Why are Mormons critical to the US Army?

[Stargazer]

An interesting short video from Ryan McBeth's YouTube military-themed channel. Note that this is one of those "shorts", meaning that if you let it, it will repeat over and over until the heat death of the universe. So you must pause it if you don't want it to drive you nuts.

 

[Stargazer]

Just now, Stargazer said:

An interesting short video from Ryan McBeth's YouTube military-themed channel. Note that this is one of those "shorts", meaning that if you let it, it will repeat over and over until the heat death of the universe. So you must pause it if you don't want it to drive you nuts.

I joined the Army after my mission, and was originally going to enlist to serve in the Army Security Agency -- and was going to spend a year learning Russian at The Presidio of San Francisco, but changed to the infantry. Later I took an test for the German language (my mission language) and had that Linguist qualification added to my records. Which may be why the Army sent me to Germany in a role that dealt with occasional interoperation with German troops.

[Calm]

Weird transition using the FLDS documentary as a lead in…

[smac97]

2 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

An interesting short video from Ryan McBeth's YouTube military-themed channel. Note that this is one of those "shorts", meaning that if you let it, it will repeat over and over until the heat death of the universe. So you must pause it if you don't want it to drive you nuts.

 

I signed up to be a linguist in the 141st Military Intelligence Battalion, one of two such battalions headquartered/located in Utah.  Utah also hosts headquarters for the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade:

Quote

The 300th Military Intelligence Brigade (Linguist) is a United States Army formation, subordinate to the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) part of the Utah Army National Guard and headquartered at the Utah National Guard Headquarters building in Draper, Utah.

Formed in 1988 from the 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion, the 300th provides linguistic support to the U.S. Army throughout the world. Numbering approximately 1400, with approximately 90% being trained Army linguists, the soldiers are organized as five-person teams, trained in HUMINT (such as interrogators), counterintelligence, and SIGINT (such as voice intercept and analyst) skills. The brigade covers 19 documented languages, heavily oriented toward Arabic, Persian, and Korean.

Order of Battle[edit]

•  Headquarters and Headquarters Company (Utah Army National Guard)
•  141st Military Intelligence Battalion (Utah Army National Guard)
•  142nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Utah Army National Guard)
•  223rd Military Intelligence Battalion (California Army National Guard)
•  260th Military Intelligence Battalion (Florida Army National Guard)
•  341st Military Intelligence Battalion (Washington Army National Guard)
•  415th Military Intelligence Battalion (Louisiana Army National Guard)

California and Washington, who together host two linguist battalions, have a combined population of roughly 47 million.

Utah, which by itself hosts two linguist battalions, has a population of 3.2 million.

I went to Basic Training right out of high school in 1991, then went to the Defense Language Institute to study Russian for 12 months, then to Ft. Huachuca for advanced training.  I then served a mission in Taiwan, then returned to Utah and joined C Company, 141st in Provo.  I was double-slotted as a Russian and Mandarin linguist (meaning that I filled the role of two "slotted" soldiers).  Quite a few soldiers in Utah were - like me - double-slotted, or else did not need to attend DLI because they had learned a language as a missionary.  

As I was in military training, I never found out just how much it cost the Defense Department to send me to DLI, to pay and billet and feed me during that year, to pay for the teachers and facilities and medical care, etc.   I imagine it was fairly substantial.  Those costs are often avoided when RMs sign up and use their acquired language skills in military service.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Stargazer]

23 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I signed up to be a linguist in the 141st Military Intelligence Battalion, one of two such battalions headquartered/located in Utah.  Utah also hosts headquarters for the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade:

California and Washington, who together host two linguist battalions, have a combined population of roughly 47 million.

Utah, which by itself hosts two linguist battalions, has a population of 3.2 million.

I went to Basic Training right out of high school in 1991, then went to the Defense Language Institute to study Russian for 12 months, then to Ft. Huachuca for advanced training.  I then served a mission in Taiwan, then returned to Utah and joined C Company, 141st in Provo.  I was double-slotted as a Russian and Mandarin linguist (meaning that I filled the role of two "slotted" soldiers).  Quite a few soldiers in Utah were - like me - double-slotted, or else did not need to attend DLI because they had learned a language as a missionary.  

As I was in military training, I never found out just how much it cost the Defense Department to send me to DLI, to pay and billet and feed me during that year, to pay for the teachers and facilities and medical care, etc.   I imagine it was fairly substantial.  Those costs are often avoided when RMs sign up and use their acquired language skills in military service.

Thanks,

-Smac

I really wanted to go to DLI to learn Russian. But my personal circumstances were such that it was probably a bad idea. I was in a very precarious marriage with a woman who was emotionally unstable. So the morning I was to go to actually enlist, I bailed. I'm sure it was the right thing to do.

[Pyreaux]

Also, a shoe in for the FBI and CIA for the same reasons, they already know a random language and because the return missionaries were occupied during the age most would get into the most trouble, so have spotless records.

[Damien the Leper]

4 hours ago, Calm said:

Weird transition using the FLDS documentary as a lead in…

I thought so too. Not sure what purpose it served.

[InCognitus]

"Why are Mormons critical to the US Army?"

