Flag Day!

Post by J

Flag Day!

Dominican Republic!

Yes!  We're thrilled to be going to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in August 2015. I have quite a bit of training before we go, including Area Studies, the Consular course, and six months of intensive Spanish.  So exciting!  Hurray!

R and H and L all flew in for the big day, and we had a great time during the ceremony, eating cake/drinking champagne after the ceremony, stuffing ourselves at Mark's Duck House (and having enough leftovers to feed half of the Dominican Republic), and touring around DC on Saturday and Sunday.

R and me - before the Flag Day ceremony.

The whole family, celebrating after the Flag Day ceremony.

H and L and me.

The Washington Monument.

In front of the Capitol.

The ceiling of the Library of Congress.

R, L and H in front of the Library of Congress.

The fam in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

L and H at the Lincoln Memorial.

Me and R and the Washington Monument.

The Viet Nam War memorial.

Six Days To Go!!

Post by R

As I write this I am multi-tasking.  The University of Wyoming football team is playing the Florida Atlantic University football team at War Memorial stadium in Laramie and I'm listening to it on the radio.  Radio?  Yes, it's very old school, but even before we ditched cable you couldn't find it on television, unless you opted for some sort of premium package.  J and I have never hesitated to spend money on things we consider worthwhile, but premium cable has never been one of those things.  I've actually grown fond of listening to those Cowboys radio broadcasts in the fall.  The radio network has a great play-by-play guy and your imagination does the rest.  It's straight out of the 1940's and it's one of those little things I'll miss about Wyoming.

I finished my electrical project today.  The electric line from our house to the shop was a 70 foot overhead line that was only about 8 feet off of the ground for much of its run.  That's a major code violation so I decided to put it in underground conduit.  Only about 20% of the job actually involved electrical work; the rest involved moving dirt.  I'm glad it's done.

I've been filling up the trailer with things that need to go to the landfill.  We've been in this house for 13 years, and the longest we ever lived anywhere prior to that was three years.  Between packing, unpacking, and space limitations, all of those military moves forced us to cull unneeded items.  Now I'm dealing with 13 years of storing essentially unwanted things in the shop, the basement, the garage, the corners of closets, the dark recesses of kitchen cabinets and drawers, etc. - just in case we might need or want them in the future.  Now I'm realizing that after 8 or 10 years of "out of sight, out of mind" we have a lot of assorted "stuff" that we have no use for.  Obviously, much of the excess isn't going straight to the landfill.  Some is yard-sale material, and some, of course, has sentimental value to our daughters, so it will not be tossed.  Bottom line:  It's time to simplify and reduce.  I remember when J and I first got started, and how we couldn't wait to own some furniture and accumulate a few things.  Of course, we started with next to nothing, so owning more "stuff" was a good thing back then.  Now?  Not so much.

Enough about boring Wyoming updates.  The big story is that J and I have less than six days to go before we find out where home will be for a few years.  It's difficult to make any decisions on the house/furniture storage until we find out where we are going.  At some posts we ship our own furniture, but in others furniture is provided.  More important is the issue of language training.  We would both be very disappointed if J received an assignment that had no foreign language requirement, but that is only a remote possibility.  I fully expect to be heading to northern Virginia in October to go through language training with Jackie.  Fortunately, spouses are almost always permitted to attend language training.  J and I met at the Defense Language Institute, and the opportunity to go through language training again at the Foreign Service Institute is a wonderful opportunity.  It will take a lot of work and dedication, but we know first hand what it takes to succeed.

In just a few days, I will join our daughters in the D.C. area to spend some time with J.  I am very much looking forward to it.  There will be excitement and anticipation both before and after J receives her assignment, and we will be able to spend some time together as a family.  We'll enjoy it and have a great time, while always being cognizant  that we are just visitors, J included.  We are very much defined by wide open spaces, even though big cities might be in our future.

A-100 Week Four Recap

Post by J

Week Four.  Oh, Week Four.

This week was all about public speaking and keeping your composure in difficult circumstances. We had lengthy workshops on how to deliver a speech and how to maintain our equilibrium when being peppered (okay, perhaps "lambasted" is a better word) with difficult questions from a hostile audience.

