The Foreign Service Journal, June 2010

J U N E 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47 other end of a phone call. Cristin Heinbeck Entry-Level Officer Embassy Abuja I NTRODUCING N EW H IRES TO THE FS One of my first consular chiefs told me that every time we bid, we choose the Foreign Service over another, pos- sibly simpler, lifestyle. It’s not a decision that we make just once upon entry; throughout our careers, we choose our own path. And this is the wonderful thing about our Serv- ice. I get to choose the consular cone again and again. It intrigued me from the start; I loved the idea of being the friendly face behind a visa interview or a citizenship claim. I’m in the fairly unique position of being part of a con- sular tandem couple; having a spouse with the same love of our work makes life so easy when the job requires strange hours or unusual assignments, like my first-tour portfolio, which included consular waiting room pest con- trol. It does also lead to some lively debates at home over arcane sections of 9 FAM. One of the best parts of consular work, and my fa- vorite part of being a consular officer, is the responsibil- ity that we have to mentor and develop not just consular officers, but all of the entry-level officers who pass through consular sections on their first or second tours, working to give them the best possible introduction to the Foreign Service. Meredith McEvoy Career Development Officer Bureau of Human Resources (spouse of Bill Beardslee — see below) T HE S PICE OF L IFE Starting this job as a Foreign Service officer in another cone, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed consular work during my first tour. After a tour in my original cone, I made the switch to become a consular officer. My col- leagues were surprised, as this meant working in the same cone as my tandem spouse. But she and I agreed that one needs to work in the field that most interests a person, so I made the change. We have worked together from time to time, and I am afraid our children have been perma- nently affected by our discussions of 214(b) and the Immigration & Natu- ralization Act at home! It might sound strange to many, but I really find visa work to be challenging and rewarding, both in its complexity and in the need to interact with indi- viduals as a manager and an adjudica- tor. In fact, I like it enough that I re- cently moved to a Civil Service posi- tion in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, again working with visa issues, so that I can devote myself full-time to this fas- cinating and ever-evolving field. Consular work provides such a wide range of experience for officers, and this vari- ety helped me to find the career most rewarding to me and my family. Bill Beardslee Visa Specialist Visa Services Office Bureau of Consular Affairs (spouse of Meredith McEvoy — see above) E XCITEMENT G ALORE ! I like listening to former colleagues describe their ad- ventures in the Foreign Service, because it appears I’ve had a more interesting life than they have (or perhaps they are just waiting for their memoirs to be declassified). I’ve forgotten most of the stories, because a consular officer meets more excitement in one morning than our col- leagues upstairs see in a month. I used to pity them, trudg- ing forth in search of interlocutors. The public was desperate to talk with me. Some had a hard time attract- ing the attention of their office manager, while I deployed a whole shop floor. I never lay at night wondering whether my work was relevant; indeed, I never lay awake at night —physical ex- haustion will do that for you. The State Department made me trustee of documents worth a fortune and grantee of extraordinary powers, relying on consular virtue and hu- mility to uphold the republic. I was junior partner to host- country doctors, police, morticians, caseworkers; enjoyed a field economist’s panorama of the economy; and had an anthropologist’s dream job. Consular assignment choices are the widest in the Serv- ice; if the department is anywhere, it needs a consul. F O C U S A consular officer meets more excitement in one morning than our colleagues upstairs see in a month.