The Big Picture (updated 6/14/10)
We are currently pursuing careers with the State Department as Foreign Service Officers. If all goes well with the recruiting hurdles, Kris would start in the second quarter of 2011 (the earliest I could start is about a year later). We quit our jobs at the beginning of 2010 to take some time to prepare and to enjoy one last fun year in Alaska. We have spent five years in Alaska. Our careers in Ohio had run their courses so we came up here to do something different. I think we succeeded. We found jobs that turned into completely new careers. We explored most of what Alaska has to offer in the great outdoors. It is still fun, but our adventures don’t have that new feeling anymore. Now we feel that need to do something different again. Now we are going to explore more of the world.
Getting into the State Department is a lengthy process. We filled out an application in the fall of last year. We passed a challenging written test in early March. We submitted five short personal narrative essays in April providing examples of positive traits from our life experience. The State Department reviewed our applications and essays and invited the top candidates in June to the next step called the oral assessment. Kris was invited, I was not. The oral assessment will take place sometime between August and November. They have already announced an intention to conduct some sessions in San Francisco in October which would work best with our plans, but we may have to travel to Washington D.C. The oral assessment is a full day that includes a presentation, a group exercise, an individual analytical exercise, and an interview. If Kris passes that hurdle (we will know that day), the last hurdles are medical and security clearances. Once one of us has completed all these hurdles, we will be on a waiting list for a basic training course on embassy operations conducted in D.C. After that, we will either be off to our first assignment or language school.
The State Department work consists primarily of living in foreign countries representing U.S. interests. The work fits into one of several different areas. Kris chose the consular career track. She would be involved with issuing visas and assisting American citizens abroad. Assistance can be as simple as lost passports or as complicated as criminal charges or kidnapping cases. I have chosen the economic career track. I would be involved with helping U.S. economic interests. This could include assisting U.S. business interests or supporting international economic treaty efforts.
The State Department does employ couples, especially if they have chosen different career tracks. They will generally be able to assign us to the same country. Typical assignments last two years, although hardship assignments are often only one year. Hardship can include hotspots like Iraq or Afghanistan, but it can also include countries with difficult living conditions. Typically the scariest locations have no shortage of interested candidates due to the importance to careers and the higher pay. We won’t be as motivated to get the glory assignments and the money will be of little consequence to us. We will be happy to go wherever they need us. We have the least amount of interest in the Middle East, but wouldn’t likely refuse an assignment there.
The possibility exists that only one of us will get through the hurdles, especially on the first try. Since the State Department includes spouses (and even families) in such things as language training, travel, and diplomatic passports, we would move forward with just one career professional. There are always opportunities for other embassy work, volunteer work, and even regular jobs in the assigned country.
We don’t need to worry about money in this venture. We are not wealthy, but we have accumulated a reasonable amount of money for retirement, along with a few small pensions. We also have a significant amount in after tax savings. This savings allows us to take this chance. We have learned to live on a relatively small amount of money so we have years to pursue this path before having to find some other path to entertain us. Even if only one of us gets in, our living expenses will be negligible and we will continue to expand our savings for future flexibility. Again, we are not wealthy, we have simply discovered that money doesn’t buy us happiness. Many of the best things in life truly are free and the necessities aren’t all that expensive.
Our plans include a great deal of fun. We just finished the best ski season of our lives. The flexibility to ski any day of the week provided us with the best conditions and the smallest crowds. Now it is summer. Summers in Alaska are unbelievable and the thought of having one more summer up here without the burden of work is exciting. This year our adventures are supported by our new travel trailer. This trailer will also allow us to live out the summer and leave Alaska this fall with all of our remaining possessions. Our condo is sold. We plan to travel around the lower 48 in the fall. We also plan to stop in Salt Lake City for the ski season. If we don’t get into the State Department, our adventures in the lower 48 will continue in the spring.
We are not entirely sure how this plan will play out and that is the fun part. We don’t know where we will be this time next year. We know even less about where we will be two years from now. We could literally be anywhere in the world. Possessing a world of possibilities at this point in our lives is invigorating.