JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
U.S. Coast Guard recruits began instruction at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center as part of the Army's Echo Company at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Aug. 30.
The Coast Guard started the new program, established by a memorandum of agreement between DLIELC and the Army, to assist recruits who could struggle in recruit training due to language barriers as well as to incorporate an English Language Training Program as a diversity initiative.
The length of the program is, at a minimum, 10 weeks depending on the recruits’ academic progress, but can be up to 24 weeks.
Upon completion of the DLIELC program, recruits will return to U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May in New Jersey and progress through the follow-on weeks of the normal recruit training process.
USCG Training Center Cape May is the fifth-largest base in the Coast Guard, the home of the Coast Guard enlisted corps and the sole accession point and recruit training center for the entire enlisted workforce.