Evaluating Military Cross-Cultural Training Programs

Abstract

Increased emphasis on stability operations, counterinsurgency, and security cooperation during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in programs to train and educate U.S. military personnel in foreign cultures and intercultural competence. Now, with the shift to great power competition, the Services have reduced or eliminated cultural training and education requirements. Documenting the approaches and lessons from these programs is important to maintain an institutional record for the future, if and when the United States sees the need to better understand the foreign cultures with which and in which its military operates. The present study applied a framework for qualitatively evaluating military cross-cultural training programs based on training science.