Two Crabs

DOS: lessons (to be) learned

As a former Army NCO, I'm often perplexed at the vast cultural differences between DOD and DOS.  Both sides do a lot of things very well, but there are also many ways each agency could learn from the other, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. 

That's why Kori Schake's article in Foreign Policy, "State of Disrepair", is a must read. Ms. Schake header sums it up: "If the State Department really wants to lead U.S. foreign policy, it needs to stop complaining about the military and act more like it."  This paragraph pretty much sums it up:

"The people who are successful in the State Department are people who can be thrown in the deep end of the swimming pool and not drown; but the department never teaches them to swim, and the successful ones even come to discredit the value of swimming lessons, because they succeeded without them."

Another gem that really stands out:

• Protecting Americans at home and abroad through excellence in consular service should be the primary function of America's diplomats: preventing dangerous enemies from attaining visas to travel to the United States, ensuring Americans traveling overseas have the protection of their government, encouraging educational and other involvement with talented foreigners. These are the bread and butter -- what prospectors would call the "grub stake" -- of diplomacy, the activities that can only be performed by diplomats but on the success of which all Americans rely. Yet they are also the activities least valued by the State Department: Consular service is the lowest priority "cone," or specialization, in the Foreign Service. Talented diplomats are not tracked into that branch. It is as though the Army and Marine Corps did not consider ground combat their principal function. This needs to change if the State Department is to build a strong institutional base as the lead agency for U.S. foreign policy. State needs to clearly embrace consular activity as its essential function and realign the incentives and thereby the culture of the institution. Doing so would bring the State Department significant advantages, both in the operation of the organization and in its support by the public and Congress.

Schake, a research fellow at Stamford University's Hoover Institutution, has just written a new book that further explores her concepts: "State of Disrepair: Fixing the Culture and Practices of the State Department" (Hoover Inst. Press).

Interestingly, DOS & DOD also share one major similarity:  Apart from the military, I can't think of too many professional organizations where prior skills and experience are NOT a major job requirement.  There are only a handful of requirements to become a Foreign Service Officer including U.S. citizenship and age (20-59). There is no educational or work experience required, nor foreign language or travel experience. Granted, you have to pass the Foreign Service written & oral exams, plus earn and maintain security and medical clearances. Some would argue that all this is a good thing: all applicants, regardless of background, are on a level playing field. But should DOS should be hiring for needed skills rather than teaching on the job?   Good question.

 

 

A more realistic Foreign Service exam

One of my favorite "taskers" at Embassy Manama is administering the Foreign Service Officer Test, which we host about three times a year. It's one of my favorite extra-curricular activities and I love being able to mentor and share my experiences to Foreign Service candidates.  One night over drinks, a group of ELOs (Entry Level Officers) were chatting about our own experiences taking the FSOT, and how we could possibly make it more realistic. Such as:

--In the middle of writing the Essay, you must stop what you are doing because you have been assigned to serve as Control Officer for a visiting dignitary.  Immediately draft a proposed schedule for the VIP, who is arriving tomorrow morning. The countdown clock on the essay will continue to run and you must complete BOTH tasks in the alloted time. Additionally, sometime during the course of this exercise, the entire computer system will be shut down randomly for a simulation of a network outage. Go! 

The suggestions got a crazier as the night went on, but you get the idea.  So, dear readers, how would YOU make the FSOT more realistic? Funniest idea wins a prize of my chosing. :o)

 

Travel Orders!

It's hard to believe that our Bahrain tour is coming to an end. It hasn't really hit me until this week, when I received a welcomed surprise in my inbox: My TM-4 cable, otherwise known as our Travel Orders! This cable essentially authorizes the U.S. government to spend money to fly our persons and belongings back to the good ol' U.S. of A.!  Mrs. Crab already booked flights for herself and Habibi the Cat (more on that below). 

Mr. Crab is leaving in July; Mrs. Crab is leaving several weeks earlier to set up our house and attend our niece's graduation. For the first time in seven years, we will be living back in the States, and in our own home too.  The Two Crabs, naturally, are super excited.  But we are not looking forward to the actual process of moving. You'd think by now we would be experts at international moves, but it's still not fun.  We're already sitting down and talking about HHE, UAB, POVs and other State Department acronyms, deciding what goes where and how it will get there. 

Meanwhile, the second half of my A-100 class is currently bidding on their second assignments. It seems like half of those folks are going to Europe!  As EUR-wannabes, I must admit to being just a tad bit jealous. But we are extremely excited for our next assignment in South Korea and the opportunity to explore East Asia. 

