The Foreign Service Journal, September 2011

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 23 Sept. 10, 2001, bright-eyed and ready for the world. Or so I thought. On the second day, 30 minutes into our first session, the deputy course coordinator ran down the aisle and ex- claimed that a plane had struck one of the two World Trade Center Towers in New York. We were to remain calm and seated and await further information. I first thought of my uncle who regularly attended business meetings in the World Trade Center. Was he OK? Then I thought of a friend whose father also had regular meet- ings there. Was he all right? (Both, we later learned, were fine.) We then heard that another plane had struck the sec- ond tower, that the Pentagon had been hit and that the department’s main building in Foggy Bottom was being evacuated. Numb, I returned to my hotel room. Like the rest of the world, I remained glued to the television. The next morning, I boarded the hotel’s shuttle to FSI. I hadn’t heard whether class was still on, but assumed (and perhaps hoped) it would be. The rest of my 97 classmates felt the same way, it turned out. Following training, several of us were sent to Bogotá for our first assignment. While there, Club El Nogal, a club blocks from where many embassy personnel, in- cluding me, lived, was bombed. There were other ter- rorist incidents in the city during our posting, as well. But it was clear to most of us how seriously the de- partment and embassy leadership took our safety. Phone tree drills, regular security briefings and updates when there were credible threats helped me, and I think oth- ers, feel more secure. I have felt the same priority on safety in subsequent overseas assignments in India, Sin- gapore and, now, in Jakarta. Since joining, only a handful of my 104th A-100 Class colleagues have left the Foreign Service. Most of us have served in danger-pay or hardship posts, and will likely do so again, proudly. We remain undaunted. Clayton Bond FSO Embassy Jakarta C OVER S TORY