I have ambivalent views about the attractiveness of the Foreign Service as a career. On some days I would say that it has been a great opportunity to go places, do things, and witness history that I would never have gotten in any private sector job. On other days I would say that coping with the bureaucractic BS and a dysfunctional foreign service culture just isn't worth it. After 22 years, the main reason I stick around is because I want my sons to live in a prosperous and powerful country - I thus see my job as using my modest talent and experience to contribute to "empire maintenance."

Although my view may be skewed by my focus on Latin America, I think the GAO criticism of State Department language capability is overblown. Lack of language skills is a big problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that is due to the wartime pressure of trying to annually staff a large number of slots - the Department quickly blew through its pool of Arabic speakers and never had many Pashto and Dari speakers for historical reasons. I do not think it has been a problem in other areas of the world, at least for political and economic officer positions. At times it has admittedly been a different story for consular and management officers, junior officers, and diplomatic security special agents, among others, because these groups have not been given the emphasis nor resources to develop sufficient language capability. Finally, as noted in another post, the State Department language capability, with all of its failings, is superior to that of any other USG agency overseas.

The Foreign Service downsides that almost always grab the attention of FSOs with prior military service are 1) the lack of leadership skills or even training and 2) the blatant careerist mentality of most FSOs. FSOs are recruited based on their individual achievements and generally rewarded for their analytic ability and written and verbal skills. "Taking care of the troops" is not in the Foreign Service vocabulary. Secretary Powell and Deputy Secretary Armitage tried to change this by, among other things, instituting mandatory leadership training at every rank but the Foreign Service Institute turned this initiative into "touchy-feely" courses that have little to do with real leadership. And among the two cones that provide the majority of career ambassadors - the political and economic cones - FSOs typically rise to senior ranks without ever being in charge of more that a dozen persons. In many instances, we see "successful" Ambassadors who do a great job of managing the Washington bureaucracy and relations with the host country while presiding over an Embassy that has poor morale.

The careerist mentality is also very disconcerting to persons used to the military but it is ingrained in the Foreign Service culture in large part because of the peculiar assignment process that place FSOs in direct competition with their peers to gain career-enhancing postings. For the most ambitious FSOs (especially prevalent in the political cone) it is not unusual to start trying to line up a subsequent job even as they arrive in their current job.
Some assignments will have 30 or more bidders on the position; the frontrunners are those who can obtain support from senior officers and form alliances in the geographic and functional bureaus that control assignments in embassies overseas. (The personnel bureau in the State Department doesn't truly make assignments - it merely ratifies decisions made in the bureaus. For example, the European Affairs Bureau decides who will be selected to the Political Counselor job and other Political Officer positions in in Embassy Paris.)

A final thought - I would have to be characterized as an "old fart" because I am not impressed by new FSOs who complain about the requirement to do at least one tour as a vice consul or do other things that they consider to be beneath their experience level. I see what I consider to be many self-centered and ill-disciplined individuals among those joining the Foreign Service these days. If it was up to me, I would not let anyone become an FSO unless they had prior experience in the U.S. Armed Forces, Peace Corps, or AmeriCorps.