The Foreign Service Journal, October 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2014 73 Tony Hornik-Tran is the Regional Security O cer/Security Attaché for Embassy Bratislava. He previously served as the area desk o cer in the O ce of International Programs/East Asian Paci c Islands from 2010 to 2012. Since joining the Foreign Service in 2002, he has served in the New York Field O ce and overseas in Angola and China, with short-term assignments in Yemen, Namibia, Mongolia and Vietnam. Tony speaks uent Vietnamese, good Chinese, decent Slovak, and very limited French, Portuguese and Tagalog. He has been married for 21 years and has one daughter. Refugee to Diplomat: A Journey BY TONY HORN I K-TRAN REFLECTIONS I was born in Tuyhoa, a small city in Viet- nam. My father was a high school prin- cipal and my mother was a home eco- nomics teacher. My parents gathered their life savings and paid for my brother and me to escape to a free country. Before we left, my father said: “Educa- tion will be the key to your future success. Use it to help yourself and others.” In May 1982, we set out fromVietnam on a small shing boat with 37 other people. After ve days and six nights at sea, we nally made it to a small town named Mariveles, at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. We were transported to the Vietnamese Refugee AsylumCamp in Palawan, and later transferred to another camp called the Philippine Refugee Processing Center. During 11 months at the camps, I met numerous international organization workers from all over the world. I was deeply touched by their generosity, com- mitment and dedication. ey were a great help to my brother and me. I promised myself that someday I would come back to help other refugees in need as they had helped me. In America, I was placed with an adop- tive family in Madison, Wisconsin, for a few years. is family took me in with unconditional love, treating me as if I were their own son and facilitating the transi- tion to my new country. I had promised my father that I would educate myself, so I attended the Uni- versity of Wisconsin-Madison. I knew what I wanted to do, but there were many obstacles along the way, especially since English was my second language. But I knew that I could accomplish anything to which I set my mind. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social welfare and criminal justice in 1990, and was recruited by the International Catholic Migration Commission/Joint Vol- untary Agency, an organization that assists uprooted people, refugees and migrants worldwide. I was assigned to one of the refugee camps in the Philippines where I had lived eight years earlier. As a caseworker, my duties included counseling and crisis intervention services for refugees who had a variety of psychoso- cial problems. ese Southeast Asian and Amerasian people had suddenly been torn away from all that was dear and familiar to them—homes, jobs, personal dignity and place in the world. I knew how they felt! Assisting themwas one of the most rewarding experiences of my life—espe- cially since I met my wife there—and I extended my contract to three years. I encouraged people to follow their hearts, as I did, and always remember the impor- tance of helping your fellowman. In 1994, I returned to the United States, settling in San José, California, eager to continue working with the Vietnamese community. I also spent six years with the San José Police Department. Eventually, I joined the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security as a Special Agent in 2002. As a former refugee fromVietnam, serving in the United States Foreign Service for 12 years has been a humbling experience and a privilege. If it were not for America, I would never have had a chance to do what I do today. So I would like to conclude my story with my favorite line in a famous speech by President John F. Kennedy: “My fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” n RSO Tony Hornik-Tran meets with law students during an o cial trip in Slovakia. Courtesy Tony Hornik-Tran