JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas – A deep dive inside the Language Enabled Airmen Program is the focus of the latest episode of "The Air Force Starts Here," released Feb. 11, 2020.
Senior Airman Francisco Melendez from the Air University public affairs team sat down with the director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center, Howard Ward, as well as Capt. Christopher Price, a LEAP scholar, to talk about the AFCLC’s flagship language program that is focused on cross-cultural communication and how it helps bring out diversity in the Air Force.
Ward goes into detail how the LEAP program spans an Airman’s entire career, including both building and maintaining a working proficiency in a foreign language that allows them to think globally and use their skills as a force multiplier. Ward also talks to who is eligible for the program and dispels the myth that LEAP is an interpreter program.
Price details how he came to be in the LEAP program and his passion for it, as well as talks about his travels while in the program.
The professional development podcasts are designed to help communicate and inform Total Force Airmen across the globe on relevant, timely topics related to the recruiting, training, education and development fields and can be listened to on the government network on the AETC website, or via mobile application as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play.
Future episodes are set to cover a wide range of topics, including the special warfare recruiting, maintenance training, and much more.