By Natela Cutter

On his first visit to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center since taking charge of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Brig. Gen. Anthony Hale and his team wanted to learn more about the Institute’s ability to modify training for students during the pandemic.

Brig. Gen. Hale awards a coin to thank DLIFLC staff for their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we have seen here at DLI…is how it has adapted to the COVID situation, gone to more virtual training, and how they were able to adapt to virtual training in a very short time using laptop computers and iPads and use Microsoft Teams to do that instruction,” said Hale.

The visit on Jan. 4th took place just after the winter holiday break and included lunch at the Presidio of Monterey’s new dining facility, Chay Hall, and a walk-through of nearby military barracks where students are housed two to a room.

“This is only their second assignment after Basic Training, and they are transitioning from civilian to military life, which is a little bit different than being in high school or being in college,” explained Hale, speaking about the students.

Later in the day, Hale made a point to visit with senior and junior military leadership that included all four branches of the military service, though DLIFLC is Army-run.

“As a leader I want my subordinate leaders to be positively intrusive with their Soldiers, with their Sailors, their Airmen and their Marines. What that means is knowing their Soldiers, knowing what they are doing in the classroom, but [also] knowing a little bit about their family, about the issues they are dealing with,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Anthony Hale, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, spent several hours acquainting himself with the Defense Language Institute mission, as he toured the installation barracks, ate at the new Chay dinning facility and spoke with joint service leadership about the challenges they face with COVID-19.

Hale spoke about the need to teach new service members, regardless of branch, how to be good leaders.

“COVID has affected us in many ways, but one is the isolation. And going to virtual training, our students stay in their rooms for seven hours a day and do homework three hours [per night]. They are isolated from their peers, their leadership – but that positively intrusive leader is the one who is always there, who is checking up on them who is talking to them in a meaningful way and just really being there for them.”

In his parting remarks, Hale said he thought that the situation with the pandemic was reaching a turning point.

“I think the next couple of months are going to be tough with the COVID environment across the nation. But I think that we, as the Department of Defense and as the military, are taking some good measures to protect ourselves as much as possible. And that [means] protecting not only our student population, our young Soldiers, but also our faculty, our civilians [and their] dependents,” Hale concluded.

By Natela Cutter

Lt. Gen. James E. Rainey, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, visited DLIFLC today and took the opportunity to speak with leadership about the effect of the pandemic on foreign language students, as well as the imminent rollout of a vaccine against the coronavirus.

Lt. Gen. James E. Rainey, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, visited DLIFLC Jan. 14 and took the opportunity to speak with Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center leadership about the effect of the pandemic on foreign language students.

“His (Rainey’s) visit was a follow up to the virtual visit he participated in May of last year,” said DLIFLC commandant Col. Gary Hausman, adding that the general took the opportunity to find out more about how DLIFLC was ensuring the safety of students during the pandemic, and discuss issues surrounding behavioral health and the rollout of the vaccine against COVID-19.

Rainey stopped by the Presidio of Monterey California Medical Detachment to give coins to military personnel and civilians to thank them for their hard work in taking care of military service members and their dependents during these challenging times. He took a moment to speak with each individual and express his gratitude for their service.

“Thank you for your hard work here during these unprecedented times,” Rainey said, adding “if you would like me to reassign you to Fort Polk from beautiful Monterey, just let me know,” he said jokingly, causing personnel to laugh.

The general also spent time speaking with the POM Garrison Commander Col. Verman Chhoeung during which he had the opportunity to present Sgt. 1st Class Stephanie Lessmeister with a coin to thank her for her work as a Victim Advocate and for re-establishing the SHARP Student Council that had gone dormant during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Tammy Cario

Anna Sherman knew from a young age what she wanted to do.

“I ended up doing this State Department funded national security scholarship twice while I was in high school,” she said. It was the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a program run in partnership with the U.S. government to provide overseas language study opportunities for American youth that gave her this first experience.

“It changed my life. It was so incredible…it just really solidified that this track of working in the government, working in national security, is definitely what I wanted to do,” said Sherman, after she spent the summer and her entire senior year in Beijing, China.

Following that program, Sherman enrolled in the University of Minnesota where she majored in Asian and Middle Eastern studies. With eight years of Chinese language to her credit, she wasn’t sure what program would be right for her capstone, or senior thesis.  When she came across the Chinese Flagship Domestic Immersion Capstone Program held at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, she decided to apply for it.

“My flagship director brought up to me that there’s this domestic option at DLI and it’s for students who are interested in working for the government,” she said, “which is totally the track that I want to be on.” Fast forward to present day and this program “is the only program that is even running because the others are shut down in China” due to the pandemic, she said.

The Chinese capstone program at DLIFLC, the first if its kind in Monterey, is held in conjunction with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and lasts two full semesters. The six students attending, called Boren scholars based on the names of the Boren scholarship they simultaneously applied for along with the capstone, come from colleges across the United States.

The Chinese capstone program at DLIFLC, the first if its kind in Monterey, is held in conjunction with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. The six students attending, called Boren scholars based on the names of the Boren scholarship they simultaneously applied for along with the capstone, come from colleges across the United States.

“I think a big difference between regular college education for a Chinese program and the one here is there’s just a bigger mission,” said William Grosser, another Boren scholar from Arizona State University, who came across the program after deciding at a young age he wanted to go into government work. “We’re talking about national security and service to country. That is the foundation for why we’re doing this.”

