The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

F O C U S tors told us that our bid list was the envy of all the previous A- 100 classes, but it seems like most everyone ends up happy with their destination, even if it was 25th on their list. While daydreaming about life at our favorite post, we were taught public speaking, cultural awareness, “managing up,” working with FSNs, composure under fire, cable drafting, how to get to your first post, what each officer does in an embassy, how the department is organized, how policies are made in Washington, and how to fill out an EER. There were sessions about language probation, hardship equity, entry-level require- ments, tenure, security and promotion exams, and an offsite ses- sion. When I took my language exams, my high school Spanish earned a 0+ but my Dutch got me off language probation. A-100 in its entirety was a great experience. But two moments will always remain as distinct memories. The first is Flag Day: all of us sitting in the FSI gym, backed by family and friends, with 92 flags perched on a desk in front of us. One by one, each flag was picked up, the name of the post read out, and the winner of the assignment announced. I ended up with San Jose, #4 on my bid list, which meant eight months at FSI learn- ing Spanish and taking consular and political-economic trade- craft training. Being paid to learn a language is, so far, the best way to make a living I’ve found. But any time at FSI will always pale in comparison to the days of A-100 when everything was new, nothing was certain, and all we had was our desire to live a life of purpose, wherever the department needed us. Then there was the second highlight: our official swearing- in ceremony at which Secretary Powell welcomed us and our families into the State Department community. Here was the man who made a lot of us think about taking the exam, the man who made us proud to say we worked for him, and he made a point of taking time to swear us into the Service and to wel- come our families along for the adventure. It was kind of like the ad campaign, “This man wants to talk you about a very important job,” as he did, in fact, tell us how important our job and our families are, to us, to the department and to our coun- try. My A-100 classmates and I have all spread to the far reach- es of the earth to begin our own lives as representatives of the United States government. The motivating factors that brought us to our current jobs may not be what keep us in the Foreign Service, but we all came looking for something unique that we felt the State Department offers — a chance to represent America to the world. — Bryan Olthof Bryan Olthof was a member of the 112th A-100 class. He is now on his first tour in San Jose. A P R I L 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27 this summer, will have absorbed over 100 new positions and people. New domestic-based programs, such as the HIV/AIDS and Middle East Partnership initiatives, are also staffed with DRI positions. Creating a “Training Complement” Therein lies a coming challenge. DRI, by hiring exactly 1,158 new colleagues above attrition over three years, was intended to create a “training complement,” representing over 12 percent of our total work force (a level that remains the target in coming years). This cor- responds to the “training float” that each of the U.S. armed forces uses to manage and develop their people. We would then deploy a significant part of our work force to new training activities specifically designed to enhance our institutional readiness. Some of this would be language training to expand our “bench depth,” such as expanding our cadres of qualified Urdu and Chinese speakers. More colleagues would also be trained in the leadership and management curriculum, across their careers, starting well before they assumed management positions. In addition, oth- ers among us would enhance their skills to help ready the department for the complex contingencies likely to become more common in the 21st century, such as con- ducting diplomatic operations in unconventional envi- ronments, working with international coalitions on the ground, interacting with military forces and NGOs pro- viding transitional assistance, responding to multidimen- sional crises, and establishing posts in zones of former conflict. Looking Ahead to FY 2005 With so many positions going now to Iraq and Afghanistan, the training complement envisioned under DRI is almost 200 colleagues smaller than foreseen. For that reason, the State Department has requested a FY 2005 budget that includes 183 additional positions above attrition. This proposed additional hiring would provide the personnel resources for these critical but unforeseen priorities while continuing to build our training and readiness capacities to the levels intended under DRI. This funding request is important if the department is to avoid sliding back to the overstretched, under-trained, unready state that DRI was intended to remedy. Indeed, the single most important lesson from the DRI experience is that the continuous recruitment and hiring of sufficient new colleagues for our future work force