In much the same way some people rever soldiers, I've always had a great deal of respect for foreign service officers. Or at least since I served in the Peace Corps and came to know some of them. While humanitarian aid workers are my greatest heroes, diplomacy is also a high calling. These are people who basically represent our country to the rest of the world. It's unfortunate they don't get more press because they certainly put on a better face of America to the rest of the world than do our 'leaders' in Washington.
It's important to bear in mind that diplomats are NOT humanitarians like Red Cross or UNHCR workers. They are not development workers Oxfam folks. They are not out to spread a better image of the United States like Peace Corps volunteers. Their primary job is to represent and advance American interests, however those are defined. I seriously considered joining the Foreign Service following my Peace Corps service but decided against it. I concluded that I could not in good conscience be a spokesperson for a foreign policy that I considered morally flawed on far too many levels... and this was BEFORE George W. Bush became president.
But there are a great many good and decent diplomats in the Foreign Service. They do not get parades when they come home but when properly supported by the political powers that be, they do far more enhance America's international reputation (and thus its security) than all the tanks and bombers put together.
Most importantly, when diplomats do their job (and are allowed to do their job), they prevent soldiers from having to risk their lives. Every war that is NOT fought is due in no small part to the hard and unappreciated work of foreign service professionals.
NPR ran a good story on the dangerous life in the Foreign Service and another about its effects on families of diplomats.
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