Pentagon tells soldiers, "We have ways of making you talk"

[Dennis Baron]

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Pentagon tells soldiers, "We have ways of making you talk"

The Pentagon has ordered all its soldiers to reveal what foreign  
languages they speak.. . .

The motto of today's army is "never volunteer" (numquam evocati), and  
the order to divulge this mission-critical linguistic information came  
after fewer than 10% of the troops in the all-volunteer army filled  
out a voluntary survey to determine how many of them speak a foreign  
language.

Alarmed by the poor turn-out, the Secretary of Defense ordered all  
active and reserve troops to complete the language survey by March 15  
– even if they only speak English. . . .

soldiers identified as being especially proficient in the key  
languages of Iraq and Afghanistan will be eligible for foreign- 
language pay bonuses and immediate deployment to the war zone of their  
choice.

Those refusing to take the survey will be offered . . . .

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____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron

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