We Americans traditionally, and innocently in the majority of cases, have disregarded cultural differences; as a result, we’ve been viewed as rude and insensitive or poorly educated. It’s no one’s fault, that’s just the way we’ve grown up, right, wrong or indifferent.
About a year ago, I kicked off a cultural awareness tweet (@Twobirdsflying) on Twitter. It’s intended to raise awareness of the need for becoming more culturally tuned; done in a humorous way.
The U.S. Army, specifically, USASOC sees it the same way and has made significant investments in training the SFGs to be more culturally aware. Culturally aware operators are better prepared to meet mission demands.
For example, your team has been ordered to infiltrate a small Cuban town. Your infil was brilliantly executed and no one knows you are in-country. Unexpectedly you run across a Cuban militia, do you light’em up or do you rely on your cultural awareness to overcome the obstacle?
Theoretical Cuban Militia
If you’ve been following my Cuban cultural awareness tweets, You know that you can rely on the word “conyo” to get you through quite a few situations by simply changing your inflection. However, when we combine the word “conyo” with the expression “Ave Maria” you have an incredibly powerful combination that will make your infiltration like butta.
What makes this so powerful is that “Ave Maria” is something you’ve heard at church all your life so it’s easy to remember; requiring no language schools. The key is pronunciation and inflection, if you sound like you’re from Connecticut you blew it.
To help you with that I’ve added an audio clip. By the way, this will also work on a comm channels under general chatter.
As you practice, relax and be natural; don’t try sounding like Tony Montana in Scarface.
To effectively use Ave Maria – Conyo, walk past the guard, smile, it helps if you have your shirt’s top two or three buttons open, and let the words just roll of the tip of your tongue. This will work even if she has a male partner. Strolling is important as to maintain a casual and relaxed appearance.
Have a great day, enjoy what you’re doing and may life shower you with the best it has to offer…
FOG HORN 