One year anniversary

This week I celebrated one year since I joined the Foreign Service. And what a year this has been!

Left peaceful Michigan, made a stop in beautiful DC and ended up in sunny Bangladesh.

As a newcomer in the Foreign Service the questions I found most annoying are also the ones the most often asked:

"Tell me, what is this Foreign Service, is it like the French Foreign Legion?"

While I might look a little bit like Jean Claude Van Damme, I never owned a white cap and getting one is not on my to do list yet.

"Tell me, what is this Foreign Service, is it like the CIA?"

This one is by far the trickiest. Whoever is asking it already knows the answer, so it is not even worth trying to argue. Yes, I am sort of a 007, but I can't show my gun, dude! Sorry about that. And yes, my shoes can turn into a weapon on top of being a listening device.

The Foreign Service is a very low-key organization, that is why only few people have any idea what we are or do. The only time any attention is paid to us is when there's a catastrophe overseas, like the killing in Libya. Otherwise, Americans really don't care very much, as long as other countries do things the way we want them to.  Also, unlike the military, the Foreign Service has no political clout like the military does. We have no political clout or domestic constituency, we have no uniforms and no one knows what we're doing out in Dhaka or Katmandu or wherever the hell we are.

And yet we are America's other “army”. Often misunderstood, misperceived, and, sometimes maligned. But our "fight" affects the everyday lives of all Americans, their safety, security, ability to travel and communicate with people in other countries, their employment and prosperity. And yes, I can  hold my head high when I think I am part of it.