Now a question to Memphis and Mongo -- to what extent, if any, did you ever end up using Russian in your military careers? I'm really enjoying the language and plan on going to the Ukraine next summer for language immersion, but I'm not really sure how much I'll ever use it after leaving here.
Basically, what are some of the language opportunities in the fleet?
I got involved in a very unique language program as a 6th grader while going to school in St. Louis.
In 6th grade we had to survey course in Spanish, French, German, & Russian. I liked Russian and ended up taking it from 7th-12th grade. I always had native speakers as my instructors. By the time I graduated from high school I was
very good at Russian.
When I got to the Academy I validated
6 semesters of Russian. It didn't do me much good since I majored in Aerospace Engineering. If had majored in Soviet Studies (that was a separate major at the time), I would have been set! That is one of my academic regrets in life. I
should've majored in Soviet Studies!
However, my 1/C year at the academy, when a few humanities electives were available in my schedule, I took some very high-level Russian language courses from the Soviet Studies Department. Easy A's - even after 3 years of not speaking the language.
During my high school days, since all my instructors were native Russians, I also learned a lot about Russian culture and how Russians think.
* * * * *
Did I use it much in the Navy? The short answer is "No." I was a pilot and foregin language skills never played a role.
But - I
do have a few odd stories to tell, however.
I was onboard USS Nimitz, flying A-7 Corsairs. We were deployed in the Mediterranean. The ship went up into the Aegean and we were tasked to do an exercise with the Turkish Air Force - a high speed low-level flight through the mountains of Turkey. Some kind of NATO exercise.
A flight of 4 of us were supposed to launch and meet with a few Turkish jets, join up, and fly a specified route. We were to meet at a predesignated location. When we got there - one problem - the briefing we got never indicated
who was suppose to lead this gaggle, the U.S. Navy or the Turkish Air Force. It is very difficult for 4 jets to join-up and fly formation on 4 other jets unless there is some understanding as to
who is following
who. Their English was completely unintelligible. We had a huge communication barrier. I was out of ideas and, on a lark, I started speaking Russian over the radio. One of the Turk pilots spoke Russian! That's the way we communicated and we finished the exercise with me and this other Turk pilot doing all the communicating. That was kind of neat.
* * * * *
Our squadron was temporarily based out of Roosevelt Roads (Puerto Rico) doing an exercise called Orange Air. We were assigned to fly harassment missions on USS Eisenhower which was set to deploy shortly. In other words, we were the "bad guys".
One morning I was assigned to fly a "missile profile." Very boring, actually. All I was supposed to do was fly directly toward the ship at a very low altitude and very high speed, just like anti-ship missiles do. The drill was to see how quickly their radar operators detected me. I was instructed not to fly within 15 miles of the ship unless given prior permission from the Air Boss (basically, the ship's tower controller). When I was about 20 miles out I came up on Eisenhower's frequency and said,
"Доброе утро Американский авианосец! Мы знаем где вы находитесь и мы летим к Bам," which roughly translates to, "Good morning American aircraft carrier. We know where you are and we're coming to get you."
Ha ha!
I was mostly just entertaining myself. After all, we
were the "bad guys."
Funny, huh?
When I eventually arrived back at Roosevelt Roads and went to our makeshift Ready Room, there was a notice on a chalkboard. "Notice to crews! Unauthorized Soviet transmissions are being made on U.S. military frequencies."
I was riveted! Really?
I immediately went to our Intel Officer and asked about it. I found out they were in the middle of drafting an Incident Report to the higher-ups in Washington about this infraction on the part of the Soviets. Apparently, there is an agreement between nations that we do not transmit on each other's radio frequencies during time of peace, do not employ any electronic deception, and do not electronically track aircraft with fire control radar. Transmitting on the Eisenhower's frequency violated this agreement.
Apparently there was a Russian trawler out there. (Oops! I didn't think of that) And, of course, everybody knows these are spy ships.
I had to quickly confess that I had spoken Russian on the radio. Most of my squadron mates didn't even know I spoke Russian. My commanding officer certainly didn't. Fortunately, I told them soon enough to stop the press on the Incident Report. Mostly, they were appreciative that I had confessed what I had done - they realized that no harm was meant - and that I was advised to not do it again.
* * * * *
Fast forward years later.
A Korean passenger airliner is shotdown by a Soviet fighter. It's big news! It's all over CNN. Everybody is killed.
The next morning, when I show up to the squadron, we're all having our morning coffee and talking about it.
I remember saying something to the effect, "Something
must have gone wrong. There is no logical reason why the Russians would shoot down a passenger airliner. Nothing good can come of that. They had to know they would get worldwide condemnation. The Soviets are hyper-sensitive about stuff like that. This
had to be unintentional."
My commanding officer grabbed my by the collar and pulled me up to his face, "Well, you
better believe it was intentional! That's
exactly the type of thing they would do!"
Geez! Lighten up, Francis.
In light of the "Puerto Rico incident" about a year prior, I think he saw me as some kind of communist sympathizer. Somehow he connected my ability to speak Russian as a threat to national security - or some other kind of warped thinking like that.
So - what am I telling you? I'm telling you that my ability to speak Russian has mostly gotten me into trouble.
* * * * *
When I was getting out of the Navy, at the time, there was a big push to retain carrier aviators. In fact, no matter
when your obligated service expired, once you put in your resignation letter, you had to wait NINE months before getting out. The
reason they did this was twofold: 1) It pretty much guaranteed that you could not get a civilian job that far out, which meant you would have to submit your resignation without having a job waiting for you. They hoped that it would give you cold feet and encourage you to stay in the Navy, and 2) it gave the Navy 9 months to persuade you to pull your letter by enticing you with some orders that might appeal to you.
One of the orders the detailer offered me was to be a military attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. In preparation, they offered to send me and my wife to Monterey, to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) for intensive Russian language training. Obviously, I would need much less training than my wife. I turned those orders down. But - clearly - the detailer had done some snooping into my officer records and saw that I had Russian language proficiency.
In fact, I'd have to say that my ability to speak Russian probably helped me get into the Naval Academy in the first place. I had good grades but not as good as the average candidate at the time. My SAT scores were sub par. The Russian probably looked pretty impressive on my application form, however. Being able to speak Russian in the early 70's was like being able to speak Arabic today. Knowing the language of your enemy is a pretty big deal from a military perspective.
Within a couple days of showing up for I-Day, I was pulled out my company and escorted off to some room in Chauvenet Hall, all by myself, and was administered a Russian language proficiency exam. This is where I validated the six semesters.
I'm an airline pilot now. Besides helping an occasional Russian-speaking passenger, I don't use it very much.
Well, that's my Russian language story.
