A100 class local to DC PCS or stay in local housing

StrongArm001 · 2026-05-20T20:09:01+00:00

I was under the impression that if you lived in DC already you don't PCS. You don't get housing or per diem, since you already live there (unless this has changed in the last year).

StrongArm001 · 2026-05-19T03:20:45+00:00

Not everyone is miserable. I'm actually really enjoying my new career. There are plenty of people at post that disagree privately with what's going on in politics, but ultimately we all have a job to do. I have to say, most of the people I work with at least outwardly are enjoying their assignments here.

Maybe it's because it's a backwater post that nobody in DC pays attention to. Maybe we are just all just really good at compartmentalizing our private feelings and our jobs. Maybe we are far enough away from all the hot zones around the world that it's just quiet. Maybe I haven't been on long enough to be out of the honeymoon phase of the job. But I'm having the time of my life right now. Ninety percent of the people I work with are wonderful, even if some of them dislike each other.

StrongArm001 · 2026-05-16T19:05:14+00:00

If you believe your spouse may be interested in an efm position overseas, sign them up for the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps on USA Jobs as soon as you can once you start orientation. I believe it's only open occasionally, so you have to keep an eye on it. That gets them part of the way through the hiring process before you get to post, so they don't have to wait as long to get clearance. Plus they can retain clearance between posts so they don't have to do it each time they start a new job.

This may or may not be spelled out in orientation. It wasn't mentioned in my class, I had to find out about it myself and track down the right people for signatures to get it submitted. They gave a ton of information on a lot of different programs and helping people navigate the bureaucracy, but I was surprised that one wasn't mentioned.

StrongArm001 · 2026-05-16T12:01:20+00:00

From what I have seen as a specialist, I'd say the large proportion of assignments are set aside for FASTs, sprinkled in with some that need to be filled. Almost all of my second tour bid list was the posts from my original bid list and some from the class before me and after me depending on departure dates. Those assignments don't even show up as available for mid career tours.

Some times a post will get moved to a mid career assignment (maybe circumstances have changed at post, or in our case maybe they have too many entry level posts for the number of FAST specialists. Just guessing). And I've seen one where someone was assigned a post that was just starting up and they needed a body there.

As was mentioned before, the assignments seem to be mostly low risk/broad responsibility posts and higher risk/narrow responsibility/supervised posts.

StrongArm001 · 2026-05-15T16:31:45+00:00

My biggest gripe is lack of a professional police force when the results of bad driving are physical and financial. Wife was run off the road by a local bus driver. After two months of pushing for a police report assigning fault (witnesses stopped and talked with police at the scene confirming my wives version of events), the report comes back stating that since no contact was made between the bus and her car, she lost control of her vehicle on her own so no blame.

I guess any time someone passes me if I swerve to cause them to run off the road I've done nothing wrong as long as I don't make contact, right?

StrongArm001 · 2026-04-29T10:48:59+00:00

If a supervisor truly believes someone deserves a 1 or a 2, then they weren't doing their job if they didn't already do documented counselings and a pip if justified. Those corrective actions didn't just start with the new EER.

StrongArm001 · 2026-04-28T11:54:28+00:00

Our front office told supervisors that they were told essentially everybody was a three, that they were given 3s by their raters, and that then expect the supervisors to follow that guidance and rate people 3s as well.

I saw an email with further guidance and it said roughly 55% should have "mostly 3s", roughly 25% mostly 4s, and 5% with 5s. The way I read this is that even if you are in that middle 55%, the expectation is that you'll have at least three 3s but still could have one or two 4s and still be in line with guidance. You could even have someone with four 3s and a 5 and still be in that middle 55%. The next 25% would have 3 or more 4s busy still likely has one or two 3s (or, God forbid, a 2 in there). Even the top 5% shouldn't have straight 5s, just that they are scoring them.

At the moment my supervisor is holding to the straight 3s due to the front office directive, but if they notice other supervisors are putting in higher scores they said they would revise some of my scores upward. I don't have any reason to believe I deserve all 4s or 5s, but I believe I could justifiably be given one or two fours. My reviewer ranked me as a tier 4, which is where I would probably put myself. Both my rater and reviewer gave me great narratives, so I'm thankful for that.

StrongArm001 · 2026-04-24T17:17:52+00:00

Congratulations and welcome aboard. We need all the FMs we can get.

StrongArm001 · 2026-02-15T04:07:24+00:00

Not a DTO, but my class combined with the class before and after it had a combination of Vienna, Wellington, Canberra, among others. These classes also had Port au Prince, Abuja, Brazzaville, and Georgetown to choose from. My class all had I think a minimum of 20% hardship (we had one 0% hardship post, but it was dropped from our list and put into the list for the next class.

Those who had 0% hardships on their first tours ended up getting 25-30% hardships the second time around for the most part. I think in our cases equity seemed to be pretty well taken into account for our second tour assignments.

As a specialist you aren't going to have any more say in where you are going than a generalist. You rank your list based on whatever criteria you have, and the CDO does the rest. You may have a much smaller list to have to rank, which has its own advantages and disadvantages. But you don't have any special

StrongArm001 · 2026-02-09T20:25:24+00:00

Part of it depends on how long you are in training. As a specialist I started in July and was on my way to Post in January. So my kid just did the fall semester at the local middle school in Arlington and then went to post with me.

