Dangers as an Army Linguist

All branches of the U.S. military need skilled linguists, but especially the Army as it interacts with non-English-speaking populations more frequently than the other services. Those with language skills in any form of Arabic, Mandarin Chinese Persian Farsi and Pashto are particularly in demand. Army linguists go through basic training like all other soldiers, and typically end up with a 35P or 09L Military Occupational Specialty. Working as an Army linguist does involve some risks, especially if you are assigned to serve in a combat zone.

Basic Training Dangers

All Army soldiers, except for direct-commission specialists such as doctors, must complete basic training after they join the Army. Basic training is a rigorous 11-week program that involves a great deal of physical conditioning. According to a 2001 study, injury incidence rates for injuries resulting in lost training time were above one per 100 person hours for all groups. Although fatalities are rare, typically one or two soldiers die in basic training every year. Over half the deaths are from natural causes such as strokes, heart attacks and embolisms, and the remainder result from accidents.

Travel Risks

Soldiers have to travel reasonably frequently, and travel is inherently risky. Even civilian air and ground transportation in the United States carries a small; risk and traveling in combat zones entails significantly more risk. Linguists working in combat zones travel often, as they typically have to be at the scene in order to translate. The exact risks have not been quantified, but given the prevalence of improvised explosive devices planted in the roads in many modern combat zones, travel is a known danger for Army linguists.

Operational Risks


Attacks on Base

Although attacks on larger military bases in combat zones are relatively rare, they do occur, and scores of American soldiers have been killed or wounded in such attacks. Smaller military bases and outposts, however, are attacked much more frequently, and the risk for serious casualties are also higher in these encounters. Linguists are generally assigned to larger bases and travel to assignments from there, but some are assigned to smaller bases for days or weeks at a time.