When It Rains…

October 20, 2008 By CJ
Posted in Life in the Military

Except for the two years that I was in training when I first joined the Army, I’ve always gotten language pay. I joined the Army as a Spanish cryptologic linguist. Being proficient in a foreign language means extra pay. I’ve had that extra pay for 12 years now. Except on two occasions, I’ve always gotten the high end of the pay scale for maxing out the test. Those two occasions were: the first test I took to graduate from the school and immediately upon returning from Ecuador. The Army pays on a 2/2+/3 scale. To get paid, you have to score at least a 2/2 (reading/listening) on the test. 2 is a basic understanding; 2+ is a moderate understanding; and 3 is an advanced understanding. The lowest I’ve ever gotten in 12 years is a 3/2+ on the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT). Normally, I get a 3/3 on the test. Until recently.

The military recently changed how the DLPT is administered. They released the DLPT5, which is a completely automated test, on 1 Jan 07. Since then, DLPT test scores have dropped across the board. However, until last month, I hadn’t been required to take the new test. Because I am paid for my language, I have to test every year around September.

When I initially scheduled my DLPT, I had tried to schedule it in August because my due date was 5 September. The education center here only does the testing on Fridays and I had to be somewhere EVERY Friday in August. I had one scheduled for 22 August, but then my benevolent Battalion decided to have a change of command at the last minute!! I had to cancel that week. Then, the earliest I could get back in because the tester was on leave was September 12. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem because I always scored high and nothing would be affected. Unfortunately, there was a problem.

I can’t specifically talk about the test itself, but it was definitely a lot more difficult than any other I’d ever taken. The audio was very difficult to understand. Not the language, but the volume. No matter how I turned it up or down, the sound QUALITY was terrible. The reading was more difficult, but I felt like I understood everything I was reading. The most difficult part of the test, I thought, was staring at a computer screen for literally four hours!! It’s hard on the eyes. Upon completion of the test, I could tell that I was definitely not going to get my 3 in listening, but I didn’t think I would do much worse on the reading portion. When I got my score, I was floored! 1+/1+, the lowest score I had EVER gotten on the DLPT.

In the past this would have been a problem, but since the military changed the test, practically every servicemember that has taken it has dropped scores. It was so bad that the military actually suspended some of the new tests for certain languages. To make up for all the other people losing their money and certification, the military sent out a message stating that anyone who takes the test for the first time and loses money, they would retain their previous score for an additional year while they try to get up to the new standard. The only catch is that their certification must not have lapsed. I wasn’t worried because I still took my DLPT the same month, even though I had tried to take it earlier.

Well, remember that crappy S1 I told you about on ASP? They have, predictably, been no help. The regulation is difficult to understand and I can’t find anything that specifically talks about how the FLPB (foreign language proficiency bonus) is paid. The main point of contention is whether the bonus is paid on a monthly basis or daily. Unfortunately, I can’t look back to a year ago when I took the test last time. The payment is based off a 30-day month. Does that mean that if I take the test on the 15th, I get half the bonus for that month? That is the basis of my argument. Since I took the test in September, the same month I took the last test, would that prevent my bonus from “expiring”?

What does all this mean? The Army is trying to take $400 per month from my family’s mouths. Money that I’ve gotten without fail for 12 years. Money that was never threatened until this new test came out. It’s not just me. I’ve spoken to native speakers who took the test and had problems with it. Some have even lost money as well. Not only have I lost $400 per month that I’ve built my budget around, but I can’t retake the test for another six months. 6 x $400 = $2,400 in lost pay!! And is anyone at the Battalion helping me run down possibilities or exceptions to keep that money? Not at all.

5 Comments »