Fort Lewis invests in translation devices

The Army's Fort Lewis military reservation has procured 92 translation devices from Voxtec International for soldiers who are about to be deployed to Iraq, according to the company. The Squid SQ.200 wearable translation systems cost $1,800 apiece, according to Voxtec.

The one-way translators contain a database of English phrases translated into several key languages spoken throughout the Middle East, including Arabic, Dari, Iraqi, Kurmanji, Pashto and Urdu. Each unit comes preloaded with more than 2,000 phrases recorded by professional linguists that can be played over a speaker attached to the unit. A voice-activated menu allows soldiers to pick phrases and move frequently used ones to an easy-to-activate location.

The devices could help troops mitigate what the military calls an escalation of force situation, in which soldier encounter and try to mitigate insurgent suicide attacks or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

Image: Voxtec