DLIELC Increases English Language Training in Vietnam in 2020

  • Published
  • By Defense Language Institute English Language Center
  • 37th Training Wing

Secretary of Defense, Dr. Mark Esper, has called the Indo-Pacific America's ''priority theater.'' The Department of Defense (DoD) Indo-Pacific Strategy Report states, “The Indo-Pacific is the Department of Defense’s priority theater. The United States is a Pacific nation; we are linked to our Indo-Pacific neighbors through unbreakable bonds of shared history, culture, commerce, and values. We have an enduring commitment to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific in which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty and able to pursue economic growth consistent with accepted international rules, norms, and principles of fair competition.”

The Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC) is supporting the Indo-Pacific Strategy by deploying a Mobile Training Team (MTT) to the Military Services Academy (MSA) in Hanoi, Vietnam for the first time. Instructors will provide English language training (ELT) to 70 Vietnamese Coast Guard (VCG) Officers. Like other MTTs, these language courses will be taught with proprietary DLIELC curriculum and books. 

This is a significant step in the right direction for DLIELC and the DoD. The deployment of the training team highlights US commitment to strengthening partnerships in the region. The first-ever deployment of instructors to MSA is intended to expand cooperation with Vietnam; the formal normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries was restored in 1995. 

DLIELC Instructors are sent overseas under the direction of DLIELC’s 637th International Support Squadron (637 ISS). Members of the 637 ISS affirm, “Our team is excited to support the DoD INDOPACOM strategy to expand cooperation with Vietnam by providing superior English Language training at the Military Science Academy in Hanoi.”

The DLIELC language training aims to prepare VCG personnel to direct unmanned aerial vehicles and Hamilton Class Cutter operations. Eventually, the Office of Defense Cooperation-Hanoi is hoping to centralize bilateral ELT at MSA so that the entire country will have a self-sufficient program supported by DLIELC-trained ELT instructors and managers.

Vietnam is an exciting addition to the list of countries DLIELC partners with around the world.

Follow along as this, and other, MTTs move forward by visiting https://www.facebook.com/DLIELCLACKLAND/ and facebook.com/37thTrainingWing/.