It was in this mini-tower of Babel where Staff Sgt. Yvonne Black heard a multitude of languages spoken and where she said she learned to love the rhythm and rhyme of the sounds of words.
None more than from an elderly Kurdish woman, a religious refugee, a believer in the centuries old Persian faith called Zoroastrianism, who helped take care of her.
 U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Yvonne Black talks Friday about her military life. Black is an instructor with the Human Intelligence Collector Course on Fort Huachuca. (Beatrice Richardson•Herald/Review) |
It was from this woman, whom the 26-year-old soldier called grandma, not because she was a blood relative but as a sign of respect, that there grew a love to learn languages.
Describing her father, a retired Marine gunnery sergeant as a mix of multiple Europe cultures, and her mother a Filipino, Black said living with other cultures and learning different languages was exciting.
Black, a human intelligence collector instructor with the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion, learned not only Kurdish but part of a Middle East culture that goes back to 500 B.C.
The elderly woman, described as having weathered but graceful hands, had no children but she was a keeper of a special amulet that had to be passed from one woman in her family to another, Black said.
“It was really old and beautiful,” the soldier said. “It had been in her family for hundreds of years.”
Even though she was young, Black promised her special grandma — the woman who called her China doll, because Black’s face is almost porcelain white, with rosy checks, black air and large eyes — that one day she would return the amulet to Kurdistan.
But, there was more than just making a promise, for Black had to return the medallion to a specific site and put it into a specific place in a specific container.
Not only was the container — a box — critical, the old lady told the soldier there was a trick into opening the box because it was constructed like a puzzle.
To help her, the woman made a practice box for Black on which to practice.
“She could never go back home, but the amulet had to be returned,” the soldier said. “It was her dying wish. I had to honor it.”
So began a long delayed, almost Indiana Jones-like quest in reverse, for instead of trying to find something like the Holy Grail, Black’s mission was to return an object important to the woman’s family followers of Zoroastrianism.
Looking back on those years, the soldier said it was the first mission in life she received, one that she would eventually accomplish as a soldier in 2003.
Before enlisting, Black had become fairly proficient in street Kurdish and learned some of her mother’s native Filipino language of Tagalog and, as she said, “enough Spanish to get in trouble.”
Entering the Army before the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, Black said she tested well in the language area and was hoping to go to the Defense Language Institute.
But, the Army had other plans.
She became a generator mechanic.
Eventually she was assigned to Germany and while there learned German and French.
For some reason, Black said she seems to have a knack to learn languages fast.
It was while in Germany that her unit went to Iraq and she ended up in the Kurdish part of that area.
That gave her the chance to make good on her promise to her elderly friend of years ago.
Having the information where the woman’s family worshipped, albeit as low key as possible, one day Black found herself in that area, and without hesitation she headed for where the special “fire temple” of the faith was located.
Whatever the old woman had told her flooded back, as the description of the place was like she had grown up in the area, the soldier said.
Respectfully entering into the shrine, Black headed to the place where the box was supposed to be, and it was there.
In no time, she had opened up the puzzle box and placed the amulet inside.
In the background, a man and woman watched her, finally approaching.
It was then her Kurdish came in handy, for she found out they were the woman’s nephew and niece.
But, what was almost unbelievable, they told the soldier they knew she would be there to return the amulet, because their aunt had written them and told them Black had promised to do it.
“I kept my promise,” the soldier said.
And, finally, the Army recognized her language abilities and capabilities for she was allowed to transfer to the Military Intelligence Corps.
One of her first assignments as a human intelligence collector was a deployment to Afghanistan where she said, “I picked up Dari quickly.” Dari is one of the two official languages of that nation the other is Pashto, which Black also can now speak.
She also speaks Persian Farsi, as well as Iraqi Arabic.
Although she admits she can’t hold a conversation in the different languages at “the nuclear or micro-biological levels,” she said she can relate to people and put them at ease by speaking their language.
That is an important part of being an interrogator, she said.
While in Kandahar, Afghanistan, a village elder chastised her for being a tool of the Americans saying it wasn’t right for an Afghan woman to help the invaders.
Removing her veil, she looked the man in the eye and in her best California-street talk said, “Hey dude, I’m an American.”
Because of her elderly friend from her days as a child in Los Angeles, Black learned Kurdish nursery rhymes, which have helped her in creating a rapport with some of the people she questioned, or just spoke to during deployments to Iraq.
What a good human intelligence collector has to do is be patient and listen, while trying to maneuver a subject into being relaxed, Black said.
Of course sometimes doing the direct, harsh approach has to be done and even then having a knowledge of the culture, to include body language, is important, she said.
One of the hardest subjects she questioned was “a cold-face killer, an al-Qaida, Taliban type,” the soldier said. “He was handsome, jovial but you could see in his eyes he would kill you without hesitation.”
To be a woman questioning a man requires knowing when it is time for a male to take over and also, although one could never accused her of being subservient to a male soldier, to appear that way.
But, when it comes to questioning women, a female soldier always does better.
In Iraq, women soldiers usually have their hair up but have a bun in the back showing, even though they wear a helmet, so Iraqi women know “we are women.”
On more than one occasion, Iraqi women will tell female soldiers what’s going on in their neighborhoods, as long as their men are not listening, and sometimes they even tell on their husbands, she said.
Once a little girl took her by her hand and wanted to show Black something special.
It was a doll, one that had been made from parts of other dolls but for the girl is was the best one, Black said.
And, sometimes she has been asked to sit in on a meeting with local leaders and asked to say nothing, but just pretend to not know what is being said.
During those times, she has heard side talks among the Iraqis and even once heard two men speaking softly in Persian Farsi.
“They were pretending to be Iraqis,” Black said.
But being able to tell her commander about them provided a litte more intelligence gathered about the loyalties of the Iraqis at the meeting, Black said.
Eventually, Black will be learning another language — Italian.
It seems her husband of a year, Daniel Hinrichs, wants to go to Italy.
If there is anyone who can add another language to her repertoire, it’s Black.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
