Re State Dept personnel refusing duty posts in Iraq - How was it resolved?

[astro]

A bit over a year and half ago there were several stories (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7072047.stm) about US diplomatic postings and support personnel positions remaining empty due to career State Dept personnel refusing, or otherwise fighting, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602417.html)being posted to Iraq despite the clear understanding they had in undertaking a State Department career, that hazard duty posts would potentially be part of the deal.

I never heard any more about it. What was the resolution to this issue?

[Bijou Drains]

I never heard either so I assume they eventually got enough people to agree to go. Or else the people forced to go never talked to the media .

In a lot of cases people make big money to go work there but I assume that doesn't apply to government jobs, only contractor jobs.

[Chefguy]

When I was in the Foreign Service, it was not uncommon for a posting to remain vacant. If nobody bids on a posting, then it usually just stays open and the post muddles by without that particular slot being filled, up to and including ambassador. New officers can just be assigned to a post, and it would be a poor career move for a junior officer to turn down an assignment, but they can turn it down. I turned down both Ulaan Bataar and an African post to take Lisbon when I first joined. But I was support staff, not a diplomat. I knew a lot of FSOs who turned down assignments, and I imagine the DOS had a very hard time filling Iraq positions. I've never heard of anybody being fired for refusing a posting.

[Ravenman]

Basically, things got fixed. Enough volunteers were found.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/1012/ed_voliraq.html

[Chefguy]

Basically, things got fixed. Enough volunteers were found.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/1012/ed_voliraq.html

It's very possible that they merely did a recruitment for most of the support positions, with the stipulation that the first assignment would be Iraq. I'm wondering what the differential pay is for those folks. Hell, I got 25% locality and 15% medical differential just for serving in Uganda, which was peaceful at the time. 40% of your salary tax-free is a pretty fair incentive, so I would imagine that Iraq is probably up in the 75% bracket.