Third Language Enabled Airmen Board meets, selects participants 10/4/2011 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) -- Air Force foreign language experts recently met at the Air Force Culture and Language Center here to select the latest participants for the Language Enabled Airman Program. Nearly 600 people from across the Air Force applied for the program. Barbara Barger, the Air Force Senior Language Authority, will validate the results, and selected members will be notified no later than Oct. 17, said officials at the AFCLC. The target goal for this selection board was 300 new LEAP participants. LEAP is a career-spanning program to select, develop and increase Airmen's foreign language capability and cross-cultural competence, according to Jay Warwick, the AFCLC deputy director and the head of the AFCLC's language department. The program targets early-career Airmen who are most likely to take fullest advantage of career-long language learning. Two selection boards were held in 2010, and the program continues to grow in applicants and selectees. "It has amazed us how many want to be part of LEAP and how much desire exists within the Air Force for its members to improve their foreign language abilities," Warwick said. The 578 people who submitted packages for the LEAP Board represented a wide range of Air Force career fields, including medical, operations, support and logistics Airmen, officials said. The program, which had previously been open only to officers, also chose a select few enlisted Airmen as pilots for more open availability for total force Airmen. Among the 46 foreign languages represented were more widely-known languages such as Spanish and French, as well as less common ones like Bengali and Tigrinya. Program officials said selections are based primarily on the candidate's Defense Language Proficiency Test scores, overall academic portfolio (with emphasis on foreign language course performance), record of officer performance, commander's recommendation and potential for success in achieving and maintaining a high level of language proficiency throughout their Air Force career. Individual records provide a good profile of the candidate's current proficiency in a particular language and an indicator of their ability to exercise the effort to successfully maintain that proficiency through additional study in the future, they said. "The board selected the best qualified personnel to meet both the current and future language needs of the Air Force," said Maj. Chris Cunniff, a board member and program manager for the International Affairs Specialist career field. "The language and culture skills they will develop as part of LEAP will enable us to more effectively engage with our international partners." (Courtesy of the Air Force Culture and Language Center)