KOI TASH, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyz Republic soldiers and American airmen teamed up Jan. 26 to educate one another on their native tongues one phrase at a time.
The Theater Security Cooperation division coordinates a monthly language exchange between the Transit Center at Manas and the Koi Tash Non-Commissioned Officer Academy. Participants are paired up and teach their partner either English or Russian, but this language exchange was a little different.
The Kyrgyz Republic soldiers started the class by teaching the American airmen a few common phrases in Kyrgyz.
"We've never done that part before. Usually it's just Russian and English, so that part was actually really interesting and a lot of fun," said Senior Airman Thomas Adkinson, a personnel support for contingency operations representative with the 376th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron. He is deployed to the Transit Center from Vance Air Force Base, Okla., and this is his fourth time participating in the exchange.
For some participants this was another great language lesson, for others it was just the beginning.
"It wasn't just one thing that I learned," said Sgt. Hypiav Byuwoeatob, a Kyrgyz Republic solider at the Koi Tash Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, through the assistance of a translator. "But the biggest take away is my interest to learn English."
Byuwoeatob has been in the Kyrgyz Republic military for eight years and this was his first language exchange.
The exchanges are held to facilitate a cross cultural understanding and learning between the Kyrgyz and U.S. military, according to 2nd Lieutenant Justin Miller, the 376th Theater Security Cooperation division's host nation liaison chief and English instructor for the exchange. He is deployed to the Transit Center from Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
"We're in this country as guests, plus I want to learn about the Kyrgyz and show them that we're a lot like them," Miller said
The exchange concluded with handshakes, photographs and larger cultural understandings.
"I'm glad I was able to meet good people from America and make friends," Byuwoeatob said.
