The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

64 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / J U L Y - A UGU S T 2 0 0 8 A F S A N E W S R achel Schneller demonstrated courage and integrity in speaking out publicly on the occur- rence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Foreign Service employees returning from assignments to war zones. For taking on this extremely sensitive issue, working within the system to push the State Department to address the problem, Schneller was selected for the Rivkin Dissent Award. After returning toWashington from a tour in Iraq, as a Provincial Action Officer in Basrah, Schneller began speaking out about the realities of PTSD in war zones, working through proper media and other channels to heighten awareness of the problem in the Foreign Service community. She urged the depart- ment to provide greater services and treatment for those suffering from symptoms of PTSD following war zone assignments. Her willingness to bring this issue out into the open has given many other Iraq returnees the strength to seek help for their own post-deployment issues. Her advocacy efforts helped pave the way for acknowledgment by senior management of the need to invest greater personnel and budgetary resources to deal with this growing problem. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has committed the State Department to doing more to assist those suffering from PTSD, and the Medical Bureau has been autho- rized funding to dedicate additional employees to work on PTSD issues. Despite the widespread belief that talking candidly about post-deployment stress issues can be detrimental to a Foreign Service member’s career, Schneller pressed openly for increased services for returnees fromwar zones — such as the start of a support group, the right to adequate home leave for those on long-term TDY status in Iraq and access to information on treatment and payment options for PTSD. She argued that seeking treatment for PTSD fol- lowing an assignment in a war zone should not adversely affect an offi- cer’s medical clearance. Schneller’s remarks during a town hall meet- ing with the director general of the Foreign Service, her three media interviews (all arranged and officially sanctioned by the Bureau of Public Affairs) carried by CNN, USA Today and the New York Times, as well as her January 2008 article in the Foreign Service Journal, have given other returning Iraq vets the courage to seek help for their own post-deployment stress-related issues. The USA Today interview helped generate media and con- gressional interest that contributed to pressure on the depart- ment to do more about PTSD. For example, at an Aug. 1, 2007, hearing, a senator cited the USA Today article in urging Human Resources Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Heather Hodges (testifying for the administration) to do more to assist employees with PTSD. Many officers familiar with Schneller’s efforts are convinced that her public frankness about her own mental health, and her battle over her own home leave situation (all within proper channels) are largely responsible for these recent positive policy changes that benefit all employees. “There is no other award I would rather receive than the one for constructive dissent,” Schneller tells the Journal , “and I am honored to be among the women to receive it.” Rachel Schneller joined the Foreign Service in July 2001 and has served overseas in Skopje, Conakry and Basrah. Her domes- tic assignments have included the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and the Economics Bureau Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs. She received a master’s degree in economics and conflict management from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in 2001. William R. Rivkin Award FOR A MID-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER Rachel Schneller 2008 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS Rachel Schneller attending a Provincial Reconstruction and Development meeting December 2005 in Maysan Province. Schneller at a November 2005 Iftar dinner in Basrah with Locally Engaged Staff: Dolfakar Al-Waheed (now resettled in San Francisco); Muntaha Ali (assassinated in Basrah in June 2006); Schneller; and Basil Jowdat (now resettled in Nashville).