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| AFSAnet: Iraq assignments, PTSD, SLRP, MOH’s, War-Zone Tax Breaks |
This is an update from AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett. As I start my second term of office as AFSA VP for State, I hope to do a better job keeping our membership informed about the incredibly broad range of issues and concerns that AFSA is addressing with Department management, the many battles we are fighting behind the scenes on behalf of our members, and the major challenges we foresee in the coming months. Here are just a few of the immediate ones: ------------------------- Staffing the hundreds of State FS-designated positions in Iraq, both at Embassy Baghdad and at the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT’s), remains a top preoccupation for the Department and for AFSA. The special Iraq-only early assignment season for 2008 is proceeding, and AFSA has been notified that HR is about to move into the “Prime Candidate” phase of this exercise wherein the DG will be presented a list of qualified employees for unfilled jobs in Iraq with no bidders. AFSA was briefed by DGHR this week on the status of Iraq bidding and on “Prime Candidates” identification criteria, which will be position-specific but will generally include tested Arabic language ability, NEA regional experience, and Fair Share status. AFSA has reaffirmed many times our members’ commitment to the success of the Iraq mission, and we have worked with the Department to improve the multiple incentives that constitute the Iraq Service Recognition Package. It is a tribute to the dedication of the Foreign Service that 2,000 or more of our members have volunteered to serve in Iraq over the past four years. AFSA firmly believes, however, that it is vital for Iraq assignments to remain voluntary. Directed assignments of FS civilians into a war zone, as we told Secretary Rice last month, would be bad for the targeted individual, bad for the post, and bad for the Foreign Service as a whole. We will continue to convey to our Department interlocutors the importance of finding ways to increase the pool of available voluntary bidders without resorting to directed assignments. AFSA will continue to urge the Department to implement our prior proposals to accomplish this goal, including substantially increasing the Involuntary Separate Maintenance Allowance, allowing those facing separation from the Service due to TIC expiration to keep working if they volunteer to serve in Iraq, creating special incentives for those willing to serve two-year tours in Iraq, facilitating and recruiting FS retirees willing to serve in Iraq as WAE’s, and reviewing once again the staffing pattern for Iraq in light of current circumstances to determine which positions can be considered truly essential “must-fills.” We are confident that the Foreign Service will continue to “step up to the plate” to fill all key positions in Iraq voluntarily, as long as our members are convinced that there are appropriate incentives, adequate security measures, and meaningful work to be done – without the need for directed assignments. ------------------------------- Following AFSA’s testimony before a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on concerns about post-traumatic stress disorder among Foreign Service members returning from war zones (http://www.afsa.org/fsj/julaug07/afsa_news.pdf), we have had several discussions with the Medical Director and senior M/MED staff about next steps in addressing this problem. We conveyed to M/MED a sense of the confidential feedback AFSA has received from quite a few members who have experienced traumatic events in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom complain of ongoing symptoms associated with PTSD. Our discussions with M/MED have focused on the report that M/MED issued in the aftermath of its survey of the mental health concerns of FS employees who had served at unaccompanied posts (http://med.state.gov/pdfs/mental_health/PTSD_Reportv5_7.pdf). Reflecting the criticisms of a number of our members who are currently or have recently served in Iraq and Afghanistan, AFSA pointed out to M/MED that the report’s major flaw is its failure to isolate the data for people returning from war zones, who are the ones mostly likely to suffer from PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms, as opposed to those returning from other unaccompanied posts. By aggregating the data from all unaccompanied posts, we noted, the report makes it difficult to gauge the extent of the problem for those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. For example, the report projects that 2-17 percent of those returning from all unaccompanied posts are likely to be suffering from full-blown PTSD, but there is no way to determine how many of those are veterans of the two war zones. That might be a significantly higher percentage. Nonetheless, AFSA applauds M/MED’s efforts to begin to assess and respond to these concerns, and we welcome the action recommendations contained at the end of the report. AFSA has urged M/MED to undertake better screening of those returning from war zones and other high-stress posts, to ensure that they get adequate home leave and other opportunities for decompression, to facilitate treatment for mental health problems, and to find ways to better educate FS supervisors and colleagues about the potential for PTSD among returnees. --------------------------------- The Department’s decision last year to limit eligibility for the Student Loan Repayment Program to only those serving at posts with a 20-percent or higher differential, and to apply this threshold retroactively, led to an outcry among members who had chosen to bid on 15-percent posts deliberately because they would be eligible for SLRP. AFSA protested this move, but the Department argued that, given a limited pot of money available for this program, it was necessary to raise the threshold in order to prevent individual payments from becoming insignificant. Indeed, the individual SLRP payments this year will be significantly higher than last year – $6,000 per person as opposed to $4,600 – which has made many members at 15-percent posts feel as if the change was made at their expense. AFSA will continue to seek a modification of the threshold. ------------------ The breakdown in the system for issuing travel orders within HR in summer 2006 led to a backlog and a serious lack of responsiveness by personnel technicians, resulting in many members being forced to leave post without orders, only able to get travel advances by signing promissory notes. AFSA intervened with HR to find ways to fix the system and to expedite orders for individual members who had come to us for help. We welcomed the Department’s decision to move this function under the auspices of the HR Executive Director and AFSA will continue to monitor progress of this transformation. In the interim, AFSA encourages members to bring concerns to our attention to seek resolution.
----------------------- For several years now, AFSA has been pressing the DG and the Secretary of State to develop more forward-leaning policies for dealing with the needs of the hundreds of Foreign Service employees who are accompanied at overseas posts by their unmarried partners or other MOH’s, who are often disadvantaged by restrictive rules concerning travel costs, access to post services and facilities, visas, work permits, etc. We recently met with GLIFAA to discuss creative suggestions to present to Department management. ---------------------- Numerous members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have asked us to seek a legislative change that would enable Foreign Service employees serving in active combat areas to benefit from the same kinds of federal income tax exemptions that military members enjoy. AFSA is aggressively lobbying Congress for such a change and supports a bill introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf of VA to accomplish this, and we are urging the Department to do the same. Feedback/comments on any of these issues are welcome to AFSA@state.gov or to me directly at KashkettSB@state.gov. We at AFSA are always just an e-mail away! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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