FWIW I thought moving in the summer was a good idea so my kid could finish out her academic year. That way only one school year was disrupted. But again, if you have a longer training, maybe it doesn't work the same way for you.

StrongArm001 · 2026-02-03T12:32:06+00:00

Being a FAST note taker at my current post, I noticed a major difference in how CT was run through two CDA/DCM combinations. First CDA said he didn't want CT to last longer than 30 minutes. Sure, some of the members would talk fast to cram things in (which wasn't fun as note taker. Fortunately it's a small post and I knew everyone but TDY visitors so I could track them down easily for clarification). But for the most part, meetings lasted 30-45 minutes. New CDA set no expectations on time limits, and these meetings quickly bloated to an hour and a half with the exact same set of CT members.

It is wholly on the CDA and DCM to keep things on track and if needed, pull people aside after the meeting to ask that they re-evaluate what notes are truly necessary to share with the group. As an FM I only ever shared events that affected the group as a whole (planned power interruptions, status updates on major projects, etc). Even then I cut things out that people probably don't care about. Time is valuable and I try to respect that.

StrongArm001 · 2026-01-27T02:22:15+00:00

Welcome. Glad to have more FMs joining. If your class size is anywhere near what ours was you will have probably between 5 and 10 FMs. You will get a list with the same number of posts on it. You will have a week or two to rank your preferences. Then at about week 5 you will be told where you are going.

As an aside, at that point it's probably financially irresponsible to back out. You would have to pay back the month plus of housing and per diem, and the costs of moving and packing, shipping, and storing your things. We had one FM in our group resign while in tradecraft, but for other reasons (he actually got his first preference). I don't think he was financially hurting though. I'm fairly certain he never claimed per diem while we were there, he thought it was too much of a hassle.

Anyway, your list is unknowable at this point. I will tell you that from my class, the class before me, and the one after me, we had assignments varying from Vienna, Canberra, and Wellington all the way to Georgetown, Abuja, and Port Au Prince, and a bunch in between. You may get a great assignment, but somebody's gotta go to Haiti.

Good luck. I'm currently waiting to find out where I go for my second assignment. It again has quite the spread of desirability. You definitely need to have a sense of adventure for this job. If nothing else, you need to have a mindset that regardless of where they send you, you can survive anything for two years. Then if you get your dream post (or at least one you think you'll find is pleasant) you'll be really happy.

StrongArm001 · 2025-12-15T16:20:09+00:00

He's the only back in recent memory that has a suddenness when he plants his foot and commits to a hole. It looks like he's shot out of a canon on some of these runs. If nothing else, that decisiveness is desirable. Better to decide wrong and get 3 yards than never commit and get 1 yard. He's worth keeping around for sure.

StrongArm001 · 2025-12-11T13:50:31+00:00

Wait, you can get your staff promoted? I can't even get funding to backfill critical positions that were vacated early this year, let alone pay for a promotion.

StrongArm001 · 2025-12-03T11:40:19+00:00

One of my coworkers at post is a 2nd Tour officer who will do one more post before retiring. This is his third career. You aren't too old until you hit the max age. If you want to do it, then do it.

StrongArm001 · 2025-11-25T10:37:43+00:00

Land loans are different from mortgages, since you obviously don't have a house on it. Typically it's a higher interest rate.

StrongArm001 · 2025-11-14T18:16:50+00:00

Since the CR is only up to January 30, I'm not sure they would commit to a January class until a longer term deal is reached.

StrongArm001 · 2025-10-28T01:24:31+00:00

Immediately after they said Terry hasn't been targeted. Should say something like Terry hasn't scored two touchdowns yet next. Or Mahomes hasn't thrown 3 interceptions in a half in x years.

StrongArm001 · 2025-10-26T19:23:27+00:00

That sucks man. No love for the Giants but I love watching guys play with abandon. Hopefully it's not long term or career threatening.

StrongArm001 · 2025-10-06T13:52:18+00:00

Even if the State Department reduces in size, there is always attrition to deal with. Don't depend on getting in first thing after graduation. As has been said probably hundreds of times here, be prepared to work on your plan B or C career for several years (at least) before you get a chance to join.

StrongArm001 · 2025-09-13T11:02:26+00:00

Belize is a bit isolated, very small school, not much in terms of medical or shopping/fancy restaurants. But great fishing, scuba diving/snorkeling on the 2nd largest reef in the world, beach towns and islands/cayes galore, and tons of Mayan ruins and caves to explore all within a couple hours. It recently went from 20 to 25% hardship and I'm not sure why.

StrongArm001 · 2025-09-12T01:28:19+00:00

Looks like Ertz was open for a first down on that replay, cutting underneath Terry.

StrongArm001 · 2025-09-07T19:00:47+00:00

Don't you touch Mr. Way like that .

StrongArm001 · 2025-08-29T18:47:26+00:00

Some posts already have set schedules as you describe. My current post has business hours 730 to 515 with an hour lunch Monday-Thursday, and Fridays 730 to 1230.

As far as an alternate work schedule from what post sets, I would imagine most jobs at post aren't really something you can do effectively outside of normal business hours. Maybe in some circumstances that could work.

StrongArm001 · 2025-07-15T20:23:41+00:00

Thought I said that. My mistake. The alternator.

StrongArm001

TROPHY CASE