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Captain journeys back to Vietnam in one LEAP

  • Published
  • By John Parker
  • sTAFF wRITER
TINKER AIR FORCE BSE, OKLA. --  Born and raised in Vietnam until he was 15, Capt. Thomas Pham joined the Air Force in 2004 with hopes of one day using his native language fluency on behalf of his adopted nation.

So when the Air Force's Language Enabled Airman Program began, Captain Pham "leaped" at the chance. LEAP seeks Airmen already proficient in foreign languages to help sustain and improve their skills and be on call for key assignments around the globe.

"I thought this might be a great program to join and, who knows, I thought someday they might be able to send people to Vietnam to work in the embassy or anywhere," said Captain Pham, a science and engineering development manager at the Air Force Sustainment Center at Tinker AFB. "I applied and I've been in LEAP ever since."

After two LEAP-related assignments working with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Captain Pham said the experiences were dreams come true. His extensive work there included clearing a diplomatic hurdle in preparation for an historic secretary of state visit. 

A 6-year-old initiative of the Air Force Culture and Language Center at Maxwell AFB, Ala., LEAP has grown to nearly 1,900 participants that speak over 80 strategically important languages. The career-spanning program is designed to help Airmen across all Air Force specialties sustain, enhance and use their language skills and create cross-culturally competent leaders who can meet Air Force mission requirements.

The program seeks out Airmen who are already moderately to highly fluent in those languages found on the Air Force's Strategic Language List (SLL). Biannual selection boards typically choose new participants from active duty enlisted, officer and officer candidate applicants.

After being selected, LEAP participants are provided career-long language sustainment training, including live online language instruction through the eMentor program and language immersion opportunities called Language Intensive Training Events (LITE). Advanced LITEs, such as the ones completed by Captain Pham, can include internship-style training in foreign nations -- essentially a chance to improve language skills through interactions with native military and civilian speakers. 

Captain Pham was first called for LITE duty in Hanoi in 2013, but the captain's journey to America and the Air Force began in 1996. That's when his family, after a decade wait, was approved for emigration through family sponsorship. The captain's uncle was among the millions of refugees in the 1970s who fled the country after the Vietnam War.

The captain graduated from Oklahoma City's Western Heights High School, then acquired a bachelor's degree at the University of Oklahoma in 2004 and a master's degree in 2011. He earned naturalized American citizenship in 2001.

Captain Pham's first LITE assignment was as an intern for the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

During six weeks, Captain Pham's duties included translating for Ambassador David B. Shear during a ribbon cutting for a U.S.-funded Disaster Management Center and a kindergarten. He also translated and helped coordinate planning for a survey of three major Vietnamese seaports and two airports for possible use in humanitarian disaster relief, if needed. It was a site survey for the U.S. Transportation Command.

Captain Pham also successfully negotiated "politically sensitive" flight permission with Vietnamese officials involving Secretary of State John Kerry's visit there in 2013, according to Air Attaché Lt. Col. Raymond M. Powell.

"In short, Tom had to adapt and overcome in precisely the manner required for service here on the wild frontier of foreign service, and his success laid the foundation for an historic diplomatic event," Colonel Powell wrote.

Captain Pham's performance led to another trip to Hanoi last summer when the Office of Defense Cooperation requested him by name. He served as a cadre of the U.S. Army's Cadet English Language Training Team for two months.

Captain Pham has vacationed several times in Vietnam, but his work with LEAP was the first time he traveled there for the Air Force. They were his first trips to Hanoi and northern Vietnam. 

The captain highly recommends LEAP for Airmen.

"If you already have that skill in a language, LEAP will help you throughout your career," Captain Pham said. "You get sent overseas to that country to immerse in that culture, that language, and it helps you better that skill throughout your career."

The captain said his LEAP experiences have been the highlight of his career. "I loved it," he said.

"I recommend LEAP for anyone who wants to improve their skill and someday connect with their home country and represent the U.S. military in some small way and improve the relationship of the U.S. in that country."