I am pleased to be making my first of what I'm sure will be many submissions to the FAO Journal. As a European FAO I was pleased to serve in Afghanistan for my last assignment. Army FAOs from all regions are serving with distinction in the Global War on Terrorism and we all should be proud of our accomplishments. After my arrival in September, this job has exposed me to numerous opportunities to affect the future of the Army FAO program in a positive way. Senior military leadership and policy makers are singing the praises of Army FAOs and recognizing the expertise a FAO brings to the fight. The recent Wall Street Journal article reprinted in this quarters FAO Journal is just another example of FAOs doing their part in the fight as a substantial force multiplier.
Department of Defense Directive 1315.17 is moving forward. This directive spells out a more prescriptive management in all services FAO programs and directs a path to general officer. My office is looking into the best way to reach this goal. We are focusing on those key and important areas in which FAOs develop a broad understanding of regional affairs and strategic policy. We are also seeing a newfound emphasis on language proficiency. Senior leadership desires have spelled out a goal of 3/3 for all languages and the Defense Language Office has just released a new pay scale for foreign language proficiency pay which will more than double the pay for languages of strategic importance.
It is ICT rotation time in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Army is sending several FAOs from DLI language training to conduct their one year in-country training. In the next couple months, Asia will see new officers in Japan, Korea, China, and Pakistan. They will be joining other recent arrivals in Philippines and Thailand. There are also new arrivals in Turkey, Egypt and Ethiopia. Eurasia has seen a few key changes with the addition of a new ICT site in Moscow last summer as well as the opening of a Ukraine site in 2006.
In Latin America, two new officers are arriving to begin their ICT experience in Brazil, and one officer is arriving in Chile. They will join officers already in Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador. Both Guatemala and Mexico will host new ICT officers by summer. We wish these officers and their families all the best and we'll be pushing them to get the most of their next year. For many, ICT is the best training an Officer will ever receive. Let's all help these officers through mentorship and by providing advise as they conduct regional travel.
In the Middle East we have implemented a program that allows newly trained FAOs to join BCTs for six months of a unit's deployment to Iraq. This provides the officers with an opportunity to hone their language skill before continuing on to their follow-on ICT site. It also helps our combat troops by providing them with a trained Arabic linguist in the form of a Commissioned American Officer. This is an exciting program and we have already deployed our first two volunteers and a third will deploy in January 2006.
We have scheduled the final interim accessions board for January 2006. This board will access YG98 officers. Three cohort year groups; 1997, 98, and 99, will undergo a CFD board in 2006. HRC and FAO Proponent are constantly reviewing branch transfer requests. I see this as a great opportunity to bring back quality officers that have completed some or all of their FAO training.
As a result of the Army Modular Transformation we are starting to see our total FAO numbers increase. This is due to the insertion of FAOs at the Numbered Army starting with ARCENT. What we can all take from this is that along with the Army's transformation, there will be a FAO transformation. Things are moving quickly and the future will have many great opportunities and adventures.