Gen. Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of U.S. European Command, speaks virtually to new Foreign Area Officers who were gathered together for the Joint Foreign Area Officers Conference held at the Presidio of Monterey June 25-28.
Gen. Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of U.S. European Command, spoke virtually to new Foreign Area Officers who were gathered together for the Joint Foreign Area Officers Conference held at the Presidio of Monterey June 25-28.
“I would not trade my experience as a FAO for anything,” said Cavoli, a DLIFLC graduate in the second highest military position in Europe. “The skills I use at this rank are the skills I learned as a FAO.”
JFAOC is a biannual course held at the Presidio of Monterey that brings together new FAOs from all branches of the military to hear from leaders and experts in the field. This event is their first introduction to the FAO career field and to the community as a whole.
“You are going to be expected routinely to interact with people from high levels of the military and government,” Cavoli told the more than 300 officers and their family members gathered, speaking on what the officers would need to be successful FAOs. “You’re going to be briefing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Maybe me. You’ll be briefing a Secretary. You’ll be expected to know and to have a relationship with the Chief of the Army of the country you’re in or the Chief of Defense. How to be effective in communications across big divisions of rank is a learned skill.”
New Foreign Area Officers listen and take notes as Gen. Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of U.S. European Command, speak virtually during the Joint Foreign Area Officers Conference held at the Presidio of Monterey June 25-28.
About 5% of the students at DLIFLC are FAOs, who then go on to become regionally-focused political-military specialists that possess a unique combination of regional expertise and strategic focus. They will typically serve overseas tours as a military attaché, security assistance officer, or strategic-level political-military planner.
“You know your craft, you know your profession and you have the language and cultural skills to make your knowledge of the American military accessible to foreign people,” Cavoli said. “That’s the number one duty description.”
