Re-orienting and Re-exposing to the US (aka Home Leave)

After number of get-togethers, last dinners, and going-away events, I left post this month and headed back to the good Midwest USA.  About half way through this month off of work, I've been indulging in spending time with family and friends, gorging on foods particular to home, and catching up on everything Americana while running a number of errands before leaving for DC for training and then my next assignment.

Home leave is one of nicest perks of the Foreign Service career which is basically 20 work days of paid time-off between assignments to spend time in the US.  Since home leave is time off in-between jobs, it's a nice opportunity to see neglected loved ones in the States without the worry of all the work that may be piling up while you're gone.  It's amazing how much and how many things I've missed from just being away for a year.

The last few months at post were spent diligently working to accomplish work objectives before leaving post, packing and shipping goods for storage and goods for Kabul, as well as apartment-hunting and moving for my wife who will stay behind in Jakarta to work while I transition to my next post.  Immediately after leaving post, the next bidding season began for my follow-on assignment after Afghanistan (we bid and receive assignments about a year before we leave the current and Afghanistan is currently only a one-year tour).  

Coming back too, a stark reminder of the development challenges that still persist in the US with the Ferguson, MO shooting incident making national headlines.  With all the ethnic, religious, and equality issues I'll see in Afghanistan, the US still struggles today in managing similar challenges.

Bidding - First time around

Well, bidding is finished.  I guess it's not too complicated if the place you elect to go is Afghanistan.  Yep, that's where I'll be going next year.

For a multitude of reasons, bidding on a Critical Priority Country made the most sense for me.  How do I feel about going to Kabul?  Cautiously optimistic.  It will definitely be a unique experience working there and the country is a priority area for the Agency and the government so it will be an honor to contribute to mission there and hope to make some meaningful difference.  The situation there is changing very quickly and it might be very different place a year from now.  The development challenges will certainly be interesting and I'm sure I'll leave with many stories to tell.  But definitely not looking forward to being separated from family.

It seems like a long way off still and there's oh, so much more to accomplish here.  But time flies.

R&R Time

Reaching about the mid-point of my two year assignment in Indonesia, I've been back in the good ol' US on a vacation called R&R (Rest and Recuperation).  I've spent 1 1/2 weeks back home on vacation leave and tied on an essential training back in DC before making my way back to the other side of the globe.

R&R is referred to as an entitlement benefit Foreign Service employees receive which essentially is the benefit of a plane ticket, or cost equivalent, to a specified destination based off of the location of your posting or a plane ticket to the US.  Reference the Foreign Affairs Manual for a more complicated definition.  Generally, the standard assignment receives one R&R benefit every two years.  Some use the ticket for a vacation abroad to another destination, I elected to come back home.  With the combination of R&Rs and Home Leave benefits (I'll explain that sometime next year when I receive it), one could theoretically come back to the US once every year.

Being back home in St. Louis was a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and family as well as over-indulge in every cuisine that isn't possible to be found in Indonesia (Hello White Castle, St. Louis style pizza, great Mexican food, and good Chinese buffets!).  Adding the training to the end of my R&R was also important in order to fulfill the last couple of courses I need to be ready to apply for my warrant in the next couple of months as well as discuss with the Home Office on the upcoming bidding season for where I might be assigned next after Indonesia.

Feeling renewed and ready to get back to the office!  With that, here are some savory things I'm going to miss when going back.

Nothing better.  St. Louis style pizza.

Haven't heard of it?  It's a St. Paul sandwich!

White Castle.  What I craved.

A St. Louis tradition.  Ted Drewes.

Countdown to Language Training

Been out for a while due to laptop issues.  So, I tentatively have been assigned Indonesia for my directed assignment.  It's not completely formalized but confident enough that it will be the country of assignment that in two weeks, I'll be starting language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, VA  to learn Indonesian (Bahasa) for the next 6 months.

I'll also be taking the language examination for Mandarin in a couple weeks as I've had that test scheduled for 2 months now and I might as well see how I formally score.

I'm looking forward to this assignment and think it'll be great to learn a more obscure language.  I think both personally while navigating and living in the city and professionally while working with local officials and people, it will be invaluable to have the ability to communicate.  Not very many professions allow for the opportunity to learn something like Indonesian!

An In-Depth Look at the USAID Assignment Process

The USAID Assignment process is a work in progress that is rapidly making adjustments and improvements.  This post will discuss the challenges the USAID process faces and how it is operating today.

Challenges in Assignment Process
1) DLI is a New Hiring Program
USAID has only recently begun to bring in new FSOs in large numbers with the Development Leadership Initiative (DLI) program.  Before that, USAID had various other FSO recruiting initiatives in the past 10 years called the New Entry Professional (NEP) program and the International Development Internship (IDI) program.  But these hiring programs were no where near the scale of the DLI program.  Unlike the State Department, which has regularly brought in new Officers every month for many years to create a very routine system for assignment, the USAID system is working on catching up on the learning curve.  So generally, there are a lot of fine tunings and details that USAID is improving on how they work assignments. 

