TWON,
You have clearly been hacking my 'drafts' box! I second everything that you say. As a family we have enjoyed our
previous overseas tours but in our current one, we are struggling financially, especially with a child in a UK boarding school by necessity, and having to pay for representational duties out of our pockets,
inter alia.
DG(Pol) need to argue:
- Spousal incomes have to be recompensed where there are no pospects of local employment (as with FCO, SOCA and DFiD).
- LOA must be linked to independent global shopping basket surveys (as also used by FCO and DFiD, as well as multinationals).
- Linking LOA to the expenditure patterns of a Cpl on a Garrison and then upscaling this to senior officers is clearly bonkers and completely unrepresentative.
- Shipping of personal effects have to recognise modern lifestyles and not be arbitrarily limited to very small volumes (try and squeeze a family of 4 into the allowance given for UB if you are not moving your furniture - ie to a location where furnished hirings are provided - only!).
- Furnishing scales should include whitegoods - or UB allowances increased to accommodate them, or financial recompense provided.
- Petty local bureaucracy (eg BFG, UKNSU Naples etc) needs to be done away with. The DA community used to be very well served by a small team of MOD CS (with military lead) in SAAS/Def Dip/ISS. Perhaps a model to follow? And there is the Global RAO/HMS Nelson/RAF High Wycombe teams set up to look after 'orphans'.
- Overseas tours are career enhancers and not to be consigned to the box of Protestant Envy/Catholic Guilt/There, there, here's thanks for all your hard work by the Manning staffs.
- Don't send people on last or next-to-last tours to foreign staff colleges!!!!!
- Reporting Chains need to be, by necessity, cross Government and not focussed on seeking the single Service 2nd RO who might reside in another country, or indeed, another continent.
On this last point, for 2 1/2 years my 1st RO was a US Ambassador; my own Branch sniggered at this and commented that he hadn't attended Staff College and therefore couldn't comment on my performance, which in any case, was not 'core activity'. Clearly my Branch knew nothing of influence, access, etc...Mind you, I did get promoted!
WP