Chapter 3, where our hero meets the people and learns the words

Chapter one in the memoirs of a Foreign Service Officer usually chronicles the ridiculously long and tedious process of simply getting in, from the Written Test to each painful step to finally "getting off the register" and being placed in an incoming class. Chapter two is usually the now five week orientation training (still called A-100 after the original classroom). It is a shared experience, everyone goes through it, and it helps you establish a core group of colleagues and friends, a small tribe within the larger State Department, that can march together through their careers that inevitably diverge after A-100. I, and 92 other new FSO's, are members of the "Legendary 152nd" class, indeed, the 152nd class of new recruits to receive this training since they started the new counting system some twenty or so years ago.

The current chapter is for training, learning. We are all taking classes and consulting with people that are relevant to our specific jobs in the specific countries we are to go to.

I finished my Consular Officer training last week, and next week I start training as a Labor Officer at the Foreign Service Institute, giving me time this week for "consultations" and errand running. Aside from getting my new black U.S. passport, applying for my Jamaican visa, and booking travel from DC to Kingston, I also have an opportunity to schedule meetings with the people working here in Washington that form the backbone of support I will rely on when I do my job in Kingston.

For every issue that I may run across on the job in Jamaica - a case of child abduction, reporting on a labor dispute between a union and a large mining company, the Jamaican Government's deal with the IMF, a convicted drug smuggler applying for a tourist visa to "visit Disney World..." there is probably someone that works specifically with that issue back here at the State Department or one of the other agencies.

Getting out of the classroom and actually meeting these people, learning the words they use and seeing the way they communicate, within their own office and with posts around the world, is without a doubt very valuable. I have a feeling that I will appreciate everything I do now to reduce the learning curve once I get to post, where I will undoubtedly need to "drink water from a fire hose," as people like to say around here.  These people teach me the parlance, they know the context and the hot topics, they are familiar with the personalities that play important roles.

Interestingly, they each welcome me into their respective little empires as if I am a new member of their family, eager to be excited for me as they recall the excitements, turmoils, challenges and adventures of their first assignments. The sense of teamwork and camaraderie in the Foreign Service are powerful forces.