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zzonkmiles posted:Quick question. I am heading for a consumables post. Am I able to ship consumables as HHE? My HHE is way under the limit, so I figured I might as well not waste the extra weight. yes, and then you can follow up with an actual consumables shipment later on. I recommend using some of your HHE weight to ship a full dual burner all grain beer brewing kit and 8 months worth of grains, then using the consumables shipment for fresh grains midway through.
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Jun 15, 2017 14:44
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sociablegoldfinch posted:I worked in government before coming over to State... State is government.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:38
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zzonkmiles posted:I know Consular gets a bad rap online because "processing visas is boring" or because it's (mistakenly) seen as the "safest" option for getting past the PNs or for getting hired from the register, but wow, this work is so much fun. I love this stuff. I've done a year of visas and a year of ACS in two different countries and loved both tours. I've found that those who trash consular work are some combination of ignorant, arrogant, ambitious, or unimaginative.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:42
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zzonkmiles posted:I was thinking about minoring in WHA, but I think AF has won me over. I don't (and thus won't) have the language to have this choice, but I liked my experience with AF thus far and anticipate heading back once the child is off to college.
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Aug 10, 2017 11:54
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1of7 posted:List is out. Along with what remained of my morale. The absence of my name on the list is the deathnell for my career. Next fall, I'll be bidding on my fourth assignment in my 8th year as an 04 who's failed to be promoted at least twice. There's a chance I'll be promoted before next bidding season, but it won't go into effect before the bidding starts, so I'll still be an 04 in the system no matter what. ZERO chance for overseas posts and probably a hard sell for what I want in DC. I am ready to go to DC but really want to stay overseas for one more assignment for family reasons (daughter wants to finish high school overseas), so that dream is dead. I understand why I didn't get promoted. Sure, maybe I just suck at this job (or writing EER), but mostly its because my wife died the first week I was in the office and I wasn't able to function at the highest level in the subsequent year. Since you can't talk about personal issues in an EER, it just looked like I sucked, whereas if the whole story was known, my performance was pretty drat good. Most recent one was was good but only balances out the lovely one from last year, so didn't get it this year. If I don't get it next year, I'll face up to the fact that I'm just not suited for this job and find something else to do. It's pretty painful though, to be honest, as I absolutely love this job and think i actually am good at it. I've always said I'd stay in this job as long as they'd have me, I just wasn't expecting to TIC out as a 04. I'll still give it a shot next year, but I will begin looking for post-FS options immediately.
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Sep 2, 2017 10:00
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Thanks for the support, friends. It was a rough experience but the embassy community there completely rallied around us socially. Workwise the bosses were great too, understanding and supportive and most importantly not afraid to talk to me. Personal advice to anyone who finds themselves a spectator in someone else's tragedy: Don't be afraid to talk to them about it. They'll will welcome the effort and signal how they want to respond. Some may not want to talk about it, others (like me) found it therapeutic to talk to trusted friends. My and my daughter are fine now, even though of course we live with her loss. But we have happy, thriving lives, and keep her memory with us. I realize now that my current stress is a combination of bad timing with the pig in the python, the re-org, and my personal family trauma. In the end, the worst case scenario is still a pretty good one in the grand scheme of things and I know I'll be just fine. I never expected to serve overseas in my next tour, I just was expecting to have a shot at it. I don't think I have much of a shot any more, but 1) there's still a chance and 2) I was genuinely expecting a domestic assignment. The odds have just changed from 75% likely domestic to 99% likely. 
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Sep 3, 2017 17:03
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How are the high schools in Turkey?
