The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

54 may 2016 | the foreign Service journal calculated that at my grade level it would be many years, if ever, before I could get back to that level. Most critically, East Timor maintained a special hold over me, and I was offered an opportu- nity to go back in a challenging position as chief of political affairs at the United Nations peacekeeping mission. I nevertheless agonized for a couple of months over the decision. Australian and Canadian colleagues were able to take extended leaves of absence (up to 10 years in some cases!) to make similar moves, but State’s system offered no such flexibility: I had to make an all-or-nothing choice. Seeking advice from all quar- ters, I found some of my FSO friends envious, while a few others (including, most relevantly, my wife) expressed serious concern about me giving up a secure career with such good benefits. As it turned out, I was fortunate that my first peacekeeping job continued for three years into 2005. Then I traveled to various U.N. peacekeeping missions with a new nongovernmental orga- nization attempting to encourage the use of local procurement to boost post-conflict economies. I ended up back in Dili from 2006 to 2007 as a When Actually Employed chargé at the embassy after the new country again descended into conflict. Following 2008 and 2009 WAE stints back in Kuala Lumpur (nowmore interesting with the opposition threatening to unseat the long-ensconced government), I returned to Dili in senior management positions with the new U.N. mission through 2012. I finished my more than six-year U.N. career in South Sudan in 2013, having reached the organization’s mandatory retirement age of 62, and returned to Dili in a contract position as an adviser with the embassy from 2013 to 2014. Had I known in 2002 what I know now about how precarious, unpredictable and difficult the employment situation outside the Foreign Service can be, I may not have taken the leap. U.N. peace- keeping jobs are not tenured positions, but six-month or one-year renewable (or not) contracts. All of the jobs I actually ended up taking were the result of close contacts approaching me. During 2007 and 2008 I was more proactive, scanning listservs for inter- national jobs, hooking up with Beltway bandit contracting firms and applying for U.N. positions, but little came of that. I did turn down opportunities to work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other seemingly solid offers fell through at the last minute. Watching friends and former colleagues advance to the senior ranks, I still sometimes wonder howmy career would have devel- oped had I remained in the Foreign Service; but I have no regrets. My subsequent jobs have all been challenging and rewarding. And being able to exert more control over where I wanted to be and for how long has provided better work-life balance with more oppor- tunities for travel, attention to family issues and serious work on my tennis game. In any case, continuing to maintain contacts with FSO and FSN friends over these years provided the opportunity to come back into the State Department at some key junctures and maintain the comforting feeling that I never really left. W. Gary Gray served in the Foreign Service from 1985 to 2002 with assignments in Bucharest, Pretoria, Moscow, Maputo, Jakarta, Dili, Kuala Lumpur and Washington, D.C. A Logical Next Step: Defense Department Contracting By Mary Ann S i nglaub I entered the Foreign Service shortly after graduate school (an M.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service) and did not give much thought to life after the Foreign Service, much less retirement. For me, Foreign Service was a desirable career path to follow after growing up as an Army brat, but not one I had planned much ahead of time. On reflection, perhaps the most useful advice I could give my younger self about serving in the Foreign Service and planning for life beyond, is this: networking is the key. I constantly under- estimated this as I breezed through my Foreign Service assign- ments, leaving both good friends and excellent contacts, but also questionable Foreign Service supporters, in my wake. Never being one to bow to authority for the sake of it, I ques- tioned my superiors’ decisions and almost always expressed my opinion. This is not helpful etiquette for an FSO in terms of promotions and assignments. Add to that some health issues and a Level 2 Medical Clearance, and I was suddenly no longer “worldwide available.” Despite entering the Foreign Service with fluent German and Italian, without that string of senior officers willing to recommend me without reservation, it was often a struggle during bidding time. When I was selected out in 1999 as a tenured FS-3 (how embarrassing!), I did not bother to go to the Foreign Service Grievance Board. They would not allow me to “grieve” frommy fabulous posting in Bern, so my thought at the time was just to get out and see what other jobs I could find. Luckily, I was