11/15/2011 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) -- The Air Force Culture and Language Center, part of Air University's Spaatz Center here, recently launched a new public website to provide information on the Air Force's efforts to increase cross-cultural competence -- a critical warfighting skill cited by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in an August memorandum to all Defense Department personnel.
"Both military and civilian personnel should have cross-cultural training to successfully work in DOD's richly diverse organization and to better understand the global environment in which we operate," the secretary wrote.
The site, www.culture.af.mil, highlights all AFCLC departments and programs, including free courses that provide Community College of the Air Force credit for Airmen and other cross-cultural competence media resources. Additional training and educational resources are offered to DOD members through the AFCLC's private site, at https://wwwmil.maxwell.af.mil/afclc/, which requires users to have a Common Access Card and be on a .mil or .gov server.
"The site is an incredible resource to help our military and civilian personnel become more cross-culturally competent," said Ms. Barbara Barger, the Air Force Senior Language Authority and director of the Air Force Language, Region and Culture Program Office. "Through the training and education offered by the AFCLC, we can ensure our people are able to negotiate culturally-complex environments and accomplish their mission, any time, any place."
AFCLC's public site is a one-stop shop, which also provides links to external culture, language and negotiation learning sites. Some examples include the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, the Marine Corps' Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command Culture Center, and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.
For more information, contact the AFCLC at 334-653-7729 or via email to afclc.pa@maxwell.af.mil.
(Courtesy of the Air Force Language, Region and Culture Program Office.)
