For the uninitiated, Flag day is the highly anticipated day on which new Foreign Service personnel receive their first directed assignments. In other words, they discover where they’re going to be spending the next two years. An event of such significance always comes with some ceremony, so these assignments are individually revealed to the entire orientation class, along with assembled Foreign Service staff and invited family members.
Worldwide availability is a clause we’re frequently reminded of when it comes to assignments. Unless you or members of your household have medical conditions that require certain accommodations, one is expected to serve anywhere in the world where they are needed. Thus, Flag day can be a source of great anticipation, or anxiety – depending on which assignments were up for bidding. We had heard stories of Flag day assignments which caused accompanying spouses to run out of the room screaming in distress. Though we had also been told that if one had received a particularly undesirable assignment that they’d usually be notified of it beforehand so that these lapses in composure didn’t occur.
Of course, given our bid list I don’t think any of the specialists in my cone were particularly worried about where their first assignment would be. Still, it’s only natural to feel some anxiety over an announcement that will shape your life for the next two years. As with all significant turning points in life, some people tend to worry about it more than others – however having already submitted our bidding preferences, we no longer had any ability to affect the outcome ourselves, so whatever the outcome of this process was, it was out of my hands and not worth worrying about until I knew where I was going.
Our daily orientation activities concluded early on Flag day, and the entire specialist class assembled with a crowd of other invitees and onlookers at the designated reception hall. At the indicated time we took our seats and squirmed through the speaker introductions as we awaited the actual declaration of assignments. When the speakers felt like they had teased us along far enough, they began the announcements and we collectively sat on the edge of our seats to hear where our first post would be
As assignments were read, a flag of the receiving post would be displayed on the projector, the location identified by the speaker, and a colleague from our specialist class would be announced for the assignment. The lucky individual would rise and walk to the front of the room to receive their miniature flag, a handshake and a information packet with further details about their assignment.
Of course, having a basic idea of how the others in my cone had ordered their bid lists, I wasn’t expecting any big surprises. I had written off my number one pick, as there was another individual in my specialty that had also ranked it as their number one, and had a wife and pets in tow (whereas I have neither). It seemed like it really was a question of where I’d be assigned given that my second choice was also hotly contested. So my surprise came when the colleague who shared my number one bid was assigned to a different post. It was at that moment that I knew where I was going, which was confirmed a minute or two later when I was called up to receive my first post assignment – Cairo, Egypt.
To say that I was pleasantly surprised was an understatement. I was elated! I had heard so much about Cairo from other Foreign Service Officers which had served there. The person who I had spent the last 6 years in a relationship with had attended college there, and would be able to recommend all manner of activities and restaurants, as well as put me in touch with the community of expats that she knew and still lived there. No to mention the rich and astounding history of the region that would be at my fingertips. I couldn’t imagine a more fortuitous first assignment that jived so well with what I had heard about the Foreign Service and the experiences of those that had introduced me to it.
We capped off the afternoon with a happy hour at a nearby establishment; meeting and mingling with other specialists and attending family members, discussed our post assignments, and tried to contain the giddiness many of us felt. Tomorrow would be just another day of orientation, but for the time being we were getting the first taste of the adventure we had all signed on for.