I'm not really thrown by speaking in front of a group; I've done it a lot. If I know my subject and I've come prepared, I'm just fine. We were given a few days' notice to decide on a relevant topic specific to our cone (mine is consular) and develop a five-minute speech. I delivered mine on Thursday afternoon and was given feedback by 10 of my colleagues. I'll now revise and practice, and deliver the speech again on Monday. Done and done. No problem.

I'm not a big fan of extemporaneous speaking, however. I like to know what to expect. Unfortunately, the whole idea behind this week's exercise, "Composure under Fire" or "Grace under Pressure" is to practice reacting appropriately when you don't know what's coming. What is the appropriate response to a very difficult question regarding U.S. foreign policy, especially when the foreign audience is surly and in your face, for example? Perhaps they should have called this session, "Deer-in-the-Headlights in the Face of an Oncoming Mack Truck."

This situation is something for which you can't really prepare, and the Myers-Briggs ISFJ in me hates that. You just have to breathe and focus. Easier said than done.

Before I had my turn in the hot seat, I promised myself that if things really went south I'd just mentally go to my happy place and weather the storm. I sat there at the beginning of the day thinking, "Well, it's not likely that I'll be called on first. My name is not first alphabetically, nor is that of my assigned country. I won't volunteer to go first. I'm not sitting in a place in the room that looks like a reasonable starting place. I'll observe the first few classmates and learn from their experiences."

"Hmm," said the session leader as we settled into our seats at 8:30 this morning. "Let's start with...," and he named my country.  Seriously?

When push came to shove, though, I didn't have time to go to my happy place. But I didn't really need to, either, because - hallelujah, thank-ya-Jesus - I was able to hold my own against the barrage of questions. And it was actually a blessing that I went first, because my class hadn't yet settled into its role as a belligerent, critical, anti-American crowd. Sure, their questions were tough, but not as tough as they could have been. The whole experience cost me a lot of mental energy, though, even if I'm able to retain something that I can use in the future.

Yes, I made it through. But I'm glad Week Four is over and I never have to see its annoying face again.

A-100 Weeks Two and Three Recap

Post by J

Time seems to move quickly when you're busy. Case in point: How is it possible that I'm now half-way through A-100? Week two? Gone. Week three? History.  Crazy.

We've been busy learning about what a foreign service career might hold, how to face the challenges that are sure to arise, how to juggle work/life balance, and how to write reports (cables in FS speak). We've talked about generational differences and taken the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. We listened in rapt attention as bureau chiefs gave an overview of the six different regions in which we might serve in our careers. We met with our Career Development Officers to discuss our bid list priorities, and we traveled to the "Woods" where we participated in team-building and leadership exercises.

Of course, the main focus of week two was meeting with our CDOs. I met with mine on Friday of that week, and we were able to include R via speaker phone. The primary reason for the meeting was for our CDO to get to know us and understand our priorities in bidding. I think it's safe to say that this meeting is extremely important and will ultimately play a big role in where I'm assigned. I submitted my final bid list on Tuesday of week three, so where R and I end up is now completely out of my hands. Because of that, I'm no longer devoting any mental energy to it.  After all, I have plenty of other things to do.

The last two days of week three were dedicated to the off-site (the "Woods") event.  We traveled by bus out of Washington on Thursday and returned on Friday. There were multiple exercises that stressed working as a team to accomplish a goal. Although I've read that others find these two days stressful, I had a great time. I think I got to know a few more of my classmates a little bit better, and we had fun, particularly during the "Follies" - a performance that a committee of my classmates put on Thursday evening. The Follies were fun because we had a chance to loosen up and laugh.

I have to say that the 84 other members of my class are an impressive lot. They have varied educational backgrounds, speak myriad languages and can call on unique experiences to add value to nearly any conversation. I've found that they're very accepting, too. I'm an outlier in the group (I'm quite a bit older than most of my classmates, and my life experiences are different), but I definitely still feel that I belong, and that I have something to contribute.

Three more weeks (and 12 days until Flag Day)!

