355th Airman Visits WV as LEAP Translator

Photo By Sgt. Zoe Morris | A Peruvian officers watched military police from the West Virginia National Guard during a civil disturbance exercize. The Peruvians were visiting West Virginia as part of a State Partnership Program.  

KINGWOOD, WV, UNITED STATES

07.13.2016

Story by Sgt. Zoe Morris 

153rd Public Affairs Detachment

Sgt. Zoe Morris
153rd Public Affairs Detachment

KINGWOOD, W.Va. - Staff Sgt. Yesenia Camacho-Arce got a break from her normal job as a nondestructive inspection specialist in the 355th Equipment Maintenance Squadron in June when she spend time as an interpreter on the other side of the country - Camp Dawson, W.Va.
When a delegation of military police officers from Lima, Peru, visited the 151st Military Police Battalion during a State Partnership Program visit, Maj. Thomas Willis requested interpreters from the Air Force’s Language Enabled Airman Program and Camacho was chosen for the mission. This was her first as a Spanish/English interpreter with the program.
Originally from Durado, Puerto Rico, Camacho counts English as her second language and said she was very glad to have the opportunity to use it as part of her military job.
“I don’t get much of an opportunity to speak Spanish,” she said. “I just speak it at home. Using it this week has been great.”
A friend who is in the program first told her about it. LEAP is designed and managed by the Air Force Culture and Language Center “to sustain, enhance and utilize the existing language skills and talents of Airmen,” according to the AFCLC website. “The goal of LEAP is to develop a core group of general-purpose force Airmen across specialties and careers possessing the capability to communicate in one or more foreign languages.”
Not only did Camacho have to translate from English to Spanish and vice versa, as an Airman who normally works on aircraft, she had to translate technical language of military police exercises between Army soldiers who serve on different hemispheres. There is also the difference in an active duty Army and a National Guard military - which Peru does not have - that took some explanation.
“The Air Force is structured into flight, squadron, group and wing,” she explained. “The Army is squad, platoon, company and battalion … simple, but it takes a lot of thinking to translate between.”
Capt. Dallas Wolfe, chief of security at Camp Dawson and the 151st liaison, was very happy with the translation assistance of Camacho and MSgt. Joselyn Leon, another LEAP translator.
“The translators were great,” Wolfe said. “Both the Air Force sergeants have been outstanding as far as being available and translating very well.”
During the closing ceremony, Lt. Pablo Aranda, a member of the delegation, thanked Camacho for her kindness and patience. In the short five-day visit, both the Peruvian and the Americans worked on building their proficiency of each other’s language and learning about each other’s culture and environment. The interpreters were essential in building the friendships that grew over that time.
Camacho said the hardest part was being away from her three young children, but the experience was worth it. Visiting a new part of the United States and meeting the West Virginians and Peruvians was enjoyable and, she said, she is looking forward to more LEAP missions down the road.

• Date Taken: 07.13.2016
• Date Posted: 07.14.2016 11:10
• Story ID: 203936
• Location: KINGWOOD, WV, US