Cultural lessons, from Peru to Iraq

Cultural lessons also apply to the military, as evidenced by this interesting piece in Newsweek, which shows how one soldier took cultural lessons learned as a youngster in Peru and applied them to some of his dealings with locals in Iraq. 

For Capt. Jim Marckwardt, coming to Iraq in 2005 was like being a kid again. Blackouts, water shortages, car bombs and guerrilla shoot-outs—just like his middle-school years in Peru, where his father worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development in the 1980s. Even the people seemed familiar. He was good at bargaining with Iraqi contractors.

“In the U.S., you sit down and negotiate directly,” Marckwardt says. “In Iraq you have to build more relationships. It’s very similar to the Peruvian way of doing business.” He also recognized the sense of honor that drives many Iraqis—another echo of his childhood in Latin America—and has used it to his and his men’s advantage.

Related posts:

1. The tribal culture of Iraq ...
2. Can soccer unite Iraq? ...
3. Cultural awareness through virtual reality ...