Brandon Waithe was usually the only Black crew member during his 20 years in the Air Force. But the Green resident found community there as an airborne linguist whose cultural upbringing made his job a lot easier.
Joining the Air Force and studying Arabic
Waithe grew up homeschooled in Kentucky, but moved to Goodyear Heights in Summit County when he was 11. He described himself as “aimless” in high school, but wanted to join the armed forces after graduation.
When he couldn’t decide which branch, his mother said no to the Army and Marines, suggesting the Air Force or the Navy. However, he wasn’t super enthused about the Navy.
“You're just on a boat for six months,” Waithe said. “It didn't sound great.”
So he started to look at the Air Force. Originally, Waithe was interested in working as an aerial gunner, but his recruiter thought he’d be a better fit as a linguist. Waithe was apprehensive, until he heard about a $15,000 bonus upon passing the language test.
Once he passed the entrance exam, he joined the Defense Language Institute, where he learned Arabic for a year and a half. He described his time at the DLI as “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Almost half of the class dropped out within three months, according to Waithe. The class was filled with people who considered themselves smart in high school and didn’t have to study, but DLI was an entirely different challenge.
“You show up and within three weeks you're supposed to be speaking already,” Waithe said. “The first three days, [we learned the] alphabet. Next two days, we're going to start doing words and I was like, wait, I'm still trying to learn the alphabet.”
Eventually, Waithe found his way through and understood how to pick up languages much quicker. He realized that code-switching — the practice of changing one’s speech and behavior depending on the audience — unlocked a new way of understanding language. He grew up in a mixed community, so switching his language between the basketball court and his home church was second nature to him.
“The idea of like a word, an object being represented by multiple different words wasn't new to me,” Waithe said. “Having to be a cultural chameleon kind of made it a little bit easier for me to learn languages and stuff like that.”
Working and finding community as a Black airborne linguist
After graduating from DLI, Waithe began his work as an airborne linguist, where he'd fly a plane and listen to communications in Arabic. Then he would translate the information and pass it on to his superiors.
One thing became evidently clear to Waithe, as early as joining the DLI. As a Black man, he was usually one of the only ones.
“Most of the time when I'm flying some missions, I would be one of three black crew members or maybe the only one like in the whole deployed unit,” Waithe said. “There's not as many black linguists as there are black maintenance guys and stuff like that.”
The Air Force is still working on increasing its diversity. Black men only make up 15% of the active-duty Air Force, according to the Whiteman Air Force Base. The percentage of Black people working as officers or in intelligence units is even slimmer, Waithe added.
However, Waithe said he found community among the other Black airmen when he would transfer to a new base. Other Black officers and airmen would meet with him on his first day to show him the ropes and give him warnings.
“They'd pull me aside and say, ‘Listen, man, I just want to welcome you to the unit, but also to let you know, as a brother, there's some things that you need to watch out for,’” Waithe said.
Even with smaller numbers, Waithe always felt connected with his other Black airmen. No matter where he was stationed, other Black airmen would meet him and give him tips about where to eat and even where to get his hair cut.
"They’d say, 'Yeah, check this place, this place and this place,'” Waithe said. “‘Can I get a haircut on base?’ ‘Absolutely not. They'll mess it up.’ You know, that kind of thing.”
While Waithe is out of practice from speaking Arabic, he’s found that it’s come in handy even in his civilian life. As the director of education at the Akron Urban League, Waithe has met a number of new Palestinian and Syrian refugee students. After hearing them speak in Arabic amongst themselves, some words started to pop up and refresh his memory.
“I think I even had a dream of speaking some Arabic a couple of months ago,” Waithe said.
