The Foreign Service Journal, December 2005

tenure for FS-2 professional develop- ment, three tours after tenure for FS- 1 professional development, etc. Reward sustained hardship ser- vice with language-training incen- tives. Employees who accumulate the level of hardship points needed to open their windows should receive an extra year of language training in the language(s) of their choice. Employ- ees would decide when to take the training (i.e., after which assign- ments), so that employees with heavy hardship service early in their careers could save the training for timely use within seven years prior to opening their windows. Employees would not need to have a follow-on assignment in hand where the language would be used. They could take the training in a one-year block, or break it up into two or more segments to use at dif- ferent times. Language training linked to an assignment before reach- ing the FS-1 level would not count against the year; however, training linked to assignments after promo- tion to that grade would count. In addition, upon opening their win- dows, employees would lose any unused portion of the year of lan- guage training. D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 19 S P E A K I N G O U T u I propose instituting a system of hardship equity points that explicitly favors bidders with substantial fair-share service over bidders without it. A time of service…a time of need Help for Seniors May Be Just a Phone Call Away— Home Health Care Adult Day Care & Respite Care Prescription Drug Copayments Transportation to Medical Appointments Durable Medical Equipment For more information, please contact the SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE 1716 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-2902 Phone: (202) 887-8170 Fax: (202) 872-9320 E-Mail: info@slfoundation.org W eb Site: www.slfoundation.org The Senior Living Foundation may be able to help you or someone you know. Some examples of assistance are: SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION