Month: October 2018

The introduction and orientation for the Foreign Service typically starts bright and early on a Monday morning, so the weekend before is generally spent traveling to Washington D.C. and getting settled in to the roller coaster ride that will be the next few weeks of Foreign Service life. For local hires this doesn’t amount to much, but the majority that are relocating for the opportunity will generally either drive or fly to D.C. Coming from the opposite side of the continental United States and having an older vehicle that wasn’t going to come with me, flying was the obvious choice.

I spent my weekend in much the manner one might expect; a last hurrah with friends, family, and loved ones, quietly contemplating the life I had embarked upon while en route to my destination, and attending the traditional mixer the night before orientation. That is, the previous group of Specialists are tasked with hosting a meet and greet for the incoming group. I was eager to meet my new colleagues, so as soon as I dropped off my bags at the apartment I was provided, I caught a ride down to the venue where it was being held.

I met and mingled with other members of the incoming class, as well as the veterans of the specialist class before us. From the specialists before us, we heard all about where their first assignments would be and the training they had received. Getting to know some of my own specialist colleagues revealed that regardless of which walks of life we came from or what our background was in, what tied us to this opportunity was the sense of adventure that we all shared. The meet and greet was a good way to put some names to faces and provided a good opportunity to make a few acquaintances before the start of Orientation.

Orientation began bright and early the next morning. I made a quick stop at the Filterhouse – the same coffee shop that I had visited before my Oral Assessment a year prior. I then met with my other colleagues in the lobby of the State Department building, all of us sharply dressed in suits and other professional attire. The first day is all about the necessities of administrative stuff, badging, benefits, and what not. However, it’s the second day which sets the pace for the rest of the orientation and gives an accurate example of what one can expect for the next few weeks.

During this time, one will be expected to arrive on time and appropriately dressed, to conduct themselves properly, be attentive, respectful, and professional. Embody the expectations that one has for a public servant and a representative of the United States abroad, and encourage the same from your colleagues. Be your best self and exhibit the 13 dimensions of Foreign Service personnel.

The orientation period itself is blistering. The schedule is packed with different presentations, information sessions and speakers from 8 to 5. Breaks are provided, but with everything going on this rarely leaves you with the time to catch up on everything. Myself and other incoming specialists struggled to find time for a proper lunch. Thankfully, my appetite had also dropped off considerably, whether this was due to moving across the country and other considerable changes in my life or something else, I do not know.

Alternatively, on the information front we were well-fed, even overfed. The phrase “drinking from a fire hose” has been used to describe this period of the training process, but does little to indicate just how much information one is presented – much of which I now struggle to remember, despite taking ample notes. Death by PowerPoint is real possibility, but one can also expect to take a field trip or two, as well as an overnight off-site if they’re lucky. Weekends become a grateful and much-needed reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the week.

It’s during Orientation that one receives their first directed bid list, and their first assignments are announced. Post research and other mandatory training spilled into my evenings during Orientation, but it also provided the opportunity to make my first real friends and connections among my colleagues. We came to rely on one another for help, learned from each others experiences, and were able to ask questions without the fear of judgement from those that were guzzling from the same fire hose. It’s an opportunity to make lasting impressions and friendships with people you might be serving with in the future, and build relationships that will follow you throughout your life.

It doesn’t seem like it at the time, but those weeks will pass quickly. You’ll get your first assignment at flag day, you’ll get sworn in, and you’ll find yourself in the next portion of your training along with the other specialists of your type. So take heart and don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by the orientation, it’ll be over before you know it.

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.