USAF FAO Notes
Major Michael Dembroski
As our contribution to the FAO Journal, this article provides
an update of our program's recent activities.
With the summer rotation in full swing the FAO branch has
several personnel changes to announce. Lt Col. Brian Vickers has
replaced Lt Col Bill Huggins as the Branch Chief. Lt Col Huggins
was tasked to lead the Air Force's International Affairs Staff
Action Group. Lt Col Vickers, a career Intelligence Officer, is a
graduate of the Air Force's Foreign Area Studies Program with a
graduate degree in Eastern European Studies. We also bid farewell
to Capt Cara Agahanian who was with the Air Force FAO program
from its inception. Her replacement, Capt Tariq Hashim, is a
fluent speaker in both Arabic and French.
Since the last edition of the FAO Journal, two more FAO
selection boards were conducted. Thirty eight applicants were
selected from the March board and another 28 from the May board.
To date, the Air Force FAO branch has held four boards selecting
a total of 261 officers as FAOs. The next selection board will be
held on July 13th.
The Language and Area Studies Immersion Program (LASI)
continues to be a success. Our most recent program was held in
Hanoi, Vietnam (story next issue). With an increase in funding
for FY00, the FAO Proponent Office will offer 28 immersion
programs in 26 different languages. This will allow 168 Air Force
officers an opportunity to improve their language skills.
In April the FAO Proponent Office sponsored the attendance of
four Air Force officers to the Foreign Service Institute's (FSI)
area studies short course. Another six are attending this June
followed by four in August. This program falls under the umbrella
of the Air Force's Professional Continuing Education (PCE)
program. Allocated school slots for FY00 have been increased to
35 compared to 12 for FY99. The future goal of program
participation will focus on having officers attend as near as
possible to their PCS to a region where the course content will
benefit them.
As with any new program the goal is to keep moving forward,
but also to improve already established areas. On this note, Air
Force Instruction 16109, the governing regulation of the Air
Force FAO program, is being revised. This process includes a
thorough review of the prerequisites required to become an Air
Force FAO. Another project in process is an Air
Force-wide review of officer billets that need to be certified as
Language Designated Positions (LDPs). Each command has been
tasked to survey their billets and provide input into this
process. In the upcoming months the FAO Proponent Office hopes to
implement its new Area Studies Advanced Program (ASAP). This
program will offer an individual 4-6 weeks of travel and research
in countries of their regional specialty. The proposal for this
program is in the final stages of Air Staff review.
With the new Fiscal Year right around the corner the staff at
the FAO Proponent Office will continue to energetically develop a
FAO program that supports and enhances Global Engagement.
1999, Foreign Area Officer
Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve
Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org