Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency (CULP) Program
The CULP Program is suspended at present. Below is for historical reference only.
For Army ROTC Cadets, the world is their classroom. Every year hundreds of Cadets travel the globe, spending up to three weeks immersed in foreign cultures, learning more about how others around the world view the U.S. and, in the process, learning more about themselves.
The Army recognizes the need for young leaders to develop more cultural awareness and foreign language proficiency skills. Now more than ever, cultural awareness training is a vital component to the ROTC curriculum. Overseas immersions help educate future leaders in ways the classroom cannot.
Cadets now have the opportunity to compete for immersion in more than 40 countries. For the summer of 2016, Cadets from the University of Maine are participating in CULP in the following countries: Paraguay, Bulgaria, Guyana, Hungary, Thailand, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Sri Lanka. These global opportunities expose them to everyday life in different cultures and intensifies language study, which helps produce commissioned officers who possess the right blend of language and cultural skills required to support global operations in the 21st Century.
Participants experience up to three different venues during immersion, including humanitarian service, host nation military-to-military contact and education on the social, cultural and historical aspects of the country. In 2014, 1,320 ROTC Cadets traveled across the world and participated in Cadet Command’s CULP program. The future goal is for at least half of all Cadets to complete a CULP Immersion Internship annually.
Immersion into foreign cultures exposes Cadets to the realities that other countries have vastly different lifestyles, economic standing and world perspective.
Cadets travel in small groups led by senior leader cadre. Trips typically incorporate approximately 20 Cadets and a cadre member traveling in conjunction with a civilian agency or non-governmental agency.
The trips last approximately one month, which encompasses the deployment as well as a five-day Soldier readiness process.
CULP slots are awarded on a competitive basis and take into account several factors, such as GPA, physical fitness, an essay, and other pertinent selection criteria.