The Foreign Service Journal, June 2010

J U N E 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 A F S A N E W S T he Foreign Service is in many ways a unique institu- tion. Unlike most jobs, it takes us and our families away from the people, communities and services to which most Americans return after their workdays. Like the military, it is more than a profession. It is a lifestyle, a com- munity and, for many of us, quite simply, our home. But being smaller, less well-funded and more thinly spread out than the mil- itary, we are left far more on our own to create and manage the elements of community that most Americans take for granted. Because we are small, we are less familiar to most Americans. Nearly every American family has some member with military experience, and a vested interest in their well- being. Our dispersal makes the kind of support the military offers harder to provide. We are also evolving. Much of the Service is new; and, in some ways, the strength and convictions of the old Foreign Service are fail- ing. This is a time to rally, to decide who we are and what we want to be, and to remake the community in which we live and serve in our own image. The choice is ours: to lead that process or to let decisions be made by management or, worse, by people who know little of the realities of our lives. Federal employment regulations focus primarily on en- suring that federal workers provide fair service for fair wages, and much less on issues that, for most Americans, are ad- dressed by communities unrelated to the workplace. The easiest path for legislators is to focus solely on dollars and cents and ignore issues more related to ethics and morale than to product-for-payment. And unfortunately, many within our own ranks fail to see the value of developing the philosophical infrastructure on which a shared sense of com- munity and mission is built. As AFSA’s State vice president, I have occasionally been appalled to learn of the pettiness with which some posts and bureaus dismiss morale-related issues, on the flimsy premise that, in essence, we knew the job was difficult when we took it. When the Secretary of Defense notes that the Foreign Service is smaller than the U.S. military’s band staff, he does not apologize for the fact that they have bands. He does not express regret that they have movie theaters, post exchanges, sports facilities or other requirements of the “military lifestyle.” He should not have to. Nor should we. AFSA was created, years ago, to foster esprit de corps. And in some ways, we have failed miserably at that task. We (and our members) should do more than support better terms of employment, andwe should domore than ensure our professional input into the foreign policy matters of the day — or even into larger is- sues affecting the composition or mission of the department. We should, without apology, work to provide ourselves with community essentials, much as is done for mili- tary communities and even U.S. town communities. Issues of interest to AFSA include working with membership, management and others to: • Develop a clear sense of sharedmission and culture that accommodates and draws upon the “changing face” of the Foreign Service, promoting inclusiveness while preserving and enhancing a shared sense of teamwork and belonging by all FS members; • Encourage traditions that enhance our sense of profes- sional pride and community and honor those who sacrifice in the advancement of our mission; • Improve standard procedures to assist both employees and their families in cases of divorce, crisis or death over- seas; • Regulate the department’s responsibilities with regard to FS members who, well into their careers, develop physical or medical limitations that inhibit or prevent overseas serv- ice; and • Develop public recognition of our role in making the world and our country safer, and of our right to travel com- fortably, raise our children according to some semblance of American living standards, relax from our labors and play — without feeling the need to justify such human require- ments. This requires all of us to take an interest in our own com- munity: the Foreign Service community, which we call home. ❏ Wait a Second! They Have a Band? This is a time to rally, to decide who we are and what we want to be, and to remake the community in which we live and serve in our own image. V.P. VOICE: STATE ■ BY DANIEL HIRSCH