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Sep 4, 2017 02:03
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Billzasilver posted:
Believe it or not, there are people who actually *choose* to do consular work their entire career!! THE HORROR! I'm not defending a system that assigns people to 4 years of CONS work before they get MGMT/PD/ECON/POL jobs but 1) Consular work isn't "dreadful", on par with shoveling dirt, or a form of hazing. I've done two consular assignments, a year each on each of my first two assignments. It's interesting work (some of that is what you make of it) and has great work-life balance. I hope State gets to the point where people don't HAVE to do consular work for multiple entry-level tours, but I 100% defend the "everyone does consular" policy. Consular work is part of the job, both in terms of expectations and the impact on the mission. Experience and understanding of how it works makes you a better officer in the other cones. Didn't mean to jump all over you, but I gotta defend consular work. I enjoyed both assignments, even though I love my POL work more.
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Nov 8, 2017 01:31
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Hungry Hippo posted:
I'm not defending this at all but what do you expect an officer to do, ground their spouse from Facebook? Yeah, I'd hope that my partner would understand the effect on my career and thus our life, but it's pretty presumptuous and probably out of line for anyone to expect a spouse to control what their partner posts online.
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Nov 26, 2017 14:19
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Hungry Hippo posted:Yup, they made a point during our Orientation to bring up the incident in India where an FSO's wife made some disparaging remarks about the country on social media. If you're married, and in this career, both of you need to be on the same page when it comes to what they can or can't do when you're under Chief of Mission, and if they can't handle that, then you might need to move on to a different career. Quoting Hippo, responding to all: Call the spouse into the Ambo's office then, not me. I'm not being flippant here, nor am I washing my hands of the partnership of spouses. I'm just saying that if there's a continuing problem with the spouse, address it directly, via front office, DS, or CLO.
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Dec 3, 2017 12:47
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zzonkmiles posted:Yeah, no joke. I've already started contacting people who work or used to work at my desired third post and now my name is on their radar. "Bidding" is about a lot more than just submitting a list of preferences to a CDO. I'm not taking this route, at least not as a primary strategy. I'll wait till bidding season and work the corridor then. There's a risk they'll pick someone before I get my hat in the ring, but there's just a much of a chance that they'll lean towards the freshest applicant. There's only so much control in this process and I can't bring myself to ramp up this early.
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Jan 7, 2018 12:02
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the_chavi posted:There was a legendary CDO for 03 POL officers in the latter half of the alphabet a few years back who I had been in language training with previously. He gracefully added me to his mailing list of advice, and it still stands as some of the best FS wisdom I've gotten. If I go the CDO route, I would hope to be like him. I think by the end of his two-year tour, every poloff from 04-02 was on his mailing list. I have had good CDO and a close friend of mine was a CDO earlier in her career and I'm positive she was great. They aren't all bad, and I think that many A-100 students unfairly attribute incompetence to outcomes that are primarily constrained by the nature of the job. I also think that some of the bad customer service stories might be due, at least in part, to bad customers.
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Jan 14, 2018 13:07
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I've picked up a few names of goons over the years but have lost track of who is who. I'd like to try again to connect via work; it's feels kind of like Eyes Wide Shut in that I know that I know some of you but I don't know who you are here. 1of7 is the only person I've met and I know TCD well; advance apologies for not being able to keep the rest of y'all in my head.
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Jun 5, 2018 14:44
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Leif. posted:I was in your A-100. Yeah, mon, I know. You were the first one to leave too, I think.
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Jun 23, 2018 17:31
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I never thought about who would be the first to leave and I was surprised at how quickly some people got out. I think people may secretly wonder about who won't get tenured though.
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Jun 27, 2018 14:42
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I'm at peace. Not because it's looking particularly good for me, but because acceptance is a valuable tactic in the face of overwhelming adversity.
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Oct 7, 2018 08:22
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fantastic in plastic posted:Suppose someone lives in a state where marijuana is legal and they've used it. Would this necessarily disqualify them from being able to join the Foreign Service? As others have said, be honest about it. Hopefully you quit before you started applying for this job too. A friend of mine was a casual smoker and quit when she applied and they ultimately rejected her at final suitability. She got the clearance but they judged that she quit smoking just for the job (exactly, she said) and somehow that was a bad thing and they yanked her application. It isn't a deal breaker at all, but YMMV
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Nov 29, 2018 05:06
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Slaan posted:Passed the FSOT again In addition to preparation based on advice here and in the official prep packet, get a good night's sleep, relax, be yourself, and enjoy the process. Trying too hard doesn't seem to work as well as being authentic.
