No Diplomatic Immunity benders, although I do drive like a maniac. It’s one of the perks.
Two to three years per country is the norm, your first 2 tours are directed assignments and you can’t extend past the 2 year mark. I’m going to try and stay in Bangkok for three years as I like the city, culture and food, and after a year in Kabul I think I’ll be ready for stability.
Bodyguards are not provided at my level, although they do provide security for the Embassy or your office if it’s not in the Chancery. When I go outside the Embassy here I drive my own car and can go where I want. In Kabul, I have to be inside an armored vehicle with an armed escort.
I do have a black passport, and it gets me out of paying airport tax, I get to use the special lanes at the airport for customs and immigration. Apart from that, it just looks cool.
To become a FSO, you take and pass the written exam, then the oral exam. The written exam is like the GRE or SAT with U.S. history and job knowledge thrown in. I’ve heard about 85 percent of people fail the written the first time they take it. The oral is an all day exam that incoprorates a job-style interview, a problem-solving management exercise and a short drafting exercise. I’ve heard 95 percent fail the written. As for me, I didn’t prepare too much for either and passed each the first time easily. Once you pass the oral and your security clearance investigation, you get put on a list; they use the list to put together officer classes.
Not sure what "State Dept. paramilitary folks"you’te talking about, Tristan. In Kabul, I’ll be wearing cargo pants and body armor and jumping in and out of armored vehicles for a good part, but I’ll also be writing reports about what happened in the Afghan Parliament in an airconditioned office.
I’m a Consular Officer but Lima is the first place I’ve done Consular work–visas immigrant and nonimmigrant, and right now I take care of Americans in Peru if they need new passports, document births and deaths, visit Amcit prisoners in jail here, etc. In Sri Lanka, I was a political officer for a year and the press attache for a year. I’ll be a political officer in Afghanistan and God knows what in Thailand.
Married, no kids. Spousal employment is getting better to judge from what people who have been in longer than I have say, but it’s still hard. If your spouse isn’t a teacher or nurse and doesn’t want to work in the Embassy as a secretary, jobs are hard to come by. My wife has a part time job here and was lucky enough to write a grant that got her tuition reimbursement to take classes that will help her start a home business.