The Foreign Service Journal, October 2013

28 OCTOBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Harry R. Bader was a member of the U.S. Agency for International De- velopment’s Civilian Response Corps-Active from July 2009 through Oc- tober 2011, during which time he twice served in eastern Afghanistan. He received USAID’s Award for Heroism in 2011 for conduct related to the activities of the Natural Resources Counterinsurgency Cell, as well as an Individual Meritorious Honor Award in 2010 for “expedition- ary diplomacy in disrupting terrorist networks.” When not deployed overseas, Bader was an assistant environment officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. He is now an asso- ciate professor of polar and environmental security studies at the Uni- versity of Alaska in Fairbanks. (All photos are courtesy of the author.) Corps members have bolstered the peace and prosperity of the United States through their dedication to the alleviation of human suffering in the world’s trouble spots. BY HARRY R . BADER FOCUS RISK MANAGEMENT FOR THE EXPEDITIONARY DIPLOMAT THEUSAID CIVILIAN RESPONSE CORPS B ack in 2011, a Civilian Response Corps specialist named Matt climbed a radio tower above a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan, weighed down by 75 pounds of body armor, tools and specialized spare parts. While Matt worked on the tower, two Army Civil Affairs soldiers stood guard below. To get to the site, the team had hiked for a mile, gaining more than 500 feet in elevation, in 95-degree heat. They would repeat the process, under similarly difficult conditions, another 10 times in different districts, as part of a military program to bring radios and broadcast The author is suited up for a low-altitude aerial forest inventory in Kunar province in Afghanistan.