U.S. Embassy employees fearful over Green Zone attacks
Maybe it's just me, but I found the whining in this piece somewhat amazing. Are these people unfamiliar with the concept of "war zone"? Some of the problems with PRT staffing come into better light, perhaps?
Quote:
U.S. Embassy employees in Iraq are growing increasingly angry over what they say are inadequate security precautions in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where recent mortar and rocket attacks have claimed the lives of six people, including two U.S. citizens.
<snip>
One of the U.S. officials expressed anger that embassy employees were told not to talk to reporters.
"They want to say everything is fine. But if I'm asked I'm not going to lie," he said. "It's my life and it would be my grave and it would be my body flying back to my family."
Venus, Mars, and Leadership
I am reminded of Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars as applied to the embassies in Kinshasa and Kigali. Kinshasa practiced whining as an art form; the lead item in every country team meeting, regardless of circumstances centered on ways to increase COLA or hardship pay or both. Kigali was just the opposite; we bunked in embassy offices or in embassy housing without regards to the niceties of life. We reopened the club but did so in a way to serve the entire international community. The difference between the two places was leadership.
I would say that applies in Baghdad as well; senior leaders in State, USAID, and other agencies need themselves to get out there and spend some time on the ground, as in days and weeks, not high profile it for a couple of hours and back on the jet.
Tom
results fall to the average
Tom nailed it
It is leadership!
I really think the high rotation rate of personel in and out of theatre hurts us more than we know and more than we want to admit. Particularly in the leadership area but it is true across the spectrum of assignments. The arbitrary rotation of leaders and their staff preclude maximizing good leaderships effect on the out come. Experience is spread so thin across the force its effect is minimized. Effectively you end up with a 7 month or 1 year force, Not a force designed to face an adaptive enemy over a 7 or 10 year conflict with a politically defined end of one sides capitulation.
One of the jobs of leaders is to sort out the real issues from the whiny noise and clarify for people he or she leads and for those that support them what must be done to complete particular missions and in the longer term what will succeed in campaigns.
Effectively people are sent on limited missions and the leadership defining the campaigns are retiring or are reassigned according to an arbitrary schedules. The long term results are unfortunately mediocre and predictable. Nothing decisive Politically or Militarily is achieved.
no argument there but the noise is loud
Response to last Iron horse post
In certain organizations there are things acceptable to complain about like things which are the understood responsibility of another organization. When the volume goes up though I wonder if the problem is actually an internal issue which will have repercussions if said out loud.
Just a thought