I misunderstood that headline at first (I'm glad I watched the video).  Typical me, reading a headline out of context, mistook the meaning of "critical" to be in the criticizing or condemnatory sense, when the more appropriate meaning would have been crucial, vital, or essential.  NOW it makes sense!

Edited December 10, 2022 by InCognitus

[mfbukowski]

24 minutes ago, InCognitus said:

"Why are Mormons critical to the US Army?"

I misunderstood that headline at first (I'm glad I watched the video).  Typical me, reading a headline out of context, mistook the meaning of "critical" to be in the criticizing or condemnatory sense, when the more appropriate meaning would have been crucial, vital, or essential.  NOW it makes sense!

Good for you! I am an ambiguity bloodhound and thought the same

Edited December 10, 2022 by mfbukowski

[Stargazer]

On 12/9/2022 at 4:53 PM, Calm said:

Weird transition using the FLDS documentary as a lead in…

Indeed!

But I love his channel, as he is a very experienced retired infantry heavy weapons non-commissioned officer. When he talks I hear the ring of authority. He's been downrange and understands the game.

[Stargazer]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:50 PM, Damien the Leper said:

I thought so too. Not sure what purpose it served.

It would seem to be clickbait, except it isn't brought up in the video title, soooo....

Maybe he's just trying to educate people who may be ignorant that there's a difference. He certainly understands the Church's desire to shed the Mormon appellation. There for a time when I was first watching his channel, I thought he might be LDS himself, but this turns out not to be the case.

[LoudmouthMormon]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:45 AM, Stargazer said:

An interesting short video from Ryan McBeth's YouTube military-themed channel. 

Heh.  Glad Gen Y and the millennials are discovering new and exciting things, but this is old, old news.  There's been an overrepresentation of LDS folk in the FBI, CIA, military intelligence, and areas that need high level security clearances since, I dunno, the '50's?  Anyone wanting young, patriotic folks with foreign language skills and experience, who can pass background checks, and are low blackmail risks, have been aware of us Mormons for a long, long time.

I first encountered the notion back in the '80's, reading my Tom Clancy novels.  Dude had a Mormon background character or two in sensitive areas of govt work, for exactly those reasons.

 

[LoudmouthMormon]

On 12/9/2022 at 2:50 PM, Damien the Leper said:

I thought so too. Not sure what purpose it served.

Dude is a content creator on a social media platform.  Part of the winning logarithm is to mention stuff the masses know, then present a cool new thing that only he knows.  Gotta drive those likes and subscribes!

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Stargazer said:

It would seem to be clickbait, except it isn't brought up in the video title, soooo....

Maybe he's just trying to educate people who may be ignorant that there's a difference. He certainly understands the Church's desire to shed the Mormon appellation. There for a time when I was first watching his channel, I thought he might be LDS himself, but this turns out not to be the case.

It might have simply been what triggered his idea for the video.

[Stargazer]

9 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Heh.  Glad Gen Y and the millennials are discovering new and exciting things, but this is old, old news.  There's been an overrepresentation of LDS folk in the FBI, CIA, military intelligence, and areas that need high level security clearances since, I dunno, the '50's?  Anyone wanting young, patriotic folks with foreign language skills and experience, who can pass background checks, and are low blackmail risks, have been aware of us Mormons for a long, long time.

I first encountered the notion back in the '80's, reading my Tom Clancy novels.  Dude had a Mormon background character or two in sensitive areas of govt work, for exactly those reasons.

 

Old news or not, it's good to see it acknowledged again. And probably to an audience some of whom are unfamiliar. In the world of publicity, where even negative publicity can be good publicity, positive publicity is even better, and may lead some to be curious enough to eventually investigate.

As a Tom Clancy fan, I remember those mentions in his novels.

[smac97]

15 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Heh.  Glad Gen Y and the millennials are discovering new and exciting things, but this is old, old news.  There's been an overrepresentation of LDS folk in the FBI, CIA, military intelligence, and areas that need high level security clearances since, I dunno, the '50's?  Anyone wanting young, patriotic folks with foreign language skills and experience, who can pass background checks, and are low blackmail risks, have been aware of us Mormons for a long, long time.

 My dad has mentioned a few times that when he was at BYU in the mid to late sixties he was heavily recruited by both the FBI and the CIA, but that he turned both of them down because he was not interested in government work.  In addition to having served a mission in Argentina and acquiring fluent Spanish, he had spent nearly a year traveling the world on a BYU performing group tour ("Curtain Time," the predecessor to the Young Ambassadors) funded by the State Department.

Thanks,

Smac

[Scott Lloyd]

On 12/9/2022 at 6:32 PM, InCognitus said:

"Why are Mormons critical to the US Army?"

I misunderstood that headline at first (I'm glad I watched the video).  Typical me, reading a headline out of context, mistook the meaning of "critical" to be in the criticizing or condemnatory sense, when the more appropriate meaning would have been crucial, vital, or essential.  NOW it makes sense!

 

On 12/9/2022 at 6:55 PM, mfbukowski said:

Good for you! I am an ambiguity bloodhound and thought the same

I understand the confusion. But the ambiguity is technically avoided by use of the preposition to instead of of.