Rug Burn Junky on 12/5/2006 at 23:30

---

The first statement plainly says that Mandarin Chinese is one of the languages in demand, so it's logical to conclude that that would be one that would earn a higher bonus.

The second statement is admittedly somewhat ambiguous, but it leans more towards "depend on which languages" than "depend on the number of languages."

Read in conjunction that certainly implies that you will get more $ for speaking Mandarin.

Any other conclusion to be drawn as to why that is is probably irresponsible.

demagogue on 13/5/2006 at 21:23

---

Well, it depends from what perspective. From a perspective of logical entailment, maybe there's not enough information to read into the military's motivations in a way a political-economist would be comfortable.

But from the perspective of civic debate, given the administration's (DoD especially) abismal record with distorting or hiding facts from the public exactly to prevent an open public debate on critical things like use of force, it might be irresponsible *not* to speculate why the military has decided to suddenly start giving larger bonuses / incentives for Mandarin speaking people to join or stay in the ranks. This is ground forces personnel we are talking about. They're not going to be deploying to Chinese restaurants.

That said, I wouldn't say it's a signal of any real departure in security policy towards China, though. But it's still a kind of signal that that policy is still there and is keeping itself up-to-date. Actually, I see this policy as part of the larger movement in the US military over the last decade to shift itself away from the Cold War model and more oriented towards the threats of the 21st Century. So it's not provocative per se. But in the language States speak to one another, it's another little signal on the diplomatic radar.

Rug Burn Junky on 13/5/2006 at 22:21

---

Clearly. The reason I tihnk any conclusions are premature is much more simple, as you say, there simply isn't enough information.

Particularly, is it a supply issue, or a demand issue? I would imagine, comparably speaking, there is an absolute dearth of Mandarin speaking GI's. For one thing, it is not a commonly taught language in the US educational system, and it is exceedingly difficult to learn. For another, Chinese immigrants, and their second generation, typically don't fit the demographics to enlist in the military.

And even if it *is* a demand issue, when you're talking about institutional shifts like this, it's more likely about taking a long term approach - there is a big difference between "this administration is likely to start picking fights with China in the next two years" and "the brass in the military recognize that with China as a comparable superpower, there may be a need for chinese speaking personnel over the next two decades." One is jumping the gun, the other is just a recognition of possibilities, and even based on the shit that BushCo. has pulled in the past, I would still tend to lean more towards the latter.