On a related note: an unofficial Foreign Service boycott has erupted against United Airlines. A new post-merger policy means that Foreign Service families with pets will now have to pay $1,000 to $4,000 per pet to ship their furry friend, instead of the current $250-$400 excessive baggage pet fee. United Airlines has, rightfully, waived these ridiculous new fees for U.S. military members and their dependants.  At the urging of the American Foreign Service Association, about 3,000 FS members have sent protest letters to United, urging the airline to reconsider and extend the fee waiver to the Foreign Service. So far, United has refused to budget. As a result, Mrs. Crab and Habibi the Cat will be flying home to DC on KLM/Delta.  Nice going, United. You just lost our business for this Travel Order.   

2012: The year (so far) in review

 

 First, apologies for not blogging in a while.  It's been a crazy, whirlwind couple of months. For starters, we moved!  Due to security concerns, we had to move from our lovely old house into a smaller but very modern apartment building in the heart of downtown Manama.  We're leaving Bahrain to return to Washington this summer.  We currently have HHE (House-Hold Effects) boxes piled in our spare room, just waiting for our orders to be cut so we can start sending our stuff home to DC.  By the time this tour of duty is over, we will have moved five times in three years, to the point that we have elevated moving to an art form!  Too many Foreign Service folks haul too much junk around the world.  Becoming a minimalist makes life a lot easier as one moves from post to post!  

 

 

 In January, we took a week of Annual Leave (AL) for a ski trip to our favorite resort in Europe, St. Johann in Tirol, Austria.  I swear we will retire there one day!  Mrs. Crab won't admit it, but Mr. Crab is a better skier than Mrs. Crab. :o)  We also spent a day in Munich, another one of my favorite destinations and one of my top 3 "Dream Posts" in the world.  A touristy but fun must-see attraction in Munich is the famous (infamous) Hofbrauhaus: 

The other announcement that I have forgotten to mention is that Mrs. Crab is now an official employee of the Department of State! She is assigned to Embassy Manama as an EFM (Eligible Family Member) employee, working as a CLO - or Community Liasion Officer.  CLOs are responsible for maintaining high morale at post by assisting newcomers in adjusting to Post, providing information and referrals, and planning and functions. As a professional party planner now, Mrs. Crab and her colleagues have organized such events as a Halloween and Christmas parties, a family day-trip to Saudi Arabia (photo below), and a Hawaii-themed Aloha backyard party (photo below)!  CLOs can also assist with finding work opportunities for EFMs.  In difficult situations, CLOs are also responsible for helping coordinate evacuation of employees and families. If the opportunity arises, we highly recommend pursuing a CLO position. 

HELP ME HELP YOU:  I'm looking for blog topic ideas. What would you like to know about Life in the Foreign Service? Post a comment and I'll try to spread our "institutional knowledge," as we say in the FS!  

 THIS is Saudi Arabia!  Taken at the ARAMCO complex in Dhahran, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), about a 45 minute drive from Manama, Bahrain:

 

 

 

Christmas in Bahrain

The Two Crabs are preparing for our second Christmas in the Kingdom of Bahrain.  Unlike certain neighboring countries I won't mention, Bahrain really gets into the Christmas spirit.  All the shopping malls and hotels are decked out in Christmas decorations.  

A few recommendations for where to find Christmas democrations: Of course, the U.S. Navy base has a huge selection of Christmas trees, decorations, and goodies.  Geant at Bahrain Mall has a huge Christmas aisle and sells everything from Santa suits to gift wrapping, artificial trees, tons of toys and even New Years eve poppers and noise makers.  Most of the local nurseries/garden centers sell Poinsetta flowers; the best ones we've seen are at Jawad's and Alosra grocery stores, but expect to pay at least 4BD (almost $12 USD!). 

For the first time in our lives, Mr. and Mrs. Crab broke down and purchased an artificial tree. Unfortunately with our Foreign Service lifestyle, it's not always going to be possible or practical to buy a real Christmas tree. Surprisingly, you can order a REAL Christmas tree at some local stores including Carrfour and Alosra. However, the prices start at 60BD (about $160 USD), and they've been shipped from Finland and not exactly fresh cut by the time they get here!  We got a really nice 6.5 foot tall tree from Balsam Hill and had it shipped to us by HHE. It actually looks pretty nice, decorated with all our worldly ornaments we've collected from our trips around the globe.

Many of my colleagues will be going home for the holidays, but most of us are staying in Bahrain and celebrating with house parties and dinners, and sharing our traditions with our Bahraini colleagues.  The weekend before Christmas also happens to be Bahrain National Day, so everyone will be in a festive mood! The streets and palm trees of Bahrain are decked out in red and white (national colors) lights, banners and flags. It's a beautiful time to be in Bahrain! 

(Sorry about the low-quality photo above, taken from iPad 2.)

