Companies that recruit military translators are sending linguists to southern Afghanistan who are unprepared to serve in combat. Some of them are in their 60s and 70s and in poor physical condition, and some don't even speak the right language.
“I've met guys off the planes and have immediately sent them back because they weren't in the proper physical shape,” said Gunnery Sgt James Spangler, who is in charge of linguists at Camp Leatherneck, the largest US base in Helmand province.
US troops say low-skilled and disgruntled translators are putting US forces at risk.
“Intelligence can save Marines' lives and give us the advantage on the battlefield,” said Cpl William Woodall, who works closely with translators. “Instead of looking for quality, the companies are just pushing bodies out here, and once they're out the door, it's not their problem anymore.”
The company that recruits most US citizen translators, is Mission Essential Personnel. It says it is difficult to meet the increased demand for linguists to aid the 15,000 US forces being sent to southern, Pashto-speaking provinces this year as a part of President Barack Obama's increased focus on Afghanistan. Only 7,700 Pashto speakers live in the US, according to the 2000 census.
An Afghan-American citizen who called Mission Essential about a job, and who let an AP reporter listen to the conversation, asked if he would go to “dangerous places.”
'You're not a soldier', replied the recruiter, Tekelia Barnett.
“Oh, no, no, no. You're not a soldier. You're not a soldier. Not at all,” she said. “You're not on the battlefield.”
The translators are told they will get a shower once a day, have access to Internet and TV, call home six times a week but when they report for work they are completely shell-shocked. It is obvious they have been lied to.
Known as Category II translators, the linguists get security clearance and earn a salary starting at $210,000 a year.
Carrying a heavy pack in the stifling heat, Josh Habib said a Mission Essential recruiter originally told him that if he passed his language test, he would work out of the main US base at Bagram about 48 km north of Kabul.
“That's what she promised me over the phone. That was attractive to me, and it was safe,” Habib said.
Once in Afghanistan, he says he was told he would lose his job if he didn't go with the Marines to Helmand.
“It's been very hard, very hard, physically,” said Habib, who is a Pashto-speaking US citizen and was born in Pakistan.
US troops and translators say they suspect recruiting companies try to send as many interpreters as possible to Afghanistan to collect fees.
Mission Essential Personnel recruits and hires most Category II linguists in Afghanistan.
The translators said dozens of linguists quit soon after arriving in Afghanistan. According to one US army person, “quite a bit” resigned or were fired because they were too old, unfit or couldn't speak Pashto.
One translator said most of his colleagues could not speak Pashto, and that some recruits in the US were bypassing the language test administered for Mission Essential by having a skilled Pashto speaker take it over the phone. The company does not require the initial test to be taken in person but later gives in-person tests.
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