ARE WE OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES?

by Joseph D. Tullbane, III.
March 1998

Sometimes observing FAOs from the various regions over a long period of time leaves a person with a very jaundiced view of the members of our specialty. We all agree that and have agreed for years that selling the benefits of our specialty to the army is an uphill battle, which requires that every member of the FAO Community pitch-in and become a proponent of the specialty. Unfortunately, what I have observed over time is an inability or an unwillingness to understand how others view our specialty by some in our community. The old quote that says "I have met the enemy and they are us" is appropriate to the FAO specialty. Without understanding this key factor -- the non-FAO middle grade commander's view of an a-typical career specialty -- none of us can adequately counter their arguments. I also understand that often our expounding on the benefits of our specialty to the army does not fit neatly into the "sound bite arguments" that sell well to decision-makers. Even so, it only takes a few FAOs, who cannot see the forest for the trees to cause enormous confusion and detriment to the positive image of the community far in excess of their actual numbers.

Is there a place in the army for whining, bitching, and generally complaining about the cards dealt you by "the system."? Of course there is! Among friends and fellow FAOs we should and must discuss the ramifications of personnel changes, of impact of boards and promotion rates, and a whole string of professionally interesting and important matters. But there is boundary which, if we want to sell the rest of the army on our program, we cannot cross. Crossing that barrier leaves all of us open to having the army leadership miss good, important points because they are lost in the "clutter" of seemingly unwarranted complaints.

Among the older FAOs, we joke that, concerning the value of the FAO specialty to the Services and to Defense, Flag Officers "get religion" at three-stars. There is a valid reason for this "tongue in cheek" comment. Division Commanders and below rarely see or work with FAOs, and therefore have little experience with the benefits that these officers bring to the Army. From their viewpoint, the specialty is a drain on the main mission of the army -- fighting and winning wars. Worse yet, it is this very set of middle managers (O-6 through O-8) that serves on the promotion and selection boards. At some point we need to begin a dialoguing process within the community that deals with methods of getting the word out to the middle management of the Army. FAO is recognized as a potential force multiplier at the highest levels of the Army leadership. They understand that a few quality FAOs serving overseas can ease the entry of our combat forces into a country or a region with results that can be objectively measured in saved lives or resources, or even better still, prevent the need for force deployment at all. What we need to do now is spread this story to the rest of the army.

However, the entire FAO Community must keep the mission clearly in focus. One or two people, who forget what we are selling and go off on a tangent, negate the hard work of hundreds of positively oriented FAOs. We need to keep our story before the army, through writing in professional journals at all levels and through performance when it counts. At the same time, we all need to remember that actions don't always speak louder than words -- sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

1997, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org