December 23, 20214 yr On 12/22/2021 at 1:21 PM, W2DR said: He studied Arabic. A really grueling 39-week course. When he graduated, the Army, in their inimitable way, stationed him in Korea. I was in the Army and studied Arabic MSA + Syrian, then went back for Egyptian. (Some differences in dialect.) In between, my crypto training was at Lackland Air Force Base, San Angelo Texas. My instructor there was a Navy petty officer. It took three branches of service to combine all that expensive training into motor pool duty at Fort Campbell, KY. 265th Army Security Agency Company, attached to the 101st Airborne, which wasn't, although until Jimmy Carter took them away, we did have cool teal berets and we got to blouse our jump boots. The 101st had helicopters which I was never allowed to ride, although I did get a jeep or a gama goat. (The Navy much later gave me plenty of helicopter rides as a JAG lawyer, so take that, 101st!) The Presidio of Monterey is still in business as the Defense Language Institute, from which one of my twin sons (who both went into the Army together over strenuous paternal objection) learned Korean. Oddly enough, through some mixup he was actually sent to Korea. The other went into the 82nd Airborne, which still is, and served in Afghanistan. The strangest thing is they still don't listen to me. By the way, there is no "Persian Gulf" in Arabic. Of course, it is the "Arabian Gulf." 🙂
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