Sailors take advantage of extra language pay

[unhappycamper]

Sailors take advantage of extra language pay
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, March 17, 2009

While sailing through the Suez Canal in 2002, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington turned to now-Chief Petty Officer Younes Zhari to speak Arabic with the Egyptian canal authority.

"I’d be up there at the bridge to make sure the flow of communication was as smooth as possible," said Zhari, of Kissimmee, Fla., and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14 at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan.

Zhari didn’t get paid any more for his additional duty at the time.

Now, Zhari receives an extra $300 each month for his language skills under the Navy’s language proficiency pay program, established in its current form in 2006.

He recently took an annual Arabic requalification test at Atsugi.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61368