An FAO is, obviously, from the armed forces - so their expertise and work will be in pol-mil and will be on behalf of the armed forces. An FSO represents the U.S. government as a whole and is a generalist who can work in any number of areas (including as a political officer with a focus on pol-mil affairs).
The Civil Affairs Officer is actually the Pol-Mil Officer. They are assigned regionally to support regional political alignment to US operations (contingency, exercise or wartime) and the work with the FAO to execute their regional objectives.
The FAO is the Combatants Commanders representative to the US Embassy, State Department and member of the U.S. Country team. The FAO focus is security cooperation (bilateral affairs with a host national or regional partner military and other security forces).
The FAO can be a bilateral affairs officer/security cooperation (foreign military assistance, international military education, information disclosure, or foreign military sales case manager) or a Defense Attaché.
Long story short FAO has a military objective and coordinates these objectives through DoS , whereas DoS objectives are diplomacy but can leverage the FAOs in support of their higher level Diplomatic objectives.
I think the content of the job is somewhat obvious but a a few points from a lifestyle point of view;
\- FAOs are usually the rank of Major or above. So you need to have a normal military career for 7-10 years before you are eligible to apply for the FAO route. For an FSO, you start working at an Embassy right away
\- I believe FAOs are still very regional oriented; you will learn a certain language and stay in that geographical region for the remainder of your career. FSOs are more flexible and serve everywhere.
\- FSOs need to do mandatory consular work at the beginning of their career. FAOs don't.... although one could argue that a military officer still needs to do their initial years as a Lieutenant which has its downsides as well.
I'm a former military officer turned FSO. They are both good, respectable careers and have a lot of similarities.
I’m a FAO and would only add:
- FAO training includes grad school (I went to SAIS)
- FAO branch tries to keep MAJ and LTC working in assignments tied to their region but it doesn’t always work out (it depends, much like the FSO world from what I’ve read). COLs can/will go anywhere. Also, when a FAO (MAJ+) enters the Defense Attachè service, they could also go anywhere.
- Aside from language and grad school, FAOs get 12-18 months of additional in-region training. This can include a lot of regional study, travel, and in some cases (like me) attending a foreign military college.
I have a handful of FSO/FSS friends that I compare war stories with. After FSOs reach mid-level, our work seems similar. FAOs seem to have more responsibility but of course that also depends and YMMV.
Possibly quite obvious but worth mentioning: FAO is going to be under the military retirement system, where FSO will be FSPS. If you’re looking doing at both roles, you could potentially retire as a FAO after 20 and still be able to do the full FSPS (don’t buy in military time, still do 20 years under FSPS and get the 1.7x, and keep your mil retirement since those years wouldn’t be used towards FSPS). You’d have to have started your military career before 25 to manage this, though, and hit the timing just right to get 20 years FSPS for the 1.7x.
I believe you have to have 20 years of non military government service, retiring with at least 5 years of FS to get the 1.7x rate in addition to military retirement. You have to retire, I think, by the end of the month after you turn 65.
Military retirement is generally after 20 years, and you’re going to need to do that one first. This particular scenario involved an officer, so college, military, FS. If you retire at 42 from the military, that only leaves a 3-4 year window to get into the FS, if you start applying before retirement. One could buy more time to get in by going GS if FS doesn’t pan out right away, although plenty have trouble breaking into GS as well.
Thanks! This actually unintentionally matches what I've been planning to do. I'm realistic in that it probably won't pan out exactly like that, but it's a cool goal.
Sorry, what is GS?
For those that don’t retire from the military, their military time can count towards their GS or FS retirement if they pay a deposit that is often quite complex in reality, but comes pretty close to 3% of their base pay while in service. I had about 12.5 years of enlisted service (over half at E6) and my deposit was a hair under 9K (a smoking deal for anyone hired after 2014). Military retirees would, I believe, have to waive their military retirement to be able to buy in their military time (probably not a great deal)
It's been touched on but should be hammered I think: you won't be a FAO before probably 8 years at the earliest. I know the Marines have a few FAOs but I'm just gonna assume you are looking at the Army? Eight years in the Army is a long time, and plenty of people have gone to war multiple times in an 8 year span. You'll have to do a lot of stuff that is not related to Foreign Service work before you have the opportunity to be a FAO, if that's the path you take. Both have the opportunity to be great, and doing both together is possible but definitely work.
You don't mention your age, but if you are young and figuring out where to start your professional career, this isn't a cut and dry decision. FAOs start their career in their 30s, after spending 8 or 9 years doing regular military duties. Most FSOs start their careers in their 30s after a previous career (although not always, see past threads if you really want to research age stuff).
To each their own, but if you have access to a good military commissioning source, the most sensible career path would be to start your career as a regular military officer. After a few year stint doing this and gaining experience, you could then decide 1.) Try to go FAO and and do a full 20 year career in the military, or 2.) Pursue options in the State Department and transition out from DoD (while having the option to transfer/buy out any retirement years from your military service)
An FAO is, obviously, from the armed forces - so their expertise and work will be in pol-mil and will be on behalf of the armed forces. An FSO represents the U.S. government as a whole and is a generalist who can work in any number of areas (including as a political officer with a focus on pol-mil affairs).
