Military officers should have a global perspective and be expert in at least one regional specialty. President Obama, as Commander and Chief of the U.S. military, should mandate that officers, upon commissioning, choose a regional specialty.
These officers would then maintain cultural competency, awareness of regional issues, and study a language common to that region. Regional specialties would match the Department of State regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Near East, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, South and Central America, Western Hemisphere) rather than the defense departments' geographical command boundaries.
A regional specialty for all commissioned officers would promote an enhanced global awareness and reduce the tendency to be ethnocentric.