Cultural Understanding in the Czech Republic
News
CULP MISSION: Czech Republic
By Cadet Jerney Davis
During the Summer of 2014, I was selected to go on a mission to the Czech Republic through the Cultural Understanding and Language Program (CULP) sponsored by the US Army Cadet Command. The intent of CULP is to expose Cadets to the everyday life of different cultures to develop more cultural awareness and foreign language proficiency skills while also developing strong relationships with international partners. While in the Czech Republic I worked directly with the Czech military for three weeks and gained experiences I will never forget.
The mission to the Czech Republic was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. I say that with absolute honesty and no exaggeration. CULP changed my life and with it my perspective of the United States Army. Through this personal military to military mission, I have gained a strong relationship with some of the Czech soldiers and learned a lot about the Czech culture.
Through this paper, I will relate what all I have learned about the Czech people in a chronological manner. I will begin with my first impressions of the Czech in Prague, and end with the 151st Engineer Battalion in Olomouc. It is my intent that this way of organization will show how I have grown through this experience. Though this whole trip was a learning experience, the 153rd Engineer Battalion in Bechyne was where I was influenced the most, and where the bulk of this paper will be focused.
Prague:
Upon arrival at Prague, we spent our first day in complete awe. Every street we walked down and every corner we turned was a breathtaking picture moment, it was surreal. Prague is without question, the most beautiful city I had ever been to. From seeing Prague, my expectations for what this trip would be like were being completely fulfilled. People speaking English enough to not have a huge communication issue, and a prosperous country that was doing amazing after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The next day set the tone for how this trip was going to go military wise. The Bahna military exposition completely blew us away from everything we expected. We thought based on the schedule and quick explanation that the exposition was going to be a small event between our military and theirs. We could not have possibly foreseen the incredible production put on and the amount of people who came out to annually to see it. It was the most insane event I have ever seen from the military vehicles, the WWII era dog fight, the tank war simulation, the helicopter medevac rescue, the weapons, and the blank ammunition being shot everywhere. We were treated like celebrities and were approached by many Czech people who wanted to practice their English, take our picture, and hang out with us. When we tried to speak some Czech phrases, the locals were very happy and praised us. They were so appreciative that we tried to speak their language, which totally threw me off guard. We don’t treat foreign speaking people in America with any type of enthusiasm when they try to speak English, we get annoyed if they aren’t fluent. Being on the flip side of struggling with a language, it felt great to be encouraged to keep trying. This was also the first hint of how much their culture meant to them, to be able and willing to speak their language means that you care and respect them. This knowledge got us far in forming future relationships.
Another thing I noticed in the Bahna military exposition was how relaxed the Czech were with military standards. Women could wear their hair in different styles with any type of earrings, and men could have facial hair and longer hair. Patches varied a lot, and the uniform was allowed to be worn by civilians not in the Czech Army. It was often hard to tell who was in the Czech Army. At the time I believed that civilians were wearing the uniform simply out of a type of respect, or longing to be part of the exposition. Since the Czech Army has been out of conscription, the amount of military members has been cut drastically. So has the respect for those within the military, no one in the Czech Army receive a “thank you for your service.” The military uniform in the United States represents respect, we have strict standards and only those within the military may wear the uniform. I can only conclude that the civilians wearing the uniform do so out of a type of respect, but the relaxed standards of the uniform make it ok for civilians to get away with it. This negatively impacts the respect given to those within the military here in the Czech Republic. When we were there, however, we received immense amounts of respect for the uniform and military we represented. There were even soldiers and children that came up to us and told us that the United States Military was their favorite military. We are seen as a respected force, but their own military is not. This exposition was meant to show off their military power, but it ended up showing off our military power by our mere presence.
Bechyne:
Though the Bahna Exposition was incredible, our time in Bechyne surpassed it each day. We came up with a saying that whatever was listed on the schedule, we needed to add 150% more “awesome” to the description in order to gain an idea of what we would be doing that day. From the very first day our schedule said upon arrival we would “go on a slow jog to orient around the base,” then we would “relax after flight” before going on a “short hike around the Bechyne town.” What actually happened was a 6 mile run with a marathon runner (Captain Josef), an hour rest to shower, and a rock climb on a physically demanding course called a Via Ferrata. It was a shocking and incredible day, and every day afterwards was equally amazing. They gave us the best training possible and did everything to make sure our trip was a once and a lifetime training experience, which took tons of planning and time on their end.
Some of our training in Bechyne included the Via Ferrata, combative training, a 10 mile land navigation exercise with team building stations, a firing range, canoeing, SERE training, climbing/repealing courses, and demolition demonstration where we blew up over 75kg of explosives. The pictures below only hint at the incredible training experience we had during our week and a half with the 153rd Engineering Battalion.
While the Czech astounded us with their fast paced and high action training, we also astounded them. At every event we were up and motivated to complete the training and have a great time. In the Czech Army, according to SGM Micwal and SGT Sovboda, the soldiers are not motivated and are willing to give up before they even start an event. By merely trying every event we made an impression, by completing every event we made our military even better in their eyes. SGT Sovboda, our main host, would say what an “honor it was to witness our army, especially as Cadets.” Our military is the best in the world because we pride ourselves on never accepting defeat, it’s a part of our warrior ethos.
In our first briefing in Bechyne, from the commander of the 153rd Engineering Battalion, it was emphasized that they were a rescue operations type unit. Their unit was more like a US National Guard unit than an offensive unit. The Czech Army’s primary role is a defensive operation, with a few specialized units like EOD. On one of the training events, we got the opportunity to learn from the specialized EOD Company. I learned through them that a lot of Czech soldiers had actually been deploying to Afghanistan to help the US as attachment units. They don’t have an army large enough, financed enough, or trained enough to be involved in military operations by themselves. Most of their equipment is a hodge-podge of USSR, US, and new Czech technologies. They are very dependent on equipment donations, and we have a great relationship with their military partially because we help them out with equipment. The EOD Company specifically received 8 TALONS from the US, which was a very big deal to them.
Olomouc:
While in Olomouc we trained with the 151st Engineering Battalion for about a week. The level of training we received here was incredible as well! Though our time was shorter with this Battalion, the experiences we had were once in a lifetime. While in Olomouc we conducted training in Scuba Diving and had the opportunity to ride in old Soviet BMPs.
Olomouc is a middle ground of Prague and Bechyne. It is a college town full of youth and vibrancy, but it is also a smaller city packed with Communist reminders. We were in Olomouc for less than a week, but our stay impacted us more culturally than Bechyne. In Bechyne the people were happy towards us and we had a very close relationship with the military, but Olomouc was not as close to us so we could view the civilian culture more. Once you really looked for Communism effects, you could see it everywhere.
In conclusion, My view of CULP was a free trip to a foreign country. From my travels in the past, I thought I was pretty cultured and understood what experiencing a foreign country was like. It would be cool to see the cities and meet the Czech military, but the culture wouldn’t be totally different from the other European countries I had been to. I was completely wrong, and it is apparent that all of my other travels barely scratched the surface of cultural understanding.
CULP changed my life and with it my outlook on traveling and what a blessing it is to be a part of the United States military. The Czech people are very complex and I feel very close to them after a month of living amongst them. I am deeply invested in them, and I know what their relationship with the US means to me both culturally and as a member of the US military. Most of all, what I have learned through the military to military training is that though culturally and militarily we are vastly different, what it means to be a good soldier is the same. I am just blessed to be a part of the United States military, for it truly is a global influence to wear this uniform and represent something that everyone respects on some level. My team succeeded in our mission here in CULP with cultural understanding and forming relationships.
