Role of Cultural Understanding and Language Training in Unconventional Warfare

The level of violence in the world has not only steadily increased over the last decades, but it also has shifted in nature from conventional to unconventional. Given these circumstances, Romania's national interests call for the development of unconventional capabilities that are necessary to deal with current and future low-intensity conflicts. This thesis analyzes the influence of language training and cultural understanding on the overall success of counterinsurgency campaigns. After examining some situations in which United States and British forces carried out counterinsurgency operations, the author reveals that ground troops with foreign-language skills and cultural training were able to work more efficiently with the local population than troops without such training. Cultural awareness facilitated communication and developed interpersonal trust. Additionally, language and cultural training enhanced military personnel's ability to understand the operational environment and to make a more selective use of force. The purpose of this thesis is not to promote a departure from conventional military training, but rather to propose the development of new Rumanian military capabilities, the performance of which will increase through a better exploitation of language and cultural resources.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Role of Cultural Understanding and Language Training in Unconventional Warfare', published 2004 under ISBN 9781423521082 and ISBN 1423521080.