ABSTRACT
Intercultural skills are increasingly recognized as critical to overseas military and humanitarian operations. As military operators engage in day-by-day and momentby-moment decisions in the course of carrying out a mission, they need intercultural competence in order to make appropriate decisions and act on them in culturally appropriate ways. This paper describes an approach to intercultural skills training that focuses on the skills required by military operators in overseas operations. The overall capability is called Operational Language and Culture Training System (OLCTS) (pronounced "OLaCTS"). OLCTS provides anywhere, anytime language and culture training on a range of different training devices and platforms, including desktop, web-based, and hand-held. Immersive serious games provide an integrated learning environment in which trainees must make decisions about mission goals and logistics as we11 as cross-cultural and interpersonal interactions with socially intelligent virtual agents. The OLCTS capability is being rapidly transitioned into regular use by military service members in the United States as well as in allied countries.
