Katherine Schlather Spends Summer in Hungary for ROTC Training, Cultural Immersion

2014 Aug 27

Katherine Schlather of Avon, OH, spent a few weeks this summer in Hungary through a military cultural immersion program, teaching English to members of the Hungarian military.

Katherine is one of 13 cadets in the University of Dayton's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) who participated in the Army's Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency program (CULP).

The cadets spent up to four weeks immersed in a foreign culture, practicing leadership skills, learning more about how other others around the world view the U.S. and, in the process, learning more about themselves.

"Every cadet we've placed in the CULP program has come back and said it was a life-changing experience," said LTC Daniel Redden, professor of military science and leadership and commander of the Army ROTC program at the University of Dayton. "It broadens their horizons and exposes them to ways they can make a difference, through simple actions."

Watch a video of cadets in Greece on a boat operation in the Aegean Sea at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1YnHkiD_ro.

See photos of some of the immersions at http://armyrotc.smugmug.com/CULP/CULP-2014.

The CULP mission is generally one of four varieties:

• Teaching English to students, in turn the cadets learn the native culture and language
• Humanitarian missions and service learning projects
• Military-to-military-training with host cadet corps or partner nation military
• State Partnership Program missions with the National Guard.

These missions are designed to immerse ROTC cadets in various languages, cultures and socioeconomic situations so the cadets can learn, through personal experience, respect and appreciation that theirs is not the only culture in the world.

Additionally, it creates better military leaders because cadets are educated in world cultures, values and norms. With these tools the Army's future leaders will be better equipped to function in a variety of complex circumstances in an ever changing world.

Lastly, these cadets will have valuable experience in today's geo-political and geo-economic world, where countries and economies are tied together. This training will prepare them for civilian careers while serving in the Reserve components, or after their Army service, in industry and business.

Approximately 1,400 cadets from colleges across the U.S. participated in CULP in more than 40 countries.