The Foreign Service Journal, October 2003

making it to age 62, then you get a much smaller pension. This means that even if you could retire at age 50, you stick around where you really don’t want to be because you have to. I don’t really know how to improve this age-old problem we have, of hierarchical status. I think the problem needs to be tackled by the higher-ups in IRM for it to change, but I don’t see that we have anyone in that position who cares enough to do what needs to be done to make it happen. The ones that make it that high are usually the ones who join the good-old-boy net- work and aren’t likely to take up our cause as it would only make them unpopular. A good beginning though would be to get us out from under Admin’s rule at post. RSOs were able to do that and we need the same now. We need to be in charge of our own budget, not Admin. It would be a great beginning. I could go on and on telling my “war stories” of all the times I’ve been abused by this or that person over the years, but I’m not going to do that. Suffice it to say I’ve had my fill and am going home as soon as I can, God willing. Good luck to those who are left behind. Mark W. LaPoint Information Management Specialist Embassy Bishkek Learning As I Go When I joined the Foreign Service as an Information Manage- ment Specialist in March 2001, I believe I had a better idea of what to expect than most of my peers. I am a Vietnam veteran who spent 24 years in the U.S. Army, including tours in Embassy Canberra’s O C T O B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 SHORT TERM FURNISHED APARTMENTS AVAILABLE columbia plaza apartments Capital Living With Comfort and Convenience Beautiful, Spacious Efficiencies, 1 and 2 Bedrooms SEVEN MINUTES TO STATE DEPARTMENT Utilities Included Complimentary Voice Mail Courtyard Style Plaza Polished Hardwood Floors Private Balconies Huge Walk-In Closets 24 Hour Front Desk Garage Parking Available Shopping on Site Cardkey Entry/Access River Views Minutes to Fine Dining Walk to the Kennedy Center and Georgetown Minutes to Foggy Bottom Metro (202) 293-2000 2400 Virginia Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C., 20037 Managed by Polinger, Shannon & Luchs Co.