Now that Alex has settled in to Spanish training, she reminded me that I may never have mentioned what it is that I’ve been doing for the past year. Well, way back when I was in A-100, we made the (correct) decision that it would be better for our tandem chances if I bid on jobs here in DC. Lucky for us, I received one of the DC jobs on our bid list on flag day.

Right after flag day, there were a few days of uncertainty during which nobody quite knew which DC job I would have. Maybe the one I was assigned. Maybe a different one in the same office. I was told that someone would let me know when I showed up for work my first day.

I ended up being assigned to a position called a Post Management Officer. It’s both in DC and in my selected cone (management), so I feel pretty fortunate. I’m basically the liaison between all the posts in my portfolio and all the various offices and bureaus in DC. I’ve learned a lot about taxes, real estate, assignments, and a lot of other things I previously knew little about. I even got to head out to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan for a couple of weeks.

Working in DC as a first-tour officer can be challenging, especially when your job is usually filled by a 3rd or 4th tour officer. I heard the phrase “drinking from a fire hose” more times than I care to remember. But in the end, I think it’s been a very good experience (and hopefully my office would agree).

Speaking of the end…

It won’t be long now before I’m off to Spanish too. I’ll start on February 24.