The Foreign Service Journal, March 2006

ence for those leaving families behind. Another sugges- tion was to allow families to stay at the losing post for the duration of the Iraq tour. Moving a family to Washington, leaving that family on the meager (accord- ing to everyone who commented on it) Separate Maintenance Allowance while the employee serves in Iraq for a one-year tour, and then relocating again for the follow-on assignment — requiring a likely three moves in 14 months — can put more stress on the family than do other hardship tours that are not unaccompanied. “Offer something for people with families,” writes a female officer who has not served in Iraq. “At present, the financial costs of someone serving in Iraq versus another hardship post is not particularly favorable to an assignment in Iraq. In an accompanied hardship post, I receive 25-percent hardship pay, plus housing and school benefits for my children. In Iraq, I would get SMA and 50-percent hardship/danger pay, but would have to pay for housing in Washington and there would be no school benefits.” “Allow people to tack on service in Iraq at the begin- ning or end of another assignment,” urges an FSO who served in Iraq, “so it is less disruptive for the family (one move rather than two). Go back to six-month assign- ments, extendable to 12 months or beyond with special incentives for longer service. Six months in these places used to be the norm and is a long time. Give bureaus quotas they have to fill.” “Advertise breadth of authority and the amount of improvement many of us are seeing in the Iraqi govern- ment as a direct relationship to our service,” suggests an FSO from a regional embassy office, who adds that pay should be improved as well. Some respondents called for shorter tours, six months being most typical, but others called for longer tours. Shorter tours were suggested because of the extreme stress and danger of serving in Iraq. Longer tours were suggested (for reporting officers) because it takes time to get to know the situation on the ground and appro- priate contacts. n F O C U S M A R C H 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41 Get Your Finances In Line With SDFCU Online You can depend on State Department Federal Credit Union for the ultimate in security and convenience with SDFCU Online banking. This FREE service allows you to access your Credit Union accounts via the Internet anytime, from anywhere in the world. Just go to www.sdfcu.org and click the SDFCU Online logo. You can conduct the following Credit Union business: Transfer funds between accounts Check current account balances View your account history over the last 15 months View check images View and pay your credit card bill online Pay Bills and much more!* See just how easy SDFCU Online is! Visit us at www.sdfcuonline.org and check out the easy demo! If you’re interested in becoming a member of State Department Federal Credit Union, give our Member Service Center a call at 703- 706-5000 , or outside the D.C. Metro area at 800-296-8882 . You can also email us at sdfcu@sdfcu.org . SDFCU Online puts us at your service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whenever you need us the most. Sign up today! *The Bill Payer service is available at no charge for Capital Club members. Otherwise, there is a low monthly fee of $3.95 for unlimited transactions.