diff --git a/bin/node_init b/bin/node_init
index da250012a6147441ace4ee80c1d5af350a6ac62a..ea4c29c5ed777049ec92fc983f67c6a85dc9aad9 100644
--- a/bin/node_init
+++ b/bin/node_init
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ if ! egrep -q "$DEBIAN_VERSION" /etc/debian_version; then
   exit 1
 fi
 mkdir -p $LEAP_DIR
-echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > /etc/locale.gen
+if ! grep -q -e '^en_US.UTF-8' /etc/locale.gen; then
+  echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen
+fi
 
 #
 # UPDATE PACKAGES
diff --git a/bin/puppet_command b/bin/puppet_command
index a06b4940aa57fd0ea159f8739726815de67340fc..a2876fd958ac67095e923c035fffdd83102c816d 100755
--- a/bin/puppet_command
+++ b/bin/puppet_command
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ SUMMARY_LOG       = '/var/log/leap/deploy-summary.log'
 SUMMARY_LOG_1     = '/var/log/leap/deploy-summary.log.1'
 APPLY_START_STR   = "STARTING APPLY"
 APPLY_FINISH_STR  = "APPLY COMPLETE"
-
+LANG              = "en_US.UTF-8"
 
 def main
   if File.read('/etc/debian_version') !~ DEBIAN_VERSION
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ def puppet_apply(options={}, &block)
   fqdn = hiera_file['domain']['full']
   domain = hiera_file['domain']['full_suffix']
   Dir.chdir(PUPPET_DIRECTORY) do
-    return run("FACTER_fqdn='#{fqdn}' FACTER_domain='#{domain}' #{PUPPET_BIN} apply #{custom_parameters(options)} --modulepath='#{modulepath}' #{PUPPET_PARAMETERS} #{manifest}", &block)
+    return run("LANG='#{LANG}' FACTER_fqdn='#{fqdn}' FACTER_domain='#{domain}' #{PUPPET_BIN} apply #{custom_parameters(options)} --modulepath='#{modulepath}' #{PUPPET_PARAMETERS} #{manifest}", &block)
   end
 end