The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

66 JULY-AUGUST 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Random Tandem Thoughts on FS Retirement BY DAV I D T. JONES AND TERESA C . JONES W hen we entered the Foreign Service (David in 1968 and Teresa in 1974), the institution was on the cusp between the “old” and the “new” (and still evolving). Diplomacy was a profession, lasting a working lifetime—not a job. Although there was selection out and time-in-class restrictions, the system gently managed successful diplomats at the upper mid-level and senior ranks. They could expect to retire at their leisure in their 60s, and gold-plated, escalator-claused annuities permit- ted them to live comfortably without a second job. The new Foreign Service, which we had to navigate and which all current FSO must master, is more demanding. The first lesson for newly minted diplomats is to understand the federal bureaucracy thoroughly to better enhance their careers. Here are some additional observations for active-duty FSOs that will help ensure you can look back on a satisfying career: Find a mentor. Locate an upward striving, congenial superior in an area that interests you. Be prepared to go to the deepest- darkest (as well as lightest-brightest) with him or her. Work like hell to be an indispensable teammember (in 30 years of active duty, I logged seven years of uncompensated overtime and regret- David and Teresa Jones. As a junior officer in Paris, David Jones was cast as “John Adams,” one of America’s primary diplomats struggling to persuade the French royalty to support the Revolution, at the embassy’s Fourth of July celebration. COURTESYOFDAVIDT.JONES COURTESYOFDAVIDT.JONES