The Foreign Service Journal, September 2009

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9 MED Exams Save Lives Further to a letter in the June issue by Marie-Elena van Treeck (respond- ing to the March President’s Views column, “To Your Health”), I also con- sider my life saved by the medical exam performed prior to my transfer from Somalia to Rwanda as agricul- tural development officer. In January 1983, prior to my de- parture, the doctor who performed the examination told me that State had begun suggesting a colonoscopy for FS employees 40 years old or older. This was not compulsory but was highly recommended, he said. My colonoscopy revealed a malig- nant growth that the doctor removed a few days later. That growth would have had four more years to spread before the exam due on my next home leave. I continue with annual colono- scopies and, 26 years later, still am roaming the hills of West Virginia. Please do not stop these exams. Warren C. Putman ADO, retired West Union, W. Va. Enough about the Pay Gap In his May letter, Steven D’Angelo found it “disappointing” that AFSA hadn’t succeeded in gaining support for eliminating the “overseas pay gap;” he will presumably be pleased with re- cent progress on this issue. Am I the only FSO who finds it ob- scene that in the current budget cli- mate AFSA, representing many FSOs, presents virtual locality pay as a veri- table entitlement? I have never understood the notion of “virtual” locality pay any more than I understand the notion of “virtual” work (we are not, after all, the UAW). While AFSA has cleverly dressed this up as an “overseas pay gap,” in reality the only gap is between services ren- dered and those not rendered. Rather than getting hit with a pay cut when we deploy overseas, we receive a pay increase for serving in Washington, based on a formula for the city’s ex- pensive housing and cost-of-living bas- ket. The notion of receiving a Washington cost-of-living adjustment while not living there strikes me as a huge stretch, as it apparently is for the many on Capitol Hill who would be hard-pressed to defend this math to their constituents, much less to Lou Dobbs. The recent formula may last for a year, but I hardly see how it will be formalized over the long term. Rather than continuing to fight the windmill of the “overseas pay gap,” I would feel better if AFSA were fight- ing the simple issue of differential slip- page, arguing for larger differentials for difficult posts and for a more nim- ble system of calculating and initiating differentials. While I cannot justify getting a Washington differential for serving in my current posting of Mex- ico City, I can easily justify hanging on to our current differential of 15 per- cent. And in light of the recent two- week school closure over the H1N1 flu scare, two earthquakes and rising nationwide drug violence, I could see edging it up a bit — but certainly not reducing it, as is rumored will soon happen. Ciudad Juarez is another local case in point. The epicenter of Mexico’s drug war, it experienced more than 2,000 drug-related killings last year. Yet it only qualifies for a 15-percent differential, based on the bizarre logic of being across the border from the U.S. (“Gunshots outside, honey? Not a problem; we’ll just mosey across to El Paso for the evening.”) Beijing’s differential just slipped from 15 percent to 10. It is a city that may be advancing rapidly in certain creature comforts, but it still poses huge cultural, family and health chal- lenges. One could find dozens of sim- ilar cases around the globe. If AFSA wanted to take this one step further, it could work on getting our pension calculated with differen- tials included the way locality pay is — thereby increasing the incentive for not only serving overseas, but serving in the most difficult places. Keith W. Mines Director Narcotics Affairs Section Embassy Mexico City ■ L E T T E R S CORRECTIONS In his farewell President’s Views column in the July-August issue, John K. Naland referred to “U.S. diplomacy in the world’s other 250 nations.” Al- though the State Department does have that many diplomatic posts, they are located in just 194 independent countries. A July-August Cybernotes item, “Changing Tides for Cuba,” incorrectly identified Walter Kendall Myers as a former FSO. While Myers did work for the State Department, he was never a member of the Foreign Service. We regret the errors. The Foreign Service Journal wel- comes brief, focused letters from readers. (In general, 200 to 400 words is a good target.) All submis- sions are subject to editing, and re- flect the opinions of the writers, not necessarily the views of the Journal , the Editorial Board or AFSA. Please send your letters to journal@afsa.org .