CIWT’s LREC Team Launches Navy EDGE

Courtesy Photo | The Navy's Center for Language, Regional Expertise, and Culture (CLREC) delivers foreign language instruction and training on foreign cultures to prepare Navy personnel for global engagements - to strengthen ties with enduring allies, cultivate relationships with emerging partners, thwart adversaries and defeat enemies. Part of the Center for Information Warfare Training, CLREC is located at Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station. (U.S. Navy graphic/Released)  

PENSACOLA, FL, UNITED STATES

02.14.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Jackson 

Center for Information Warfare Training

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT) released the Navy’s first cultural awareness e-learning course, Feb. 14.

Navy EDGE (Every Deployment a Global Engagement) was developed by CIWT’s Language, Regional Expertise and Culture (LREC) directorate. There are currently four courses available, and LREC plans to include additional content in the upcoming months.

“More than 41,000 Sailors are stationed outside of the continental U.S.,” said LREC’s director, Christopher Wise. “Navy EDGE provides culture learning appropriate for all of them and their families.”

The training provides Sailors and civilians stationed overseas with information on their location’s geography, history, relations with the U.S., military ranks, religion, language, appropriate etiquette and basic survival phrases. The first four courses include information on Bahrain, Japan, Italy and culture shock. LREC is slated to release courses on South Korea and Spain within the next two months, and then Russia and China later this year.

The culture shock course serves as a preparation for living or working overseas. It introduces the concept of culture shock, its effects and how to identify and combat them. It also discusses reverse culture shock, something that can occur when a Sailor returns from a deployment or an overseas assignment. Culture shock compliments the Cross-Cultural Competence Trainer (3CT). The two courses provide a strong foundation in cultural awareness and help prepare naval forces for assignment anywhere.

“When combined with country-specific curriculum, this continuum of learning prepares Sailors and civilian employees for successful overseas tours,” said Wise. “It also improves personal and command cultural readiness; helps the Navy build effective relationships with vital partners; and reduces the confusion and insecurity that may accompany an assignment in a foreign culture.”

Each course also includes a video presentation for group learning, a professional etiquette guide and a culture card that provides a short summary of the host country’s culture.

These courses satisfy standing orders to maintain cultural awareness. EDGE can be used by commanding officers to ensure their crews maintain cultural awareness which improves unit and personal readiness and operational outcomes. Training completion is documented in Sailors’ Electronic Training Jacket.

All of the courses will be available on Navy e-Learning and Navy e-Learning Afloat.

The Navy's LREC office delivers foreign language instruction and training on foreign cultures to prepare Navy personnel for global engagements to strengthen ties with enduring allies, cultivate relationships with emerging partners, thwart adversaries, and defeat enemies. Part of the Center for Information Warfare Training, LREC directorate is located at Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station.

Center for Information Warfare Training delivers trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services, enabling optimal performance of information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training enterprise, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/cid/, http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ciwt/, http://www.facebook.com/NavyCIWT, or http://www.twitter.com/NavyCIWT.

• Date Taken: 02.14.2018
• Date Posted: 02.14.2018 15:11
• Story ID: 266053
• Location: PENSACOLA, FL, US