Evaluating Cultural Competency

Team Lohe didn't come to solve a cultural problem. They came to prevent a strategic one—the kind that unfolds when good intentions meet unfamiliar ground, and when tactical success gets undermined by cultural missteps that ripple far beyond any single mission.

The problem wasn't theoretical. It was playing out across the Indo-Pacific theater every day: Army platoon leaders deploying without adequate tools to assess their servicemembers' social and cultural competency. The result? Negative cultural interactions that didn't just damage relationships with allies and partners—they pulled attention from assigned missions and undermined America's strategic position in the most contested region on earth.

So Team Lohe set out to give commanders the cultural intelligence they needed before boots hit the ground.

What's At Stake

In the Indo-Pacific, cultural competence isn't a nice-to-have—it's operational effectiveness. When a servicemember fails to grasp the bigger picture of strategic competition, or represents the U.S. poorly overseas, the consequences cascade upward. Leadership deals with the ramifications, but often lacks visibility into where the problem originates: at the platoon level, where cultural interactions happen daily and first impressions become lasting ones.

The 1st Multi-Domain Task Force at INDOPACOM understood this reality intimately. As the Army's primary formation for sensing and engaging across warfighting domains, they compete forward inside threatened areas to enable positions of relative advantage. But that advantage depends on more than technology or tactics—it depends on trust, and trust depends on cultural understanding.

Getting Proximate to the Pacific

From the outset, Team Lohe understood that cultural problems couldn't be solved from lecture halls. Led by Libby Lapporte and Grace Turner under instructor Alex Gallo, they didn't just study Indo-Pacific dynamics from Georgetown—they committed to understanding them where they mattered most.

Their Army sponsor, MAJ Steven Butler from the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, made that understanding possible by facilitating access to operational commanders, information officers, and enlisted soldiers across the theater. But the team took proximity one step further: they secured funding to attend LANPAC 2025, the premier symposium highlighting the role of land forces in INDOPACOM.

LANPAC wasn't networking—it was intelligence gathering. Three days focused on land force contributions, alliance building, and innovation across the Indo-Pacific, with access to delegations from nearly 30 countries and leaders from USARPAC, Army Futures Command, and the 1st MDTF itself.

From Interviews to Implementation

Lohe treated their research like an operational campaign. By LANPAC, they had completed nearly 100 interviews, building a comprehensive understanding of where cultural competency gaps existed and how they manifested in real-world operations. But the conference provided something interviews couldn't: exposure to the strategic environment where their solution would need to function.

Through 12 weeks of testing 18 different MVPs, they evaluated tools like IES, GCAA, and ARC. Feedback consistently favored a short, in-person diagnostic with scenario-based roleplay, delivered by trained NCOs. This led to their modified ARC assessment—a streamlined, actionable tool tailored for platoon leaders who were best positioned to foster early cultural readiness.

Their trip to the region brought the problem into sharp focus. Engaging with U.S. and partner-nation leaders clarified the operational stakes and led them to reframe their language from "cultural competence" to "cross-cultural trust and interoperability"—terminology that aligned with Department of Defense priorities and gained stakeholder buy-in.

Operators of Another Kind

Libby Lapporte and Grace Turner, leading the effort from Georgetown University, brought the kind of cultural intelligence that Indo-Pacific operations demand. Their approach combined academic rigor with operational practicality, understanding that in contested environments, cultural missteps can have strategic consequences.

Working with instructor Alex Gallo, they developed an approach that treated cultural assessment not as a bureaucratic requirement, but as a combat multiplier. They built relationships with leaders across 5th SFAB, USARPAC, HRC, and ARC's original developers—all of whom recognized the tool's value and timeliness.

Their systematic methodology included connections with Dr. Marcus Holmes from William & Mary, conversations with MG Hope Rampy at Army Human Resources Command, and direct engagement with General Ronald Clark, USARPAC Commander. This wasn't just research—it was relationship building at the strategic level.

What Comes Next

Team Lohe is moving toward a pilot with 1st MDTF ahead of Pacific Pathways 2025, supported by close collaboration established during LANPAC. Their modified ARC assessment is government-owned, feasible to deploy, and gaining interest across multiple commands.

More importantly, LANPAC affirmed that this isn't just a regional issue. There's clear Army-wide demand for a cultural readiness solution, and ARC offers the flexibility required to improve it at scale. The tool identifies unit strengths and gaps before deployment, enabling targeted preparation without adding administrative burden.

Whether Lohe evolves into a formal Army program, an interagency initiative, or something else entirely, its foundation remains solid: a problem measured in strategic advantage, a team committed to understanding culture before assessing it, and a mission that puts cross-cultural trust at the center of Indo-Pacific operations.

They didn't just study cultural competence. They built the bridges America needs in the world's most contested region.