I have some experience with State in this regard. The ones I've met either:

1) are strictly academics, who want to work only in diplomacy-related, office-type stuff, or

2) want desperately to be Agency guys, but filled out the wrong application. There truly is no greater Hell than having a 23-year-old Georgetown grad with a goatee and earring teach a senior NCO or officer a soldier's trade.

That said, there are exceptional State guys, and I've found most of their senior field people to be great problem solvers and quite competent. It's the younger ones that scare me. I can only assume they have the same problems we have with our younger folks. It still doesn't explain the "what-do-you-mean-I-might-actually-have-to-go-overseas?" mentality I sometimes bump into on the Beltway. I see it in my own Army, so it does not surprise me to encounter it in other Government agencies, I guess.

Quote Originally Posted by skiguy View Post
If I'm wrong, someone please tell me. It seems the problem is not only the agency's (State) operations, it's the people who are employed by State. Do they have the experience but aren't volunteering for foreign service? That's kind of what I'm getting from reading much of this.


Not to be snarky, but if you got hired as a FSO, where do you expect to work? From home?
It just appears half, or perhaps more, of the problem is that the people who are needed most just aren't volunterring to go.

Like I said, if I'm wrong or completely misunderstanding this, tell me.