Stop!; Hands up!; Drop your weapons!; Stop your vehicle; Show me your identification card...
Selected phrases to be taught US military personnel prior to deployment to Afghanistan, from "In The Loop," Al Kamen, in today's Washington Post
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That last one - "Show me your I.D. card" - brings back memories of our Marine Security Guards at the American Consulate in Alexandria, Egypt. The MSGs, our third line of defense after the Egyptian paramilitary guys with the Kalashnikovs and the local contract guards at the gate, manned the bulletproof glass-enclosed booth at the entrance to the Consulate proper.
Dressed in their white-hatted Marine best, they probably intimidated any poor Egyptian visa applicant who managed to get that far, if only because of their "Leatherneck" reputation. But they were a very professional bunch of guys (this was before women MSGs appeared on the scene in the late 80s), and they did their best to learn some Arabic. Including "Show me your I.D. card." Result: blank stares.
Try as they might, the combination of American accent, inch-thick ballistic glass, and miles of cultural separation defeated their efforts at communication in the local vernacular. Until they hit upon the hand over hand gesture, shown here. Voilà! Instant comprehension. Oh, that I.D. card!
But here is the extra bit that the Marines learned, and taught me, who had pretty decent Arabic language skills back then: the hand over hand thing meant everything tangible, measurable. Whatever you wanted it to mean, in context. Want a French-style baguette loaf, and not the little round pita bread? Right hand superimposed over left arm, up below the elbow - long. Trying to describe a thimble-sized auto part to a mechanic? Hand over opposite fingers - small. And so on. The ultimate universal gesticular mnemonic device - your hands.
General McChrystal's idea of hands-on language training before heading for Helmand makes sense, and I'd say that there are already lots of Marines and soldiers who have figured out that communication sometimes requires more than a few foreign words strung together. Just be sure that what passes for a gesture of clarification in Egypt doesn't mean anything rude or hostile in Dari!