Because the capstone is for college students who already have a higher level of Mandarin Chinese, the curriculum had to be, by default, different from the standard DLIFLC curriculum. “Most of [DLIFLC students] haven’t had the experience of going to college,” explained Dr. Liwei Gao, who is the director of the DLIFLC capstone. Boren scholars, on the other hand, have a foundation and higher language proficiency to start with. Because of this, the curriculum for the capstone program is unique to DLIFLC, which meant Gao and his team had to piece together different curricula to suit the capstone needs.

“We referred a lot to the intermediate and advanced programs” at DLIFLC, Gao said. They also modeled it after a similar course at University of Maryland, College Park to make it resemble a more typical college class. “Creating a class from scratch takes two to three years,” he said. “We literally had a few months to create a program with all of these components.” Dr. Gao and his two teachers assigned to the capstone also looked for authentic materials online to keep the cultural aspects relevant.

Dr. Gao was officially hired as the director for the program in December of 2019. By September of 2020, even with a pandemic raging, the capstone was underway. The Boren scholars live in Monterey and attend online classes for more than 11 hours a day, five days a week and meet on Sundays for three hours.

“With this program, I’ve just been so satisfied with the high-level content, the high-level intensity,” said Sherman, who felt she had plateaued in her language before coming to Monterey. One of the factors to overcoming that at DLIFLC, she said, is “content that is tailor made. The teachers have taken all of our content that we’re learning from authentic sources. It’s not just a textbook.”

For Gossmer, this capstone has taught him to appreciate that the context and history of the language is just as important as the language teaching itself. “I think the challenge for us is that it’s very content based…so it’s building upon that cultural knowledge, historical knowledge. So, our main topics are centered around policy government, society and economics.”

It’s these topics that will help the students as they move on to work within the government sector.

Clare Bugary, a former DLIFLC staff member and one of the founders of the capstone program, explained, “Chinese was a great place to start” for the capstone program because it was a primary focus for the DoD. “We also worked with our intelligence community partners to establish options for internship positions immediately following their language training at DLI,” she said. “The DLI Boren/Flagship students will incur a one-year service obligation,” an incentive that drew most of the Boren scholars to the program in the first place.

“I feel very fortunate,” said Sherman “I just had a very clear vision and this program fit right in.”

By Natela Cutter, DLIFLC Public Affairs

The first thing one notices when walking into the vaccination site at the Presidio of Monterey is the calm, organized manner of operations. People are smiling and soft, cheerful pop music plays in the background while staff in scrubs or uniforms scurry around, preparing vials and syringes.

Bruce Fairbanks’ excitement is palpable after he received his vaccine, emerging from the other side of the blue curtain. “That was so fast!” he said. Fairbanks is from the neighboring Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. “I am elated, this is fabulous! I set the alarm three times last night.”

With the Presidio of Monterey California Medical Detachment being responsible for vaccinating most Monterey County federal agency members, including two National Guard installations and military retirees, the clinic has been preparing for months for the vaccination of up to 18,000 individuals against COVID-19.

Lt. Col. Cordero directs California Medical Detachment personnel as they set up for COVID vaccinations at the Weckerling Center February 2021. (Photo by Natela Cutter)

“It is all about process,” said Lt. Col. Chani Cordero, Chief Operating Officer at the Presidio of Monterey Health Services with CALMED, which also serves the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, its largest customer, with a total student and civilian staff population of about 7,000.

“We looked at the (vaccination) processes from start to finish which allowed us to calculate the throughput,” explained Cordero about the planning. “We didn’t have long queues and everyone who made an appointment got the vaccine,” she said.

During the interview, Cordero’s cell phone continued buzzing. She would answer interview questions, reply to important calls, or swiftly walk over to check on the flow of vaccination and then come back to chat, all with a big smile on her face.

“It has been an honor to lead the vaccine effort for our area and has been personally rewarding,” said Cordero. “Being a part of the solution is why so many of us chose healthcare as a profession.”

For someone who has a chemistry degree, Cordero knew exactly what she wanted to do when she chose information technology for her military specialty, in combination with being a Medical Service Corps officer.

The COVID-19 vaccination vials are prepped for use by the California Medical Detachment at the Weckerling Center February 2021. (Photo by Marcus Fichtl)

“It’s a fun niche to be in,” Cordero says, of being focused on medical systems, devices and electronic health records which allows her to employ project management methodologies to help establish efficient processes.

“Workflows matter,” said Cordero, because “once the team establishes an efficient workflow with roles defined, this makes the operation run smoothly.” Her belief in communicating effectively with her team has also made a big difference.

The first thing Cordero does is huddle with her staff, in the middle of the large room. After a few hours, they are huddling again, this time peering over time sheets, looking at the number of vaccine vials or the number of ready-to-go syringes.

“Due to the short shelf life of the vaccine once punctured, I had our pharmacy tech constantly monitor the vials,” she explained, referring to Spc. Kacie Flores, whose job is to keep an eye on the exact time the vaccines were pulled from the portable freezers.

With the aid of Flores, the Moderna vials are removed from a freezing temperature of between 2 and 8 degrees and then thawed to room temperature for use. However, once thawed, the vials must be used within six hours or they will have to be discarded.

“This monitoring has ensured that we have not wasted one single dose. It is also imperative to have a waitlist (of people) ready to go in the appropriate phase just in case you have a few doses left over,” Cordero explained.

And what is most important to Cordero? Aside from serving her patients, it is her staff.

“I watch for burnout. The team that has been working this entire time on the COVID-19 pandemic issue over the past months, is the same team that is administering the vaccines. I have to ensure they have downtime. Pizza helps too,” she said, with a chuckle.