WORLDWIDE LANGUAGE RESOURCES INC. Translating for the military

The Pentagon contracts out its interpreters in trouble spots, like Iraq and Afghanistan.
RUMFORD, Maine (AP) -- In an old building in the woods of western Maine, the clocks on the wall give the time for Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany. A map plots out the world's hot spots for military action.
In each of those places, there's a translator dispatched by Worldwide Language Resources Inc., a company that provides translating services for the government. Based in Rumford, a town of 7,000 best known for its paper mill, the company also supports the local economy.
"We're trying to bring jobs to this dying mill town, and we're succeeding to some extent," said Larry Costa, who founded Worldwide in 1995 after spending two decades in the military. His service included an eight-year stint with the Army Special Forces, where he was a language training manager.
After Costa retired, he founded Worldwide, believing there was a market for military translators and language immersion programs. It's now one of several dozen private companies across the country hired by the Department of Defense and other government agencies to provide translators around the globe.
"When you see a hole or a vacuum you go to fill it," Costa said. "If you fill it well, you'll get more business."
The company currently has around 500 translators overseas, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan. The translators typically work for the military and government agencies. Most are attached to military units, but Costa's employees have also translated for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Desperately needed
Translators are desperately needed, especially for intelligence gathering and interrogations, said Kevin Hendzel, spokesman for the American Translators Association near Washington, D.C.
"The shortfall is very serious," Hendzel said. "It's an absolute matter of national security."
Costa searches the country from Hawaii to Maine for qualified translators who can pass security checks and speak Arabic, Kurdish or Afghan languages such as Pashto and Dari.
One of his employees is Alaa-Eldin, the military's public affairs liaison to Arab media, including Al-Jazeera.
Like other translators, Alaa-Eldin won't provide his last name. He said divulging his identity would be too dangerous because terrorists have offered $300,000 to those who kill translators helping the United States.
Part of Alaa-Eldin's job is to help rebuild the Iraqi media, and he conducts training courses for aspiring Iraqi journalists.
"It's a very wide variety of different tasks you can learn and things you can experience," Alaa-Eldin said.
Another translator, Hashmat, is an Afghani attached to U.S. military units serving in Afghanistan. His family fled Afghanistan 18 years ago. Now he says he wants to help rebuild his native country.
He said he's serves as a Pashto translator because he wants to help bridge the gap between the two countries.
"It's a good cause," Hashmat said. "I meet great people and serve both countries of mine."
Commitment to Maine
Costa's company, which has 25 office workers in addition to translators, was originally based in his farmhouse in Andover. Two years ago, he outgrew the house and moved to an old building in downtown Rumford.
Costa said his commitment to Maine, where he has owned a home since 1983, is why the company stays in a remote location an hour from a major highway and several hours from an international airport.
Worldwide gives its employees a chance to travel to countries they've never dreamed of seeing. The company's personnel manager had never been far from home in Maine; now she's in Iraq and Afghanistan, sleeping on an Army cot at night and filling out health insurance paperwork for Worldwide's employees during the day.
In typical stoic Maine fashion, she said before her latest international flight that she's not worried about her safety. She left Maine with body armor, a gas mask and 50 pounds of paperwork.
"You can't stop fate. If something's going to happen, you can just prepare for it," she said.
Several translators have been wounded in the past three years, but none killed, Costa said.
Making a difference
During their service, the translators have a chance to make a difference beyond their official duties. Stationed in Baghdad, Alaa-Eldin said it's hard for he and the other translators, who don't have to stay within the military's "green zone" of safety, not to get involved and try to help.
They've used their own money to buy creature comforts for those in need -- pots and pans, or in one case, a washer and dryer.
"You get very emotional when you see what they don't have and you want to give it to them," Alaa-Eldin said.