Airmen aid coalition with multilanguage skills

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) --  Thought not traditional Air Force linguists, two multilingual Airmen bring a unique skill to Manas Air Base. 

Capt. Jecek Dempnaik and Staff Sgt. Maria Hudgeons, who speak a combined seven languages, reduce communication barriers between Air Force members and coalition forces through written translations and verbal interpretations. 

They are the ears and eyes to the director of the Transit Center here. When acting in this capacity, they are referred to as the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing coalition coordinators and linguists.

Shifting tongues between English, French and Spanish is as easy as breathing for Captain Dempniak. As if that is not enough, he could even spice it up with Polish and German. Whenever he likes, the captain can also get his point across to his NCO, Staff Sgt. Maria Hudgeons, using either English or Russian.

"I am responsible for coordinating support for all coalition forces transiting or stationed at Manas," said Captain Dempniak who is deployed from Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "I also perform liaison duties with the Kyrgyz ministry of defense and other Kyrgyz government agencies."

The Airmen are the point of contact for everything that has to do with coalition forces and foreign dignitaries or any visitor that doesn't speak English. In the last three month, they've processed more than 4,000 coalition force soldiers from 17 different nations going in and out of Afghanistan.

These two Airmen have two things in common, apart from working in the same office; they were both born and grew up in foreign countries where they honed their language skills and they both volunteered from different career fields. Captain Dempniak was born in Poland and was in the political affairs job back at his home station, and Sergeant Hudgeons was born in Russia and came here from the finance office at the 2nd Comptroller Squadron from Barksdale AFB, La.

Captain Dempniak described the coalition coordinators and linguists duty as unique in nature because there is no similar job stateside, it can only be found in deployed locations.

"This is a multidimensional environment," he said. "It is very dynamic. It's never the same every day. We are called to assist in duties that don't usually happen in the CONUS, such as language interpretation during a national holiday at the French Embassy or on combat mission flight to Afghanistan. We attend high-level meetings to ensure translations are correct in form and intent."

In addition, Sergeant Hudgeons said they are the spot-checker for the local translators here.

"We have to ensure the translations are up to the U.S. standards," she said. "We are here to make sure everything is correct and in the interest of the United States." 

Due to the absence of coordinators' offices for the French and Spanish detachments here, Captain Dempniak also works as the coalition liaison and a translator for these two detachments.

The two Airmen both agreed that they both find the job very interesting because it provides a lot of opportunities for interaction.

Interacting with different people in different cultures and languages is an everyday experience for coalition coordinators and linguists, which is what makes the job interesting, Sergeant Hudgeons, who is on her first deployment, said.

For members who would like to explore the culture here, the team also offers Russian Classes to help people understand the language and the local citizens.

We are diplomats in a military uniform, Captain Dempniak said. The job is not about meeting quotas, it is to make our coalition partners happy members of the Transit Center, and it is about making their experience pleasant here.

"We always make sure the job gets done every day, (because it's continuous in nature.)" Sergeant Hudgeons said. "It's not like a one-day (deal); things come and go every day, and the impact we make overall is to continuously safeguard the mission."