Soldier Blog Post

Honored to Serve as an Army Foreign Area Officer

January 25, 2012

Tags:  

foreign-area-officer   fao  

I am honored to have the opportunity to continue serving our Nation as an Army Foreign Area Officer (FAO).

After earning my commission through the ROTC program at Loyola University Chicago, I served first as an Infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and then as a Logistics officer in the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.  I deployed for 16 months and served in both Mosul and Baghdad, Iraq.

Having majored in Political Science, I was always interested in serving as an Army FAO.  After successfully commanding a company, I was given the opportunity to join the ranks of the most regionally, linguistically, and culturally attuned Army Soldiers.  FAOs possess unique core competencies, key skills and attributes that will remain in high demand as the Army transitions and continues to operate under conditions of uncertainty and complexity in an era of persistent conflict.

In order to develop these unique core competencies, key skills and attributes, I completed the best FAO training available within the Department of Defense.  I graduated from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Indiana University-Bloomington's Russian and East European Institute to hone my cross-cultural competence, interpersonal communication, and language proficiency.  Continuing to sharpen these professional skills during In-Region Training, I also improved my understanding of and ability to operate effectively within Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational processes while serving in the Office of Defense Cooperation in Kyiv and as an instructor at the National Defense University of Ukraine.

Combat-tested and grounded in the Profession of Arms, FAOs are operationally adaptive, agile, and credible leaders.  FAOs understand the depth, breath, and context of the regions of the world in which our Army will operate and will work with our partners and allies to address 21st century challenges to our national security.

I am honored to continue serving our Nation as an Army FAO.  If you are a current or future Army officer interested in the Army FAO program, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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  • Basil Fedun

    Jan 31, 2012 10:36 PM

    Sir,

    I have asked similar questions of other FAOs, but I was wondering if you could give me some advice.

    I am currently an MSIII cadet at the University of Colorado and I am a Russian major. I currently hold a 3.03 GPA and in good standing in ROTC. Last summer I studied abroad in Moscow, Russia on the Army's dime and I had the opportunity to meet some of the FAOs there. Though our meeting was brief, I learned much more about the job of an FAO.

    I have always wanted to do something that involves working in either Ukraine or Russia or even somewhere in Europe, but I never really knew much about any opportunities in the Army. I know that to be an FAO, takes time, school, and training. I really feel that this is something I want to pursue later in my career as an Army Officer. Since I come from a Ukrainian family, I have many contacts in both Russia and Ukraine, and have conversational fluency in Russian, a little bit of Ukrainian, and French as well. I have a strong passion and deep connection with eastern europe, as I have studied abroad in Ukraine 2x and Russia 2x as well as visited Ukraine 7 times. My father works for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and was able to show me first hand what he does in Russia and Ukraine and I am only more intrigued.

    My question is this. Due to the Army's shrinking due to budget cuts, I have no way of knowing whether or not I will be assessed for active duty. I am shooting to get a combat arms branch and active duty, and doing everything in my power to ensure that I achieve these goals.

    If I get placed in the ARNG or the reserves, what can I do to ensure that I get a chance to become an FAO later on? In other words, is there anything as a junior officer I should look into or do to increase my chances?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    V/R

    Basil Fedun


    Reply

    • Robert McVey

      Feb 2, 2012 7:50 PM

      Basil,

      I am glad to hear that you are interested in eventually becoming an Army FAO!

      The Army is currently reviewing the Reserve FAO program, so options are always out there.

      The best advice I can give to any junior officer interested in becoming an Army FAO is advice that I was first given during my own ROTC days: "Do your best in whatever job is given to you." As I mentioned in my blog, Army FAOs are "grounded in the Profession of Arms." One of the most important attributes of an Army FAO is that they first demonstrated their performance and potential within one or more of the Army's basic branches. Without this, all the language and cultural understanding is absolutely irrelevant. So, in my opinion, the most important thing that you can go to improve your chances of eventually becoming a FAO is to stay focused on becoming the best Army officer that you can be.

      Good luck!

      MAJ McVey


      Reply

  • Major Justin R. Stoddard

    May 20, 2012 2:58 PM

    Major McVey,

    I enjoyed reading your January 25 post...it sounds like you are enjoying your job and the people you are working with.

    I am interested in becoming an Active-Duty FAO but am finding most of the information online either outdated or focused on Senior Active Duty Captains. I would like to know if you have any information, or can direct me to a source of information that could give me some direction as to how I can become an Active Duty FAO.

    I am a 38-yr old Military Intelligence Reserve Major and have been mobilized for the past 4 years. I enlisted as an active duty medic in 1997, Commissioned as an active duty Infantry Officer in 2001, and spent 4 years serving as an infantry officer before transitioning to Military Intelligence in the branch detail program. I joined the reserves in 2006 and have been mobilized for 5 out of the past 6 years. I completed my Battalion and Brigade S2 time, my MICCC, and even managed to fit in a 2-yr command and complete a Masters Degree in Leadership Studies and Intelligence and National Security. I was promoted to Major last Fall and am looking for my next position.

    Before I joined the Army, I livedand traveled in Russia for 2 1/2 years spending time in Moscow, St Petersburg, Perm, Nishni Novgorod, Minsk-Belarus, Kiev-Ukraine, and a few other cities on the Black sea. In 2002 I was a host/translator at the 2002 Olympics for the Belorussian media crew, and soon thereafter hosted a Czechoslovakian delegation as they toured the Infantry School at Ft Benning. I also had the chance to use my Russian during my deployment to Afghanistan in working with some village elders. In 2005 received a 2+, 3 on the DLPT and have done my best to keep reading and speaking.

    FAO is where I want to take my knowledge, skills, and abilities and I am trying to figure out how. My current mobilization orders end in Nov 2012 and I would like to transition into the FAO program. I've met a few people that tell me it's too late, I'm too far along, it's not possible to transfer from RC to the AC FAO program for a variety of reasons, but I am never satisfied until I can find the one who will say yes.

    Do you have any recommendations, contacts, or information that I could use to help me on my goal to become an Active Duty FAO?

    I sincerely appreciate your time and assistance,

    Major Justin R. Stoddard


    Reply

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