Many translators unfit in Afghanistan
NAWA, Afghanistan: Josh Habib lay in a dirt field, gasping for air. Two days of hiking with Marines through southern Afghanistan's 46-C heat had exhausted him. This was not what he signed up for.
Habib is not a Marine. He is a 53-year-old engineer from California hired by a contracting company as a military translator. When he applied for the lucrative linguist job, Habib said his recruiter gave no hint he would join a ground assault in Taliban land. He carried 18 kg of food, water and gear on his back, and kept pace - barely - with Marines half his age.
US troops say companies that recruit military translators are sending linguists to southern Afghanistan who are unprepared to serve in combat, even as hundreds more are needed to support the growing number of troops.