Arlington National Cemetery

Post by J

Last week I drove over to Fort Myer, an Army post in Arlington. The primary reason was to visit the commissary and the post exchange and stock up on groceries and other sundry items, but while there I noticed that it was directly adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. I made a mental note to return and wander among the rows of stones that mark the final resting place of so many fallen to whom we collectively owe so much.

I did that today.

I parked on post near the Fort Myer chapel and walked through the Miegs Street gate. I was surprised by how many unique grave markers I immediately saw; all of the photos you ever see of ANC show rows and rows of identical white stones. There were plenty (sadly, far too many) of the expected kind, but there are other types as well.

I wandered around over the paved pathways, a bit overwhelmed by the acres and acres of lives represented by all that marble. "Thank you for your service" seems a pitiful salute to the men and women laid to rest in Arlington, or to those buried in hometowns and in cemeteries abroad, or to those in unmarked places that no one ever visits. It's an inadequate expression to the living men and women who have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. I texted a picture to R, and his response captured how I felt: "May they rest in peace," he responded. "It should be a mandatory field trip for all new Federal employees and elected officials."

I was in time to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which brought me to tears. There was a large crowd, over 100, I think, and no one made a sound as the guards changed and a soldier played Taps. This is from the ANC website:

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and in any weather by Tomb Guard sentinels. Sentinels, all volunteers, are considered to be the best of the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), headquartered at Fort Myer, Virginia.

In fact, a video in the building next to the Tomb indicates that becoming a sentinel and serving honorably for nine months will merit the soldier being awarded a special Army decoration: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guard Identification Badge. This is the 2nd rarest award in the U.S. Army.

And then, of course there were the rows upon rows of headstones:

I really appreciated that on the back side of some of the stones was the name of the service member's wife (or possibly husband, although I didn't see one). Families - wives, husbands, children, parents - also sacrifice when a soldier serves.

After spending some time thinking on a bench overlooking a wide expanse of the cemetery, I slowly walked back to my car - a little more thoughtful, a little more grateful.

The U.S. Diplomacy Center

Post by J

Secretary of State John Kerry and five former Secretaries of State - Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, and Hilary Clinton - spoke at the U.S. Diplomacy Center groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon. Our FSO orientation class was invited to attend, and comprised 85 of the 250 attendees present. We were delighted to be included.

Each Secretary spoke for a few minutes, and I was particularly struck by Secretary Powell's comments. Basically, he said that while Washington, DC boasts many monuments dedicated to military services (the Viet Nam War Memorial, the Korean Memorial, World War II, etc.), there is not a monument to those Foreign Service Officers who gave their lives while serving America abroad (there are over 200), nor is there a place dedicated to telling the story of the Diplomatic Corps. The U.S. Diplomacy Center will serve this purpose.

My classmates and I were a little starstruck, given the status of the speakers. We're all a little geeky and the Secretaries of State are the equivalent of rock stars in our world. Of course we shamelessly snapped photos with our phones.

And here's a little random addition to this post that has nothing to do with the Diplomacy Center:

Last week while searching for a place to sit at lunch, a classmate and I walked outside to the courtyard at the Main State building. All the tables were occupied, unfortunately, but we spied a table that only had one person sitting at it. We approached the man sitting there and asked if he'd mind if we joined him. He said no, and we sat down. Small talk ensued.

"Do you work here?" we asked. We ask this question of everyone, assuming that they're an FSO who might have interesting stories from the field, or insightful advice that we couldn't get anywhere else.

"No," the man replied. "I'm a reporter."

We hesitated, not knowing exactly what to talk with him about.  

"Which paper do you work for?" I asked.

"Not a paper. I work for Fox News."

Aha.  A television reporter.  

Turns out, we had lunch with James Rosen, who was quite a hot topic a few years ago. Rosen was the subject of an investigation, a pretty aggressive one in fact, conducted by the Department of Justice. Some believe the DOJ went too far, using intimidation tactics to squelch Rosen's free speech. The reason that some were on Rosen's side is that if investigative reporters are prevented from digging too deep (the DOJ was trying to intimidate Rosen by conducting their own investigation), it limits the media's role as a "watchdog."

It just goes to show, you never know who you're going to see from one day to the next in this job!