2) FSOs all have different functions/backstops
There are several different functions (backstops) that FSOs come in as.  In order to prepare FSOs for management roles, they need to spend their initial posting working in their particular technical function.  This requires matching the FSO to a Mission with the most suitable supervisor and capability to take on a first tour Officer.  This is different than where at State, pretty much every location has a demand/need for Consular Officers which all new FSOs must serve.

In some ways, perhaps this problem could be alleviated by combining functions to "cones" like State (ex. combine Contracting, Financial Management, and Executive Officer into one cone), but for other functions this would be very difficult as they are very specialized.  Even Contracting itself takes a great deal of experience and knowledge to become especially proficient to gain mastery of the FAR, have the capability to execute both Contracts and Assistance (grants), and develop the judgement to know which method is most appropriate to create an agreement to either transition the effort to the grantee (sustainability) or craft the right contract to make sure work is done properly.  So combining this to just create more assignment flexibility might not be the best solution as each of these functions are very different in roles/responsibilities.

3) Management Supply in Missions
New Junior Officers need to be supervised and managed by another FSO in their first assignment.   This is rather surprising to have to be an issue but due to irregular hiring in the past, there are insufficient numbers of appropriate supervisors abroad to support the incoming Officers.  So, the Agency is at the point where there is a backlog of Officers to be assigned due to delays in creating positions in the Mission or awaiting for position to become open to then place them.  In the next few years, this problem should no longer exist as the DLIs from the 2008-2010 classes finish their first assignment and move into supervisory roles, but will be a potential hurdle until then.

4) National Security Decision Directive 38 (NSDD-38)
 This is a mandate that gives the Chief of Mission (COM) of the Embassy (aka Ambassador) final say on the size and composition of US government personnel staffing in their particular country.  There are many different types of rational and political reasons for controlling the number of US government personnel in a particular country.  It becomes a challenge for the USAID assignment process since all new assignments must be approved by the COM.  So while USAID may have approval and need for a particular number of FSOs, it could still be denied due to NSDD-38.



How USAID Assignment Used to Work (in prior DLI classes)
The assignment process used to work with all entry officers submitting a preference sheet indicating family considerations, particular skills, and regional interests during the 5 week orientation.  At the end of orientation, there would be a "flag day" ceremony where officers would receive their initial assignment.  This was possible at the time due to a large number of vacant positions available overseas and the above challenges were less of an issue.

How the USAID Assignment Process Works Today
There are three general ways Officers receive their assignments today.  Each function (backstop) has a Backstop Coordinator who manages their particular group of officers in terms of training and assignments.

A) The Backstop Coordinator might receive the preference sheets of their new Officers and then discusses personally with them and works out an appropriate assignment based off of the available openings.

B) The Backstop Coordinator reviews the preference sheets of their new Officers and makes assignments based off of the available openings.

C) The Backstop Coordinator compiles and confirms available positions and then sends out a preference list (bid list) to DLIs to rank order and return.  The Backstop Coordinator then makes assignments off of individual considerations, rankings, and availability.  This is the method currently in place for the Contracting Officer Backstop.

I feel method C is the most fair and transparent of all the methods for assignments and I feel fortunate to have a very capable Backstop Coordinator.  In other backstops, there are stories of individuals politicking and maneuvering to obtain particular assignments and I much more appreciate the open process of the preference list.  While every FSO signs up for World-Wide Availability, it is natural to have a particular preference for various places and method C allows adequate voice in the process while still adhering to the availability agreement.

On Friday, our Coordinator sent out the preference list of postings to rank order and return.  Soon, I hope to know where to look forward to be going.

Waiting for a Post

Work continues with training classes interspersed through the month.  Another email came out today with updated postings for the DLI classes.  At this point, about half of my class now has received their postings.  My roommate got a great post and is going to Nepal.

I'm still waiting for my assignment.  Contracting Officers have typically been the last to receive postings due to delays in finding appropriate Contracting supervisors overseas and the extensive training and on the job experience they want us to have before going overseas. 

The initial posting is a "directed assignment" so the coordinators make the decision on where to send each JO.  However, they do take into consideration family situations and, to a lesser extent, preferences.  It seems so far they are working with me on my preferences due to my personal situation, but I'll really have to be patient and see how everything ends up.

In the meantime, I can continue to look at the globe on my desk and dream about where I might be next year...

Week 1 Complete

Week 1 of the USAID orientation is complete.  As a summary, the week included much administrative in-processing and introductory lectures on the organization, the Development Leadership Initiative (the program I'm in), and Q&A sessions regarding how long we'll be in DC, when we will be posted, how assignments are determined, and how language training assignments are determined.  In this post, I'll answer those questions based off what I have learned.