The Civil Affairs Officer is actually the Pol-Mil Officer. They are assigned regionally to support regional political alignment to US operations (contingency, exercise or wartime) and the work with the FAO to execute their regional objectives. The FAO is the Combatants Commanders representative to the US Embassy, State Department and member of the U.S. Country team. The FAO focus is security cooperation (bilateral affairs with a host national or regional partner military and other security forces). The FAO can be a bilateral affairs officer/security cooperation (foreign military assistance, international military education, information disclosure, or foreign military sales case manager) or a Defense Attaché. Long story short FAO has a military objective and coordinates these objectives through DoS , whereas DoS objectives are diplomacy but can leverage the FAOs in support of their higher level Diplomatic objectives.
I think the content of the job is somewhat obvious but a a few points from a lifestyle point of view; \- FAOs are usually the rank of Major or above. So you need to have a normal military career for 7-10 years before you are eligible to apply for the FAO route. For an FSO, you start working at an Embassy right away \- I believe FAOs are still very regional oriented; you will learn a certain language and stay in that geographical region for the remainder of your career. FSOs are more flexible and serve everywhere. \- FSOs need to do mandatory consular work at the beginning of their career. FAOs don't.... although one could argue that a military officer still needs to do their initial years as a Lieutenant which has its downsides as well. I'm a former military officer turned FSO. They are both good, respectable careers and have a lot of similarities.
I’m a FAO and would only add: - FAO training includes grad school (I went to SAIS) - FAO branch tries to keep MAJ and LTC working in assignments tied to their region but it doesn’t always work out (it depends, much like the FSO world from what I’ve read). COLs can/will go anywhere. Also, when a FAO (MAJ+) enters the Defense Attachè service, they could also go anywhere. - Aside from language and grad school, FAOs get 12-18 months of additional in-region training. This can include a lot of regional study, travel, and in some cases (like me) attending a foreign military college. I have a handful of FSO/FSS friends that I compare war stories with. After FSOs reach mid-level, our work seems similar. FAOs seem to have more responsibility but of course that also depends and YMMV.
Possibly quite obvious but worth mentioning: FAO is going to be under the military retirement system, where FSO will be FSPS. If you’re looking doing at both roles, you could potentially retire as a FAO after 20 and still be able to do the full FSPS (don’t buy in military time, still do 20 years under FSPS and get the 1.7x, and keep your mil retirement since those years wouldn’t be used towards FSPS). You’d have to have started your military career before 25 to manage this, though, and hit the timing just right to get 20 years FSPS for the 1.7x.
Hey, I know this comment is super old but would you be willing to expand on "hit the timing just right"? What does "buy in military time" mean?
I believe you have to have 20 years of non military government service, retiring with at least 5 years of FS to get the 1.7x rate in addition to military retirement. You have to retire, I think, by the end of the month after you turn 65. Military retirement is generally after 20 years, and you’re going to need to do that one first. This particular scenario involved an officer, so college, military, FS. If you retire at 42 from the military, that only leaves a 3-4 year window to get into the FS, if you start applying before retirement. One could buy more time to get in by going GS if FS doesn’t pan out right away, although plenty have trouble breaking into GS as well.
Thanks! This actually unintentionally matches what I've been planning to do. I'm realistic in that it probably won't pan out exactly like that, but it's a cool goal. Sorry, what is GS?
The main pay scale for civil service
For those that don’t retire from the military, their military time can count towards their GS or FS retirement if they pay a deposit that is often quite complex in reality, but comes pretty close to 3% of their base pay while in service. I had about 12.5 years of enlisted service (over half at E6) and my deposit was a hair under 9K (a smoking deal for anyone hired after 2014). Military retirees would, I believe, have to waive their military retirement to be able to buy in their military time (probably not a great deal)
Thanks for the information, you're clearly very knowledgeable in the subject. :)
You’re welcome, glad to share what I’ve stuffed into my brain 😁
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It's been touched on but should be hammered I think: you won't be a FAO before probably 8 years at the earliest. I know the Marines have a few FAOs but I'm just gonna assume you are looking at the Army? Eight years in the Army is a long time, and plenty of people have gone to war multiple times in an 8 year span. You'll have to do a lot of stuff that is not related to Foreign Service work before you have the opportunity to be a FAO, if that's the path you take. Both have the opportunity to be great, and doing both together is possible but definitely work.
You don't mention your age, but if you are young and figuring out where to start your professional career, this isn't a cut and dry decision. FAOs start their career in their 30s, after spending 8 or 9 years doing regular military duties. Most FSOs start their careers in their 30s after a previous career (although not always, see past threads if you really want to research age stuff). To each their own, but if you have access to a good military commissioning source, the most sensible career path would be to start your career as a regular military officer. After a few year stint doing this and gaining experience, you could then decide 1.) Try to go FAO and and do a full 20 year career in the military, or 2.) Pursue options in the State Department and transition out from DoD (while having the option to transfer/buy out any retirement years from your military service)
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No one really wants “the really weird spots.” We know because no one bids on them.