language familiarization training
programs. In addition to administering the RCLF program,
CAOCL’s regional desk officers train Marine units through
personal instruction, and training and education reference
material. CAOCL provide instructors to support and contribute to curriculum development at other Marine Corps formal
schools. CAOCL participates in exercise design and assessment,
and contributes to doctrine and policy development. Some
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