What difference does language make for 35M?

2019-08-25T18:50:32-04:00

I am currently in AIT and I was just notified my language was changed from Arabic to Russian for DLI. I want to focus on the Middle East if possible. What will I mainly be doing now that my language is Russian? Would this change much at all?

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Aug 25 at 2019 7:12 PM

2019-08-25T19:12:22-04:00

We have been training folks in arabic almost totaly now for a decade. Makes sense to do Russian since they want to rattle their sabers. You will just be collecting Intell from a different area.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 25 at 2019 11:59 PM

2019-08-25T23:59:09-04:00

Your job will be the same, you'll just be assigned to a location that covers a Russian speaking area. Ideally, anyway...
Language MOSs are very tightly managed and you can be filling a 35M spot coded for Arabic or Chinese because they're short in those languages at that skill level.

Response by MAJ Javier Rivera made Aug 26 at 2019 7:00 AM

2019-08-26T07:00:31-04:00

We on to the US Army. Where personal wishes take a back seat, if at all, and the service needs are priority #1!!

Your job day to day duties will not change at all so don’t worry about it. Perhaps better taskings every now and then since for the last 15+ years an absurd amount of Middle Eastern linguistics have bees trained.

Response by MSgt Michael Smith made Aug 26 at 2019 3:10 PM

2019-08-26T15:10:28-04:00

Question: Why would you rather focus on Arabic rather than Russian? If your answer is something like, "I want to deploy more/close to the action/Combat Vet/etc." then you are doing it for the wrong reasons. If not, then Russian is a fantastic, difficult, language that is most likely far more relevant to future national security than Arabic. Also, Russian is spoken in a large number of Middle East countries, including most of the stans.