Greetings from "Oz"

 After 14 months in Bahrain, the Two Crabs took advantage of one of the best benefits/job perks of the Foreign Service: R&R. 

R&R stands for Rest & Recuperation, and it is a benefit and means of allowing employees to briefly get away from a high-stress, dangerous, isolated, uncomfortable post.  The amount of R&Rs depends on the hardship of a post. For our tour, we were entitled to one R&R during our two-year tour.  As part of this park, the government pays for one airline ticket back to the U.S. or the designaated "R&R point.  For our post, the R&R point is London.  Most people tend to fly back to the States. We went for a third option and decided to spend our R&R at a far-away destination we have always wanted to visit: AUSTRALIA!

The Two Crabs started our trip by flying to Bangkok for three days, then heading off to Sydney. For the next two and a half weeks, we drove from Sydney to Airlie Beach, camping or staying with friends along the way. The photo above was taken in the picture-postcard perfect Whitesunday Islands, off the coast of Airlie Beach. No, this is not a screen saver! 

After Oz, Mr. Crab has now visited every continent (not counting Antarctica), and 65 countries total; and Mrs. Crab has one more to go (South America).  The stop in Bangkok also gave us our first brief glimpse at Southeast Asia, a part of the world that we are looking forward to exploring on our next tour!  

Back in Bahrain, and back to the grind! 

Bahrain - Rising

Over the past few weeks, the Two Crabs have been exploring Bahrain's many new tourism and retail projects, including not one but two new five-star hotels: The Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Resort (above), and the Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel.  The Sofitel is one of only a handful of hotels that has a beach (many folks are surprised to hear that despite being an island-nation, Bahrain has almost no beaches).  The Sofitel also is becoming one of our favorite new Friday brunches in Bahrain, with great selection of food and fun entertainment.  The Kempinski just opened this week but promises to be very popular, especially by the fact that it is attached to the country's largest shopping mall, Bahrain City Centre. 

Another welcomed addition to Bahrain's grocery scene is Waitrose!  It actually opened earlier this year but we only recently had the chance to visit. For the uninitiated, Waitrose is the UK equivelent of Whole Foods in America. It was one of our favorite grocery stores in London.  Bahrain's Waitrose, located at the still-unfinished "The Lagoon" complex in Amwaj Island, is much smaller than any Waitrose I've seen in England. However, it has by far the largest selection of pork products we've sene here including fresh sausage and other goods.

After three months of 110+ F degree heat, the temperatures are finally breaking to the low 100s by day and mid 80s at night. Looking forward to exploring more of our island during the pleasant winter months!

A few new scenes from Bahrain:

We're famous at AFSA

 Belatedly patting ourselves on the back: Two Crabs blog was highlighted in June issue of the Foreign Service Journal in a feature article entitled, "The Foreign Service Blogosphere in 2011!"  Thanks to author Danielle Derbes for the kudos! Other interesting facts in the article: The number of Foreign Service blogs has grown from 60 in 2008 to more than 250 today! Incidentally, Foreign Service Journal is published by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the labor organization of the Foreign Service.

Random photo of Seoul, South Korea. Just because!

Onward Assignment!

For the past seven weeks, the Two Crabs have been focused on one task: bidding.  Bidding is the hair-pulling, ulcer-inducing process by which Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) select their next assignment. The process is different (and changes regularly) depending whether you are a first tour Entry Level Officer (ELO), second tour ELO or mid-career FSO. Generally, first and second tours are considered "directed assignments", that is, the job is selected by your Career Development Officer (CDO), whereas mid-level FSOs actually go out into the world and find their own jobs. For ELOs, the process goes something like this:

First-Tour FSO: On the second or third day of A-100 (Foreign Service Orientation Course), students are handed a list of all available jobs. Students rank each position high, medium or low. Cross your fingers.  Assignments are announced -- in public -- during the Flag Day ceremony near the end of the A-100 course. Break out the champagne if you get a high or medium post. Pray that you or your family don't cry in front of the cameras when you are handed a flag to a low-ranked post.

Second-Tour FSO: ELOs are divided into summer or winter bid cycles, depending on the day you arrived at your first post. ELOs are further divided into a new, complex "Tranche" system.  All ELOs submit to their CDO a ranked wish list of 30 jobs from about 200 available jobs; cry when you realize that most of the jobs are invalid due to time, language, or conal constraints. Turn in your bid list and cross your fingers.  CDOs make the assignments in order of folks who have the most equity (aka "hardship"). Hence, a first-tour officer serving in, say, Nigeria, Iraq or Haiti is going to get preference over somebody who got Paris or Sydney on their first tour. ELOs near the bottom of the equity barrel like the Two Crabs will inevitable have to turn in a second bid list, because most of our top 30 jobs were assigned to higher equity folks.  Bite your nails again and cross your fingers until bid day.