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Mar 9, 2019 18:23
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Howard Phillips posted:Any last minute advice on the FSOA? I've done a live practice session off of the yahoo group. Will be reviewing the flow and format of the OA again. The Group Exercise is not a competition.
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Apr 2, 2019 14:39
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I'm using H. I. McDunnough and Ellis "Red" Redding's parole hearings as inspiration for my eer this year.
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Apr 3, 2019 14:27
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There have been many very good politically appointed ambassadors.
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Jul 6, 2019 07:56
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Dr. Red Ranger posted:
Problem solving, diversity of experience, resiliency, encounters with atypical situations and personalities, customers, bosses, bureaucracies.. all of these kinds of experiences either influenced the foreign-service-qualified person you are now or provided an opportunity to use those skills and traits. I’ve heard of housewives who’ve emphasized their organizational skills, as well as conflict resolution, budget, “interagency” coordination, and other skills. The earlier advice about reading the application and official prep materials closely, then responding to address the stated priorities is your path to glory.
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Aug 15, 2019 04:04
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SDFCU has worked fine for me, mostly using their services through the app. But I don't really use it for much beyond paying bills and transfering to saving accounts. I have an SDFCU credit card but never use it (emergency reserve). I recommend getting a USAA account too, you might need to get the right person on the phone. I've got a index fund through them and got my daughter started with her own account there too. Good service, good app, in my experience.
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Mar 28, 2020 07:23
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Anyone have thoughts on working in INL?
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Nov 14, 2020 06:40
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Xelkelvos posted:Really? It's obvious from the score only because 5.25 is the threshold. Below that mean that your candidacy for this application is now finished. I believe they may have provided a score breakdown of the various components, but they don't offer specific feedback as to why you got the score you did. It's hard to pass the OA. I don't have hard numbers and haven't paid attention since I passed a decade ago, but it was pretty common for the majority of OA takers to not pass it. I personally don't like using the term "fail" for the OA. If you make it to the OA, you've done well and demonstrated that you are FS material. If you don't clear the threshold, it sucks, but it doesn't me you suck. It's VERY common for people to take the OA multiple times.
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Nov 28, 2020 07:37
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Yup, like Leif. said, the score we are discussing is based entirely on the Oral Assessment. This score is a comprehensive score for the day, so it isn't clear which component was a strength/ weakness for you. That doesn't really matter, because it isn't a case of, for example, "passing" the written but "failing" the group exercise. It's just one big cohesive assessment. It's discouraging, but most people don't even get that far, so hopefully you can still find some satisfaction in an Olympic Silver medal of sorts. Keep competing; the Gold is within reach. TCD, that's pretty cool news. It's nice to see when a network works in favor of our friends too.
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Dec 7, 2020 23:08
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Chrome and Explorer sometimes provide a better experience than other browsers on U.S. government websites.
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Mar 22, 2021 19:29
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I've yet to receive a handshake on handshake day and have always found something great afterwards.
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Aug 3, 2021 18:30
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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/the-state-department-and-3-other-us-agencies-earn-a-d-for-cybersecurity/
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Aug 4, 2021 20:32
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Tyro posted:Wow, this thread has been slow recently. Hope everyone is doing well. What’s third week of April look like? Also, I’m REALLY bad at connecting usernames to content and don’t have much sense of who anyone is and what jobs they do. I’m not proud of being like that, but it’s better to reveal upfront.
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Mar 14, 2023 02:55
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Tyro posted:I'm getting ready to PCS, but I should be around. Week of April 17 I'll be crashing and banging.
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Mar 22, 2023 15:29
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Tyro posted:Thanks for grabbing lunch with me! Always fun to meet folks from the thread. Indeed, thank you for taking time and picking up lunch in advance. I have now met two goons.
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May 15, 2023 03:55
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