摘要: Success in contemporary warfare is as dependent upon life-giving information as it is on lethal firepower. Understanding the language and culture of the battle space is critical to effective operational design. Analysis of steps t... 展开 Success in contemporary warfare is as dependent upon life-giving information as it is on lethal firepower. Understanding the language and culture of the battle space is critical to effective operational design. Analysis of steps taken by the U.S. military to provide the linguistic means to pursue operational and strategic ends indicates that programmatic solutions are favored, although a proper assessment of the requirement highlights the need for a shift in the institutional mindset and command climate to emphasize language as a critical operational skill. The problem should be framed as a leadership question. Leaders should be the examples of language skill and instill in all echelons an ethic of putting language in its critical operational perspective rather than treating it as a peripheral specialty. This paper argues that all forces need some level of remedial language skill to effectively achieve operational objectives and a vastly increased number need extensive training to apply the art of communication to the human-centric operations of today. The full range of language effectiveness calls for more consistent leadership and senior-level advocacy. 收起