Work Update

In case anyone has been wondering what I’ve been up to in post A-100 FSI life (and, yes, I realize that no one has), I thought I’d fill you in. Quickly.

Most of my classmates are off to consular jobs for their first assignment. That means they’re going through a consular training class to learn how to process visas, detect fraud, and pretend to empathize with Americans who go overseas, get drunk, and get jailed.

I’m one of the few going on to a management job. I’m not sure of my exact responsibilities at post yet, but I’m being trained in the GSO, or General Services Officer, course. It’s a ten-week course in which I’m learning about leasing and buying real estate for government use, buying other goods and items like furniture, logistics, transportation, acquisitions, managing the foreign national staff, facility maintainance (only so far as I can describe the problem to the plumber), and other assorted “goto guy” type stuff.

To be honest, it is kind of boring after the excitement of A-100, but there are some interesting sessions thrown in as well. Last week I went to Quantico and had a chance to play with fire extinguishers and put out real, live fires while dressed in a jumpsuit. Awesome.

Part of my problem is that since I’ve never been at post I don’t really have any frame of reference for the training I’m receiving. I sort of know how to go and negotiate a $25,000 lease for an apartment now, but no real concept of how or when or if I’d decide to do such a thing. I’m just hoping it comes together when I get to Kiev.

I have about seven more weeks of this training. After that I have a few other short day classes and then I hit the Russian textbooks for seven months.

Blog News: I’ve added another blog to the links on the right side. It’s Life on the Mekong. Phil is an FSO currently serving in Laos, but will be joining me in Kiev next year. I’m guessing the name of the blog will change to Life on the Dnieper then, but that doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue, does it?