Expanding the Role of the Foreign Area Officer

[RTK]

Thanks patmc for your feedback and question. I definitely believe that FAOs should only be assigned when the units are in theater...the Army invests too much money and training in FAOs to have them sitting "idle" when assigned to units back in CONUS. Plus, the FAO program wouldnt have to grow too large if they are only assigned to divisions and brigades during a deployment.

Having worked with a few in theater, I concur. They're too valuable to be sitting in the States on staff in garrison but are a huge premium. Perhaps a training program for staffs, particularly S2s, S3s and Pre-command courses to properly use these assets is in order, however.