Has it really been two years?
April 11th marked the 2 year anniversary to my swearing into the Foreign Service. Moving into that Arlington apartment for a few months feels so long ago.
Look at that freshly sworn in face (and note the Warhammer book in the background). Sworn in during the death throws of the COVID-19 pandemic (yes it’s still around but not paralyzing our society in the same way), I had the strange experience of getting dressed up to sit in front of a computer and swearing in virtually. A few weeks later we would also do a ceremonial swearing in, in person, but even with the remote format, it felt like a very significant milestone in my life.
Each year in the Foreign Service is also important because it brings you one step closer to retiring with a pension. 20 years of service allows you to retire with a full pension and healthcare benefits for life. 2 years down, 18 to go.
Another year down also means I am one year away from being eligible for tenure. When you are first hired, you basically are recruited as an entry level employee and you have a 5 year countdown to get tenured and enter the midlevel ranks. Starting after your 3rd year, a tenure board meets, reviews all your evaluations, and then decides if you get to stick around. They can also defer a tenure decision if they don’t think you have enough evaluations yet (maybe you were in language training), enough variety in your work, or you maybe had a mediocre or bad review. 1 year later they will look again, and come to a decision. If for some reason they still don’t think you are ready, they can either offer you one more chance, or recommend you be separated from the service. The reality is it is pretty hard NOT to get tenure, especially in MED. Most folks have a single anecdote of someone they know not getting tenure, but the story concludes that they definitely deserved not being tenured. I guess next summer we shall see.
Two years down, and I am still really loving the journey. The hardest parts have definitely been the sacrifices we have made splitting our family temporarily, or for Angeli having to be incredibly flexible and versatile with her career/job choices. The experiences and opportunities have definitely been a net positive, but the lifestyle isn’t for everyone. Just in my orientation class alone, people have already left the service before completing their first assignment. In most cases it isn’t because they don’t like the work, but because their families really struggle to adapt to the lifestyle change.
I can’t stress enough how hard it can be on a family if they aren’t mentally prepared for the realities of life abroad. On the outside looking in, this lifestyle seems so fun and exotic, but at the end of the day, 90% of your time is spent doing the same routines you were doing stateside, but usually with fewer modern conveniences and a lack of language knowledge. Some of the posts with the highest numbers of people breaking assignments are in the Brussels, Tokyo’s and Paris’ of the world, so just because you are in a desirable vacation destination doesn’t mean you will enjoy living and working there. It’s a great job, but if you are thinking about joining, it’s important to consider the down sides and sacrifices you and your family will make.
Looking ahead to year three, there is a lot on my plate. Moving to Myanmar, lots of training, lots of travel, and perhaps most importantly, bidding and receiving my 3rd assignment. Time has been flying by, and I have no doubt this year will be a whirlwind of excitement. Here’s to year three! -Nick
P.S. – I have done a few layout changes to the blog and added a search function. Overall I hope this makes things a little easier for people to find previous posts that might have contained information they found useful.
