Can't the Foreign Service Get Some Love?

Popular interest in the Great Foreign Service Rebellion of 2007 hasn't waned yet. Raucous contempt for those wussy diplomats seems to be that rare bi-partisan thing that unites Americans of all political leanings. As a Civil - not Foreign - Service employee at State, I'm just an interested observer.

Here's a link to a letter posted on Dipnote from a U.S. Foreign Service Officer serving in Iraq. He addresses his State Department colleagues on the highly overwrought subject of involuntary (or "directed") assignments. It's the most sensible public response that I've seen on this matter.

Also of interest is this dissection of a typically confused news report on the subject of directed assignments. It's posted by Consul-at-Arms, a former solider turned Foreign Service Officer (and, incidentally, someone with whom TSB has shared a cubicle a couple of times over the years).