The Foreign Service Journal, March 2003

in Washington and going to my first assignment alone. I didn’t know what to expect in many ways, since the entire experience was brand- new for me. During my two-day journey to Pakistan, I experienced a wide variety of feelings and emo- tions. In addition to starting this exciting new career/life solo, I left not even knowing when my husband would be able to join me. Upon my arrival, I was greeted with warm, open arms. Yet even though everyone did their best to make me feel comfortable and wel- come, I could sense the sadness, loneliness and low spirits in people throughout the embassy. I adjusted by throwing myself into my job and working seven days a week, trying not to focus on being separated from my husband, as hard as that was. Two months later, the ordered departure for family members was lifted. My husband was able to join me in Pakistan! Then, three short weeks after his arrival, there was a terrorist attack at a church near the embassy, and within a week, Pakistan was once again under evacuation status. My husband had to leave after a brief, three-week reunion. Shortly thereafter, it was insinuat- ed that Pakistan would become an unaccompanied post once the evac- uation was lifted. I immediately submitted a request to curtail, went back to Washington under evacua- tion status and was given a new assignment to New Delhi. We were scheduled to leave Washington on June 4, 2002. Three days before that, India went into an authorized departure status due to tensions with Pakistan. Once again, I was caught up in an evacuation before I even got to post! For- tunately, that evacuation was short- lived and was lifted in July. Thus, I found myself in evacua- tion status three times less than a year after entering the Foreign Service. Even though all the uncertainty and living in limbo during the first year was hard for me, it was even more difficult for my husband. During each evacuation, he was unsure whether he should find a job, take some courses, or just wait, since evacuations can be in effect for one month, or up to six. In essence, a year of ongoing evacuations set him back a lot as far as his job situation was concerned. However, now that we are settled in New Delhi, we cling to the hope that we have “paid our evacuation dues” and can enjoy the remainder of our tour in India evacuation-free! Kyla J. Seals OMS, Political Section Embassy New Delhi Adversity Brings People Together During 35 years in the Foreign Service I was blessed never to have been evacuated from a post, as mine was always one of those “essential” jobs. But I well remember being told, soon after arriving at my first assignment, to read the evacuation plan. It went into great detail about how the Marines would back up through the embassy in case security was breached, ending up in the Communications Office. We could “use the bar from a bar lock safe to protect ourselves or hide under a desk or behind a cabinet and hope not to be detected.” Soon afterward, things got a little dicey and sched- ules for evacuation were drawn up. One of the teenage dependents told me she’d be leaving on the first plane and asked me when I would leave. I answered, “I don’t think I do leave.” I did, however, experience life at several posts during evacuations. My experience was that everyone became closer. I went to Cairo while our mission there was still an interest section rather than an embassy. Nearly everyone lived on the compound and anything that happened included everyone assigned. During my tour, the Kissinger visits and the peace talks took place, the cover came off our eagle and the flag went up, and we became an embassy. The person- nel who were there before this hap- pened had a special closeness. During Desert Storm, I served as information management officer in Damascus. The embassy staff became quite small and there was a special comraderie evident. I remember one weekend when I offered to let TDY Information Management Office operators and technicians come over to my house to wash clothes. I then decided to cook dinner and called around for anyone not working to come by for spaghetti. The TDY personnel were astounded to find the ambas- sador, DCM and various other offi- cers showing up. While it is true that relationships are normally tighter at smaller “hardship” posts, circumstances such as these make them even more so. I’d like to say, too, that once you’ve had an experi- ence like this with anyone, your friendship is always just a little stronger. Judy Chidester Las Cruces, N.M 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 3 I found myself in evacuation status three times in my first year with the Foreign Service.