Mr. Crab is still under language and consular probation, meaning that on my second tour, I MUST serve in a consular job in a language-designated (non-English) post.  So in reality, the bid list of 200 jobs was more like only 40-50 jobs that met my requirements. So for several weeks, the Two Crabs researched every single valid bid, poured over post reports on websites like TalesMag.com and internal State Department resources, e-mailed friends around the globe for advice, and skimmed travel guides. A newbie mistake that many ELOs make is looking solely at the place, and not focusing on the job. A consular job at a small embassy or consulate general is much different than the same job at a huge embassy, so it's important to consider the job and your career goals.  So after many hours of researching, debating, bidding, rebidding and losing much sleep, we turned in our bid list on July 13 and left it in the capable hands of my CDO.

Flash forward to yesterday.  Mrs. Crab was on vacation in California whilst Mr. Crab is one of thousands of Western expat "summer bachelors" in Bahrain.  I was sitting home alone with Habibi the Cat, watching some dumb movie when I heard my Blackberry buzzing.  An e-mail popped up with the subject line: "Your Onward Assignment".  I scanned the e-mail, saw the assignment, re-read it three times to make sure, then screamed "WOO HOO!" so loud that I scared the cat off the couch.  Due to the 10 hour time difference, I had to wait several hours until I could share the news with Mrs. Crab!

In case you aren't familiar with the flag at the top of this post, the Two Crabs are moving to:

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA!!

We are super psyched.  For starters, it's a country I'm relatively familiar with, having visited on two occasions. Mr. Crab is also the co-author of the 2010 Lonely Planet Korea guidebook!  We're looking forward to lots of bulgogi Korean BBQ, soju, K-Pop, baseball, hiking, skiing (Korea is host of the 2018 Winter Olympics) and enjoying big city life in Asia! 

Incidentally, South Korea will be the third time in seven years that we've lived on an "island" after the U.K. and Bahrain. Although South Korea is technically a peninsula, you can't exactly drive across the border into North Korea! 

We still have another 11 months in Bahrain before we move back to Washington, after which I will spend nearly a year tackling an intensive Korean language course.  I am especially excited about spending a significant time back in my hometown with friends & family for the first time in nearly seven years! 

South Korea by the numbers:

Population: 48.8 million

Area: 99,720 sq km (slightly larger than Indiana)

Coastline: 2,413 km

Median Age: 38.4

Population growth rate: 0.23% (178th lowest in the world)

Religion: Christian 26.3% (Protestant 19.7%, Roman Catholic 6.6%), Buddhist 23.2%, other or unknown 1.3%, none 49.3% (1995 census)

GDP: $1.459 trillion (13th in the world)

GDP per capita: $30,000

Unemployment: 3.3%

Exports: $466.3 billion (7th in world)

Export items: semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals

Source: CIA World Factbook

 

Greetings from America

Happy Flag Day!  Mr. Crab is on a business trip in the U.S., the first time I've stepped foot on American soil in nearly a year. I'm having a serious case of reverse culture shock!  Everything is so big and shiny.  And compared to the expensive Persian/Arabian Gulf region, everything seems cheap, like a bargain basement fire sale!  This is a pretty busy trip so there won't be much leisure time, but just being back in the States is giving me warm and fuzzy feelings.  America, F&#@ YEAH!

In other news: WE GOT OUR BID LIST!   There are some amazing "dream posts" on the bid list. Bidding is now becoming our full-time job. Our goal was to whittle down the bid list to 30 jobs, which wasn't too difficult because I'm not qualified to bid on a vast majority of the posts because the job opens too soon and thus no time for language training.  The bidding process is very complex as there are multiple issues that must be considered for every single post on the Bid List, from the job description and language to medical considerations. The most difficult part of the process is Timing: you can only bid on jobs where you will have enough time to take Home Leave, language training and, in my case, ConGen (Consulate General training).  A lot of the jobs either begin too soon or too late.  Luckily, we managed to get down to the required 30 bids.  Sorry, I won't reveal any details about our bidding list or strategy until after we are assigned...I don't want to jinx it!    But I can reveal two things: on my next post, I MUST serve a consulate tour and MUST serve a language-designated position. That means anything non-consular is out, and English language posts like London or Sydney are also a no-go.

All the assignments will be made by our CDOs, or Career Development Officers. The CDOs will assign Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) in order of their "equity," which is the sum of their current tour differential (hardship), danger and Historically Difficult to Staff (HDS) bonus points.  Basically, this means somebody serving in, say, Iraq will have priority over somebody serving in London. Thanks to differential and HDS points, we're probably near the middle of the pack.  Wish us luck!