Yes. But there are actually two DLIs...the one in Monterey (DLI West) and another branch in Washington DC (DLI East), and in my experience most civilians go to DLI East.
because of the expense to train you they will not just send anybody to DLI as a civilian.
while we knew several DoD civilians at NPS we never met a single one there for DLI, and our Next door neighbor was there for DLI( Helo Pilot, moving to Germany) so he heard many of the rumors floating about PoM.
Examples of civilians who are eligible to attend DLI are NCIS agents and other DoD civilian criminal investigators whose jobs require language skills. You would have to be sponsored by your agency to attend, and such programs are very competitive.
I know several that have gone through such programs, but it was typically only after these individuals had YEARS of proven federal service.
If you mean can you attend as a non-federal civilian (ie private citizen), then I am not aware of any such programs.
i'm in the military now crossrating to a CTI. let's say i decide to get out after my time will they look at that to decide if i can go or not or still i have to work for a certain type of company?
The ONLY way I know of to attend either branch of DLI as a civilian is to be a federal government employee...DLI is not open to the public!!!
The only way you would get to go would be if your OFFICIAL FEDERAL DUTY required you to learn a foreign language (IE you were being assigned overseas to a DoD installation in a foreign country which required interaction with the host government.)
Sending you to DLI would be at taxpayer expense and would have to a requirement of your job, not something that you would "like" to do.
while we lived there I knew of ONE spouse who was able to get a truncated form of Russian mainly because her spouse's job was going to require HER to be out and about hob nobbing as well. Not entirely sure if she attended the same actual classes that the Servicemembers did or what.
I didn't know her well, just in passing really, so never really got any details.
I am aware that DLI will let spouses obtain language training in certain circumstances...ie spouses of US Defense Attaches. I don't see the OP becoming one anytime soon.
OTRG - DLI actually runs a large English-language program in Texas for allied military personnel, and when I came in the Navy in the 1990s, the navy was running special English as a Second Language (ESL) divisions with extra training for recruits with poor language skills.
I knew quite a few folks who SHOULD have gone through, including an SKI who was for all purposes functionally illiterate in English. I remember he gave ONE GMT and the 0-3 next to me said "How the BEEP did that man become an E-6 in the Navy". Same guy asked me for my 'Chicken ****' and got mad at me when I didn't understand that he wanted my 'check-in sheet."
So you know you're a "CT" when SKI (figured you meant SK1)is wrote and you think Polish or poss. RU is being spoke of because of the frequency that SKI is used in a last name in those societies.
It's ironic you mention ESL because I have known several USN enlisted who in 70% of their communication the other party is left with a blank look due to their lack of understanding. I remember a sailor who in a secure building would talk for hours on a STE in foreign tongues with her sister in Sweden during classified briefs... gotta love our diversity.
