“Salaam alaikum,” the tall Army captain says as he ducks into the Iraqi sheik’s warm, dimly-lit living room.
Peace to you.
“Wa alaikum salaam,” the sheik responds.
The captain’s escorts and the sheik’s bodyguards and advisors all exchange terse nods. Everyone sits on cushions around a low table. At the sheik’s insistence, the soldiers remove their body armor. Tea is served. Through his interpreter, the captain makes some small talk before gettting down to business.
“I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances,” he says.
The sheik frowns. He’s sorry, too.
Yesterday, the captain’s soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division accidentally injured some of the sheik’s people during a firefight with insurgents. The captain has come to make amends. If the U.S. Army is going to secure this town, it will need the sheik’s cooperation.
This is a scenario that plays out every day in occupied Iraq. But this meeting between Capt. Robert Nevins and the sheik is taking place in a brand-new facility in Louisiana. The sheik is an Iraqi expatriate employed by Cubic, a firm that provides simulations to the U.S. military. In the corner of the room, an expert in Iraqi culture observes the meeting and takes notes. Later, she will debrief Nevins, correcting his mistakes. In just a few weeks, Nevins will be in Iraq doing this sort of thing for real.
Welcome to Engagement University, part of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. Here, the Army prepares its officers for the delicate cultural interactions that are critical to success in Iraq. Anyone who has ever accused the U.S. Army of cultural insensitivity has never been to Engagement U.
Click here to read more at Military.com. And click here to check out my JRTC pics at Flickr.
– David Axe
P.S. — Columbia Journalism Review has published a long profile of yours truly focused on my new book WAR FIX and my experiences in Iraq. Check it out.
Simulating Sheiks
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Salaam alaikum… Islam 101?
“Salaam alaikum… Islam 101?”
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no, that’s a standard courteous greeting through out the muslim part of the world. “peace be upon you” and the sheik’s reply was “and upon you be peace.” i’ve used it with a pakistani co-worker pre 9-11 and he was surprised and happy to hear it from a non muslim, and called me a friend from then on. we are there to show them there is a better way of life, and it helps to know, use and respond to local courtesties with people willing to be friendly. for those actively not friendly the old adage applies “…let god sort ‘em out.”
Isn’t this a variation of the ” Robin Sage” taught to special Forces?
Finaly some more training that doesn’t just teach how to kill, but how to communicate with locals in a warzone!
Hopefully this will mean less hostilities towards the troops.
Together and he is not a very long time, but I feel very comfortable. He was sometime as a child, lovely, simple, not too many worries, likes a fish in a pure travel freely in the sea. He often took his only cheap GW gold send to me. His world simple, but he is happy.
During the time pass, my union was larger; my union members are very solidarity, when some people have difficult, we all go to help. I also remembered once a people
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