Sunday, March 5, 2017

The New Reality: A-100

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. A lot has changed since I first embarked on my journey to become a Foreign Service Officer so many years ago. But now, five FSOTs and three FSOAs later, I'm finally on my way to an A-100 class. It starts tomorrow.

Today is the only day of my life in which I can say "Tomorrow I will become a Diplomat of the United States."

I'm still trying to process this. For so long, I've been referring to becoming an FSO in the hypothetical sense. "It would be nice if I could become a diplomat." "I think I would love the job." "If I pass this test or that assessment or this security screening or whatever..." But not anymore. Now these sentences are about to be replaced with sentences in the present and future tenses. "I am a diplomat." "I will move to another country in a few months." "I am an A-100 student." I am still struggling to wrap my brain around this fact.

This is really happening.

After I passed my Oral Assessment last year, it took about eight months to go from submitting my security clearance paperwork to landing on the hiring register. I received an invitation for the March class one week later. After some initial anxiety induced by President Trump's hiring freeze, our new secretary Rex Tillerson was able to secure an exemption to allow our class to proceed. Now my class is ready to report to FSI in about 10 hours.

10 hours until I take the Oath of Office. This is real. It doesn't yet feel real, but it is.