On my second day in the Foreign Service, the very first thing that happened was my Career Development Officer provided us a listing of every available job within our career field and grade. This is a time of great excitement as we finally get a chance to see what our options are, and know that we will go to at least ONE of these posts. What we do next is spend a week or two researching each option, and then rank order them according to our desires. Here are my options for my very first assignment within the Foreign Service, rank ordered according to me preference from top to bottom:
- Islamabad, Pakistan
- Bogata, Columbia (Narcotics)
- Beijing, China
- Vienna, Austria (United Nations Affairs)
- Montevideo, Uruguay
- London, England
- Hanoi, Vietnam
- Berlin, Germany
- Belgrad, Serbia
- Caracas, Venezuela
- Guatemala, Guatemala
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Panama City, Panama
- Yaounde, Cameroon
All are all two-year assignments with the exception of Islamabad, which is one. I placed Islamabad at the top because Megan is on the way to Fiji for 3 years – and there is no way I can join her there. The small Embassy in Suva is just too small, so there are no additional office managers there except Megan. So, we’ll be apart for at least three years, but visiting each other a couple of times a year will help. Islamabad is the only assignment in that list that is only 1 year long. Most of our directed assignments are two years long – so unless I take a 1-year post like Islamabad, I would be away from Megan for 4 years! My next assignment (after Islamabad) would be a 2 year tour, so when combined with the 1 year in Pakistan that would bring my assignment rotation equal to Megan’s and then we will be able to go on our future assignments together. Also, since I would be coming off a hardship assignment I would get priority on choosing my next assignment – so I should have a better chance of getting a posting closer to Fiji.
I also would not mind the extra money from the incentive pay that Pakistan offers. This would be an extra 20% of my base pay for something called Hardship Differential (due to the extra hardship of living in a third world country), and an extra 35% of pay for Danger. Danger Pay is given at posts where there is an increased threat to our lives. So together, I would get a 55% pay increase for this year – enough to pay off some depts! Also, Islamabad is very busy with the “War on Terror”, so I will be working a lot of overtime, which will also help pass the time, while making the extra overtime pay. By the way – i hate that term, “War on Terror”. The sad truth is that many still believe that we can wage a “war” on the “acts” of terrorism. You can not militarily defeat an act. You can, however, influence people that doing such acts will not help their cause. The problem is that you can only influence those who are NOT terrorists already. You will not change the mind of someone who has already accepted their own death for a cause. You must change the minds of those who have not yet been converted to find a less violent way to self fulfillment. Killing their brother or mother, or any of their extended family only converts them to terrorism faster!.
Anyway, back to the story. Islamabad is only 1 year long and would receive 2 R&R’s (vacations). I describe R&R in the “What is the Foreign Service” page, but just to refresh it is free travel to either the designated R&R point for this assignment (London in this instance), the 50 USA states, its territories, or anyplace with an equivalent airfare as a flight to the R&R point (London). From Pakistan I would probably be able to fly to Fiji for the same cost as a flight to London.
So I submitted this list as above – and now have to wait an agonizing 3 weeks before I know what the outcome will be. The good news is that no-one in my class wants Pakistan, so I stand a really good chance of getting it!
