1. New USMC International Affairs Officer Program Coordinator Aboard. Effective 1 May, LtCol Chris Sill replaced LtCol Mike Oppenheim as the International Affairs Officer Program (IAOP) Coordinator at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. LtCol Sill is a Russia/Eurasia FAO with two utilization tours under his belt -- one as the Marine Attaché in Kiev, Ukraine; and a second as an on-site START inspector/monitor with DTRA. He is returning from an operational assignment with the 3d Marine Air Wing at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. LtCol Oppenheim departed to take battalion command with III MEF in Okinawa, Japan.
2. Desk Officer Adjustments. The summer rotation of International Issues Branch Officers is underway: North East Asia desk officer LtCol Jon Foster (PLU-1) is departing to take command. South East Asia desk officer, LtCol Travis Tebbe (PLU-2) will be moving to the Center for Advanced Operational Cultural Learning (CAOCL) at Quantico, Virginia. Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Africa and Israel (PLU-6) desk officer, Maj Mike Barnes, and the Security Cooperation and Programs (PLU-7) manager, LtCol Art Collins will be retiring. Inbound desk officers will be aboard by mid-summer and will be noted in the next edition of the FAO Journal.
3. FAOs outbound this summer to commence In-Country Training (ICT).
a. Mid- East/North Africa. There are four Marine FAOs finishing up their Arabic training at DLI and heading out for in-country training this summer. Two will be based out of Cairo, one in Muscat, Oman; and the fourth in Amman, Jordan.
b. Korea. A Marine FAO-in-training will graduate DLI in the Korean Basic Course this month. He deploys to Korea in June for a 6-month ICT followed by a year at the Korean Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
c. China. One Marine FAO wraps up his Mandarin Chinese training at DLI and will head to Beijing for a year of ICT.
d. Japan. A Japanese FAO will head to Japan for his immersion training this summer.
e. Greece. One Greek FAO will conduct his year of ICT based out of Thessaloniki, Greece.
f. Senegal. Lastly, a Marine Sub-Saharan Africa FAO will complete his French language training and head off to Senegal.
4. Marine Corps FY08 LtCol and Col selection boards. Marine FAOs fared very well in the FY08 LtCol and Colonel selection boards released in February. The selection rate for FAOs in-zone for O-5 this year was an astounding 100%. While not as high as the O-5 rate, FAOs in-zone for O-6 were selected at a rate 4% higher than the overall, in-zone population.
5. Proposed FAO Billet Expansion. The Marine Corps continues to work the DOTMLPF issues to support an initiative to create 24 additional FAO billets. These billets will place 3 structured FAO billets at each Marine Expeditionary Force, and the same at each geographic Marine Component. 18 FAO billets are to be coded for LtCol, 6 FAO billets are to be coded for Major. All are regionally appropriate to the missions and needs of each respective unit. Additionally, efforts continue toward addressing inventory production increases beginning academic year 2008 in order to ensure an initial operational capability by 2011.
6. New FAOs and RAOs. The Marine Corps recently concluded its FY07 2nd Qtr FAO/RAO Experience Track Board. The Board reviews packages of officers who have met the requirements for graduate level regional study, in-country experience, and language proficiency. The Board awarded the following 10 FAO/RAO designations:
-3 Latin America FAO designations
-1 East Asia RAO designation
-1 China (PRC) FAO designation
-1 Sub-Saharan Africa FAO designation
-3 Western Europe FAO designations
-1 FSU RAO designation