Meet Your FAO Association Board Of Governors (BOG)
Lieutenant Colonel Wes Chaney, U.S. Army
Editor's Note: From time to time the FAOA Journal is pleased to present an interview with a member of your Board of Governors (BOG) to provide insight into their background and motivation for joining the FAOA. We hope to not only provide more insight into the current membership and their goals for the organization, but to encourage new members to run and participate in the BOG too. In this edition, we meet one of the most-recently elected BoG members, Lieutenant Colonel Wes Chaney, U.S. Army.
What is your background? / What got you interested in the FAO community?
I joined the U.S. Army in 1997 as an Infantry enlisted member who desperately wanted to finish college but couldn't afford it. After two years of enlistment, I earned a Green to Gold Scholarship, returned to my college, participated in ROTC, and was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in 2001. I planned to do my time, get out as soon as possible, and go to law school. As I participated in the Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC), I was on an M240B range on September 11th, 2001. I remember vividly the cadre holding a formation at 1000 hrs and asking us to raise our hands if we had family members who lived in New York City or worked at the Pentagon. About 40 Second Lieutenants moved over to the other formation. The rest of us went back to training. Several hours later, they informed us of the attack on our homeland. I remember an intense burning in my chest that systematically eradicated any thoughts of getting out when my time was up. Several weeks later, the cadre held another formation, and they informed us that the Army had revoked all of our orders. Instead of going where our orders said (mine was to Korea), we were all going to the 82nd, 101st, 10th Mountain, 1st Cavalry, and 1st Infantry Division. We were at war, and I had changed from a citizen who just used the Army to get a college degree to a Soldier heading to war.
My first assignment was to the 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany. I arrived in Schweinfurt and was told not to unpack my bags because I was scheduled for a C-17 flight that night to Kosovo. I spent the first six months of my time in the Army as a platoon leader in Kosovo during a very calm period. Next, I returned to Germany, where we immediately went to the field to recertify our battalion and prepare for the invasion of Iraq. We were slotted to be the advanced guard of the 4th Infantry Division as it invaded through the north via Turkey. After four months of parliamentary discussions, we were slotted to replace the initial invasion forces when the northern invasion was not approved. In January 2004, I participated in the relief between 4th Infantry Division. and 1st Infantry Division. 4th ID had rolled through as peacemakers, regime changers, or liberators. By April 2004, I was a part of the shift from that liberation to an insurgency. During a regular logistical convoy that I was in charge of as a 1LT Executive Officer, I experienced the first of many improvised explosive devices (IED) I would encounter over the 13-month deployment. Minorly injured, with shrapnel and superficial gunshot wounds, I was ordered on the medevac flight along with two other members of my convoy. The college recruit was now a Purple Heart recipient. I'm often amazed how that happened.
After that assignment, I moved on to the Infantry Captain's Career Course. Now that I was a hardened Infantry Officer with a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Patch, and Combat Infantryman's Badge, I had my dreams set on commanding in the 101st Airborne Division. I had gone from a get-out as soon as I could to an I like this career kind of officer. During branch week, the Infantry Branch manager announced that at least 11 of us would have to go to Afghanistan as members of the new Military Transition Team (MTT) concept. Anyone who volunteered would be awarded heavily. I hadn't been to Afghanistan yet, so I stepped up blindly. I asked for a follow-on assignment to the 101st Airborne Division and Pathfinder and Airborne schools en route to MTT training. I had orders in two weeks. This sole decision started my transition to the Foreign Area Officer's branch.
After passing Airborne and Pathfinder courses, I headed off to Afghanistan in 2007, slightly before the surge. Operations were relatively light in the Khost region, and we encountered only one ambush or mortar attack a week. What I remember most is the number of engagements I was having with the locals, the Afghan Police, and the Afghan National Army – probably at least four a day. I enjoyed all of those engagements, the cultural issues, and navigating the conversations. My interpreters and I talked about what to say and not to say while also learning how to enter a room appropriately. Later in the year, I was informed HRC had changed my assignment because of the surge, and the 101st was replacing the 82nd in Afghanistan. There was a new rule that Soldiers couldn't do more than 15-months in a combat zone. As a single Captain, I had applied for an exception to policy requesting to change over command in Afghanistan and spend 27-months in Afghanistan, which the Army denied. My dreams of serving in the 101st evaporated overnight, and I was mad.
How Did You Become a FAO?
Sometimes one door closes, and another opens. I headed to Fort Riley, Kansas and back to the 1st Infantry Division for Company Command for the next two years. There I met my wife and I also learned about the Foreign Area Officer program and was excited about the opportunities to continue working with foreign forces. On January 25th, 2010, I transitioned command of my Headquarters and Headquarters Company and became an Army FAO 48J sub-Saharan Africa. I've never regretted that decision.
Over the next twelve years, I served in Djibouti as the Security Cooperation Officer, Italy as a Desk Officer and Branch Chief at an Army Service Component Command, and then as the Senior Defense Official / Defense Attaché to Cote d'Ivoire. Currently, I am the Army FAO Branch Chief at U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
MAJ Wes Chaney, OSC Chief Djibouti, Eritrea / Djibouti Border, 2014
What is a funny and/or embarrassing personal anecdote that FAOs would appreciate?
When I took the Myers-Briggs survey in JMAS, I hit right on the line of Extrovert / Introvert. I have a switch: I can talk all night, but when I do the next day, I'm drained and need my introverted time. I learned to manage that as an attaché. You might think I'm this extreme extrovert because I talk excessively, but I'm not. For every engagement, I need personal time to overcome that energy drain.
LTC Wes Chaney and an Ivoirian WWII Veteran, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 2018
U.S. Embassy Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire DAO and SCO offices, 2019
Why did you want to join the BOG?
I threw my hat in the ring to continue to improve the organization. I watched COVID restrict its capabilities, and I hope to expand what it gives to its members. As the "Army representative," I can provide the BOG with some perspectives from the field. I also hope to expand the awards that the FAOA gives out, especially to its members. Overall, I joined because I hope to assist the organization while also improving its opportunities for its members. Only 16% of active Army FAOs are a member of the FAOA. I hope to change that statistic.
What are you reading right now?
I'm in the U.S. Army War College distance learning course right now, so I'm reading around 500 - 1000 pages a month, and yes, I'm doing the reading. I also read (or listen to) international news every morning for 30-minutes upon arrival to my office in my FAO control language of French. It is the only way I have found to sustain my language skills when not actively using them. In addition, it helps me pass the DLPT each year. Outside of that, I always spend 30 or so minutes each day browsing the headlines because I always want to be in the know of the pulse of the world.