This is an update from AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett.

Fellow State Foreign Service Members:

Our beloved Foreign Service is taking a severe beating in media, and we need your help in setting the record straight in the public mind!

Over the past two weeks, most news organizations have misreported the Iraq "prime candidates" exercise and the candid exchanges that took place at the unfortunate Town Hall meeting here in the Department.   We have gotten precious little coverage of the FACTS:

--  More than 2,000 FS members have volunteered for service in Iraq/Afghanistan over the past five years;

--  No one has had to be directed to serve in either war zone thus far;

--  This exercise is about a potential shortfall in volunteers for a relatively small number of positions in Iraq for summer 2008;

--  Well over 80 percent of the FS-designated positions in Iraq for summer 2008 have already been filled, eight months in advance;

--  Embassy Baghdad has a lower vacancy rate than almost any other U.S. embassy in the world;

--  Most people in the Foreign Service spend the majority of their careers in increasingly difficult and dangerous hardship posts;

--  Unlike the military, our members are courageously volunteering to serve as unarmed civilians in a combat zone;

--  Our assignment system has always worked on a voluntary basis because FS members take seriously their commitment to worldwide service;

--  When the Foreign Service is compared unfavorably with the military, we have attempted to note that the Foreign Service is less than one-half of one percent of the size of the U.S. military in personnel and budget, and that we are stretched thin all over the world at the other 260 embassies and consulates that we staff , most of which are hardship posts.  

Many of you have seen some of the scathing, inaccurate editorials and op-eds.  Here are just a few examples:  

-- http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071107/COMMENTARY/111070008/1012

-- http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=72090&src =

-- http://www.nypost.com/seven/11082007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/rebel_diplomats_242214.htm

--   http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20071103/cm_weeklystandard/ofdiplomatsandmen

--   http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/DN-tuesartletters_1106edi.ART.State.Edition1.4248154.html

--   http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/11/hunter_replace_uncooperative_diplomats_with_wounded_vets.php

AFSA has had only limited success at setting the record straight.  AFSA President John Naland and I have appeared on several national television and radio programs and have been quoted in major print media; however, more often than not, most of our key points have been edited out.   Moreover, the sheer volume of hostile articles makes it impossible for AFSA's small staff to respond to every one.  We have been pushing hard to get one of the major national newspapers to run an AFSA op-ed that makes the points above, but have struck out so far.   Sadly, they seem quite willing to print criticisms of the Foreign Service by those (often longtime State-bashers) who question our patriotism and our courage, but we can't get them to publish our side of the story.

YOU CAN HELP!

We propose that all Foreign Service members consider writing letters to the editor of your local hometown newspapers to try to get our point of view reflected in the media.  Almost every newspaper has a system for accepting letters to the editor via e-mail.  Please feel free to draw on the bulleted points above, but use your own words and cite your own examples of dedicated service from your own personal experiences, especially at hardship and unaccompanied posts.   Make sure to identify yourself as a Foreign Service member giving your own personal opinions, NOT speaking officially on behalf of the Department.  Remember that a typical letter to the editor is only 150-200 words, so your submission has a better chance of getting published if you keep within those limits.   Please let us know if one of your letters gets published.

Let's make sure the public understands what today's Foreign Service is really about!

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