How long will I be in DC?  When will I be posted?
Most likely, I will be in DC until about the Summer of 2012.  The average tour for new DLI's in DC typically averages about a year.  It varies depending on your functional backstop (position), and for mine, Contracting, they typically have the longest stays in DC.  However, for my incoming class, this length of stay will be for almost everyone due to the backlog in assignment availability.

How are assignments made?
There are various factors used in making assignments.  These are:
-Coach input (each function has their own assigned coach to help guide through the process as well as advise on where they should be posted for their development)
-Backstop Coordinator (this is the functional manager.  For example, it would be the equivalent of the M-Level Contracts Manager at Boeing that did most of the HR assignments and Core functional issues)
-Personal Preferences (On Tuesday, my personal preference form is due in which I list experiences and preference for assignment.  This form also includes personal information such as family status that would need to be taken into account in making assignments)
-Language abilities (They take into account what languages you currently know and what is needed by the organization)
-Posting Availability (This is the most important factor in the assignment process.  If there is no space at that post or no supervisors available for training incoming DLI's there, then they will not assign you there.  We are obviously limited to the supply available)

Lastly, everything is also influenced by the strategy of the organization.  USAID said in "USAID Forward" (the strategic plan forward for the agency which is available on their website) that the focus is now Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East.  So while positions in Latin America or Eastern Europe are still available, there is the overall push for the priority areas.

How are language assignments made?
There are two considerations for DLI's regarding language assignments.
1) Language Tenure Requirement
--All Foreign Service Officers are required to reach proficiency in at least one foreign language within 3-5 years of coming in order to reach tenure.  If they are unable to, then they would be released from service.  Typically, this requirement is usually not a major hurdle as most people interested in this career already have some language proficiency or at the very least an eagerness to learn one.  Additionally, the agency will do what they can to give that opportunity to learn one.
--Essentially, if you already have a language ability, REGARDLESS of it's relevancy to the agency or its missions, then you will be encouraged to take the proficiency test for that language to complete the tenure requirement.
2) Assignment Language Requirement
--Each assignment carries with it a required language ability in order to be placed there.  Some could have no language requirement.  But if the position you are assigned to requires a certain language, then you will have to go to language training to reach the needed proficiency.

So potentially, a person could fulfill the language requirement by testing out for tenure purposes but still need to go to language training to meet the requirements of their assignment.
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For my situation, I believe I may be assigned to a post without a language requirement.  However, I may also go to language training in order to "top off" my current proficiency in Mandarin in order to fulfill the tenuring requirement.  However, this is all guessing so I won't know for sure until later down the line.

Introductions, Benefits, and the Assignment Process

Began the first two days of orientation.  It's been very exciting and most all of my fellow classmates are very interesting and kind people.  I'm excited to get to know them all better over the next few weeks.

My class is made up of 45 people.  There are 3 other Junior Officer Contracting Officers.  Everyone else is a mix of other positions with the majority of the class being made up of Financial Management Officers (Controllers).

The first day consisted of swearing in to the Foreign Service and basic introductory information about the organization, the orientations for the next 5 weeks, and other miscellaneous items.  Day 2 was all about various benefits, tax information, insurance, etc.  Though there was a very interesting session regarding the assignment process (as in, how they decide which country I will be initially sent to and when).

Regarding the Assignment Process, the initial assignment is a directed assignment.  This means that while you have some input in where I would like to go, it is largely influenced by where they have open positions and where they have supervisors available to train.  They will factor in family situations, personal interests, and language capabilities as well.  For the majority of people in my class, they said we will probably not depart for our first postings until the summer of 2012!

Many of us already knew that it would be quite awhile until we were posted abroad.  Additionally, because of my functional position, I already knew the training would be much longer due to the various certifications I would need to attain in order to receive a warrant (ability to obligate government funds).

I'm also betting I'll be sent for language training.  If any new hires have a decent background in any language, USAID will encourage that you test out in that language or train you to top it off to the ability where you fulfill the language requirement of a FSO.  For all FSOs, they have 3-5 years to gain 18 months of international experience and foreign language capability in order to reach tenure (become a full fledged officer).  If they are unable to do that, then they are terminated from service.  So one of the main priorities for the coordinators is to provide us with the opportunity to knock out the language requirement as soon as possible.  In the event they will need us to go to someplace that requires a different language, then they will train us for that one again so that we're prepared for that particular assignment.

To my surprise, I actually also met 2 other people in USAID that came from St. Louis.  One person is in my DLI Class.  The other person was hired on before me but he actually worked previously at Boeing!  Such a small world.  I'll have to talk to them more if I get the chance, particularly the Boeing guy, as I'm curious to how they learned of the Foreign Service.