You may have heard that the US army is having a bit of a problem in recruiting soldiers. Apparently, not everybody is enthusiastic about joining an army that is globally known for its imperial adventures, so the Army has been lowering its previous standards. There's another, thing, too: the Army is looking to "diversify" its corps, especially bilingual speakers from diverse ethnic backgrounds who might have better luck dealing with foreign lands. But according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the Reserve Officer Training Corps program (ROTC) hasn't been looking in the right places:

The ROTC program at St. John's University here seems perfectly placed for an Army that's desperate for officers who are bilingual and comfortable in foreign lands. About 40 of the 120 students speak second languages, including Turkish, Korean, Mandarin, Hindi, Albanian, and Gujarati.

"I had never even heard of Gujarati until I learned I had a cadet who spoke it," says Lt. Col. Timothy Walter, who heads the program.

But instead of being hailed as a model for the Army's future, the St. John's Reserve Officer Training Corps program is a lonely outpost of diversity. In the past few decades, the Army has pulled its officer training and recruiting programs out of the Northeast and big, ethnically diverse urban centers, choosing to concentrate on campuses in the South and Midwest.

An officer's background didn't matter so much when the U.S. was focused on fighting big armies in large conventional battles. These days, though, U.S. success in places like Iraq and Afghanistan hinges on the ability of Army officers to win the trust of a suspicious and often culturally alien population. Officers must court sheiks and warlords and work closely with indigenous security forces.

At a time when the country is growing more and more diverse, the Army is struggling to build an officer corps that takes full advantage of America's multi ethnic society. There are only about 1,500 Muslims in a force of about 500,000 soldiers. Arabic speakers are in critically short supply throughout the force, say senior Army officials. Even in those cities, like New York, where the Army maintains ROTC, it is undermanned and culturally out-of-synch with the people it is trying to recruit.

"We've been very shortsighted," says retired Gen. Jack Keane, who served as the Army's vice chief of staff until he retired in 2004. "We have leaders in the Army who are uncomfortable in big urban areas. They feel awkward there."

To prepare soldiers better for dealing with local populations, the Army has added language and cultural-awareness classes. At West Point, for example, cadets in the Social Sciences Department spend three days each year in Jersey City, N.J., a city of about 250,000 that includes large numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Egyptian Coptic Christians. The West Point cadets meet with local political and religious leaders. They spend the night in a mosque, meet with the Imam there and observe evening and morning prayers. During their last trip they were treated to a homemade feast from Hindu, Egyptian and Coptic Christian communities.

"The goal is to help cadets understand how a big, diverse, ethnic population works," says Maj. Stephanie Ahern, who oversees the trip [Link].

The bits that I've quoted here speak volumes, but let me state the obvious:

Immigrants in this country are usually regarded with the disdain that springs from nativist chauvinism- all the moaning and groaning about immigrants not speaking English and about the dilution of the "American way of life" and "American culture." All sorts of draconian measures towards immigrants and people of color- whether undocumented or not- have been enacted, ranging from the militarization of the US-Mexico border to racially profiling people of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent and locking them up as suspects, even deporting them. Some don't like the fact that the US has way too many immigrants. Usually, the US state plays a large role in shaping and forming this sentiment. When the multi-ethnic of this country is lauded, it's usually by hypocritical liberals who fawn over the merits of "multiculturalism" without knowing that there is so much more to immigrants than just the tacos, tandoori chicken, and sweet and sour pork that they so love to eat. For a country as mixed as ours, we're remarkably ignorant about different socio-cultural strands that run throughout the US.

And let's not get started about how the US treats and regards the "local populations" abroad: they are a "suspicious and often culturally alien population." Gee, I wonder why people who've been invaded and occupied would be "suspicious" and hostile. The fact that they hold grave reservations and react defensively towards the invading armies is held up as something distinctive and characteristic of their "culture," rather than a natural reaction of any people who are getting trampled beneath the boots of looters.

But now, the children of immigrants are wanted! The fact that their immigrant parents spoke to them in another tongue is now a positive thing. Being of a different religious affiliation is good. Those Muslim Arab kids who probably got taunted as being Bin Laden in school, and who felt the sting of the demonization of Arabs and Islam by the US state and mass media are now desired. And finally, the multi ethnic character of the US is something that can be put to use.

Why?

Because it serves the empire. It helps to effectively further imperial aims. Why not get indoctrinated brown Americans to dupe, cheat, and steal from those other brown people abroad and bring capitalism "democracy" overseas?