2006年VOA标准英语-Military Cadets Train For Insurgent Warfare

By Kane Farabaugh
West Point, NY
27 July 2006
 
watch Warfare¹ Training report

More than 60 percent of U.S. Army personnel have been deployed² to Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them were trained in the Cold War mentality³ of conflict with a superpower. But the enemy in today's wars is much different. The insurgent⁴ warfare there has led the Army to change the way it teaches its future leaders.  VOA's Kane Farabaugh traveled to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to see firsthand how updated training is preparing cadets for a new kind of battlefield.

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West Point insurgent warfare training   
  
As Arabian music blares from a radio perched in a village window, U.S. soldiers cautiously approach the village elder. The rest of the unit takes up positions in the surrounding tree line.

If it weren't for all the trees, it could look like Iraq, and sound like Iraq. 
 
 
U.S. Army Major Christopher McKinney 
  
That's the idea, says U.S. Army Major Christopher McKinney.  "…Sheiks, insurgents⁵, you see villagers, or as we refer to [them] as, civilians⁶ on the battlefield. We see media on the battlefield. You see the language barrier exists," says the training instructor⁷. "The cultural aspects of head of household, respect for family members, civilians on the battlefield getting in the way of what you are trying to do perhaps, not on purpose, but just living in their village and all of a sudden there is a big fight here."

But just like the bullets in this training exercise, this is not a real Iraqi village or battle.

Welcome to West Point -- the U.S. Army's premiere military academy along the Hudson River in New York State.  It's an institution of higher learning…and ground zero for training future officers in the new challenges of fighting an insurgency⁸.
 
 
Captain Ryan Morgan
  
Captain Ryan Morgan served in Iraq during the initial invasion in 2003.  Now he is a training instructor. Morgan is a West Point graduate who went through the academy at a time when the military was still preparing to fight a superpower.

"We've had to change the focus of our training away from the Cold War era static offense-defense type of fight, to the more non-contiguous asymmetrical⁹ fight we see now in Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom," said the captain.

Instructors¹⁰ here say almost all current West Point cadets will serve a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan during the course of their initial five-year military service.  Most will arrive there less than a year after they graduate.

As officers, these cadets will eventually lead soldiers into battle. Or in some cases, into a trap. "When the cadets take action, we try to have a realistic reaction for whatever it is they do, because that is often the case in theater," explains McKinney.

Helping¹¹ the Army create those realistic reactions are translators and actors for whom the Iraq war was not a simulation.

 
Samie Sawa 
  
Samie Sawa fled from Basra, Iraq in 1992.  Since the war in 2003, he's been back and forth¹² as a translator and consultant¹³. Now he plays the part of a village sheik and gets paid by the U.S. Army.

"I want them to learn how to deal with the Iraqi people," says Sawa.  "How to deal with Iraqi custom.  Don't talk to the lady.  Don't shake hand with lady.  Don't go like that.  Don't go and bother the sheik.  You have to respect sheik of the tribe or the emir of the village or city.  Take care of people.  Be nice to them.  Always smile to them.  They'll respect you."

This training is also the time and place for instructors to reinforce battlefield ethics¹⁴, prompted in part by the recent allegations of rape¹⁵ and murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. service members.

"We require the cadets to go through the full investigation¹⁶, just like they would with sworn statements and everything, so we treat situations out here in training the same way they would in that theater," Major McKinney tells us.

This is all a new kind of training that is evolving as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.

Veterans returning from those battlefields -- where the bullets and bodies are real -- pass on their knowledge to these cadets under the old military mantra: "The more you sweat in practice the less you bleed in battle."

1 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

2 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

3 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

4 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

5 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

8 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

9 asymmetrical   

adj.不均匀的，不对称的

参考例句：

• Most people's faces are asymmetrical.多数人的脸并不对称。
• Folds may be gentle and symmetrical,or sharp and asymmetrical.褶皱可以是平缓而对称的，也可以是陡峭而非对称的。

10 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

13 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

14 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

15 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

16 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。