Although I realize most of my readers are still trying to join the Foreign Service, I’ve had a few people mention that they enjoy my posts that deal with the details of Foreign Service life. In the spirit of that, I thought I would address the topic of “danger” posts. I’m finishing up a one year tour in Kabul, Afghanistan and while I’m sure everyone’s experience here is a little bit different, here is a little bit of my adventure.
What are the Danger Posts?
Before I discuss my experience at Embassy Kabul, let’s take a step back and explain what I mean by “danger posts”. Simply put, a Department of State danger post is any post that comes with danger pay. I’m not going to list every single place or try to weigh the risks of one post versus another. All of them have their own dangers — and to be honest any post can be dangerous. We have had serious incidents in Frankfurt, Mumbai, Athens, Stockholm, and many other places. None of them receive danger pay though because normally, life is pretty safe.
The obvious places with danger pay are Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, and others. There are other places that may not immediately jump to mind like most of the Mexican posts. All of these places come with serious potential threats simply because you are an American diplomat living there. People want to kill you that know nothing about you other than your citizenship. That is a chilling thought. A little bit of extra money is obviously not enough to make it worth serving there.
So why do Foreign Service Officers (and many others) agree to serve in these posts? Well, money is one reason certainly. Career advancement is another good reason, though promotion is hardly a guarantee. Many do it because they believe in the cause.
Despite what you may hear (or not hear) on the evening news, there has been a lot of improvement to daily life in Afghanistan through the efforts of our military and civilian workers. Girls go to school. Dams and hospitals have been built. A fairly functional government is in place. These are all serious accomplishments no matter how cynical you may be. Will it hold up over the long term? I can’t say for sure, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth trying. Do you want to tell a 12-year-old Afghan girl she can’t go to school now because we can’t promise in ten years the opportunity will still exist?
What are the Risks?
Well, dying for one. I’m sorry if that is blunt, but it is the truth even if we all try to block if from our minds on a day-to-day basis. I feel quite safe most days while I’m at the Embassy. I live and work in a fortress that is surrounded by layers of security, tall walls, many guys with very large guns, and helicopter gunships routinely flying overhead on patrol. So yeah, I feel pretty safe, but every so often I have to remind myself that this is not normal life. I leave here in a few months and I’m sure it is going to take time to re-adjust.
I have two sets of body armor, one in the office and one at home. I’m a first responder and I spend my Saturdays training on how to apply tourniquets and deal with penetrating chest wounds. Before coming here I took classes on evasive driving, surveillance detection, and How to be a Hostage 101. Unless you’re in the military or police, these are not normal aspects of life, but they are necessary to live here.
Although we are at times lulled into a false sense of security, this is still a dangerous place. We have entered the so-called “fighting season.” In Afghanistan it comes every spring and it is when the insurgents start their major attacks, after the winter snows have melted away. I have heard several explosions while I have been here. They are generally followed by the duck and cover alarm and I have to run to a hardened structure. It is generally only after things have calmed down that I remember that the sound of that explosion was also the sound of one more people dying.
I spent six hours locked down last Friday as insurgents attacked the IOM office in town. Last fall before I arrived, the embassy was attacked and staff were locked down for more than 16 hours, some huddled in concrete tunnels.
A talented, young Foreign Service Officer was killed here just a few months ago. She was on her second tour. Her name was Anne Smedinghoff and she died as she tried to deliver school books to a school. I don’t know all the details, but from what I hear it wasn’t a complicated, intricately organized attack. She and her companions were spotted and the Taliban decided to take advantage and sent in a suicide bomber. I have the armored vest of one of the survivors in my office as a reminder, it is dotted with spots of blood and shredded by bits of shrapnel. I use it as a lesson to the 50 people I supervise as to why we take the drills seriously.
What is Daily Life Like in Kabul?
I can only speak to life at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. I do not know what living conditions are like in Baghdad, Sanaa, Khartoum, the many smaller field sites in Afghanistan, or any other danger post as I haven’t served there. From what I hear, life in Kabul is nicer than most of those places.
Children playing on the street in Kabul, Afghanistan.
At first glance, life here is pretty good. I’m sure it seems that way to visiting members of Congress who spent 8 hours on the ground before whisking away in their military aircraft. We have two cafeterias. We have a small coffee shop. We have a pool. We have a tennis court. I live in in a one bedroom apartment though many live in small shipping containers that have been converted into dorm-style rooms.
It is a little bit like living on a college campus, I guess. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? And it isn’t — in small doses.
What it is more like is living at a prison. We have almost green space. It is all concrete and cinder block topped with razor wire. We have a wall around us with towers at strategic locations that contain armed guards. We live, work, eat, and play with the same people day after day. That person that pissed you office that morning? They’re sitting across from you at the cafeteria at night. Want to take advantage of the pool? There they are again.
Is It Worth It?
That’s a tough question. For me, I guess it has been worth coming to a danger post. Would I do it again? Probably not, but it is certainly an experience that will stick with me the rest of my life and I do feel that I have done some good here.
Life is a bit easier for me because, unlike many of my colleagues, I’m not separated from my wife. She is here with me. So at least I’ve got someone to share the tough times with. We’ve been able to save up a lot of money and we look forward to our “reward” — a nice follow-on assignment a beautiful European capital.
It has also been great to work with the Afghan staff. Like most embassies around the world, the majority of our staff are local host nationals. I have more than 50 Afghan men and women that work for me. While it is sad that I cannot take them up on their offers to come to dinner or attend a wedding, I at least get to know them at work. They teach me bits of Dari and I teach them about the United States — where they all hope to one day live. Some call me “boss man” or “Mr. Shawn” (and I feel like a hobbit), but as formal as it may seem they will all joke with me and eat with me and otherwise make life bearable here.
It is the Afghans I will miss most of all when I leave here. I hope they do get their immigrant visas to go to America, but it is just as likely they won’t. I will inevitably cross paths with my American colleagues as I travel around the world, but I may never again see my Afghan staff again. That is hard.
Thanks for sharing this – it’s very similar to what I’d say about life in Libya. Every time someone would ask me “Why?” I’d go on until their eyes glazed over about my respect for the people, my love of the country, and how honored I felt to work side-by-side with Libyans trying to rebuild their country after four decades of purposeful neglect. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous and that there weren’t days I hated myself for my decision – but at the end of the day I’m so glad I did it.
Thanks for the post, Hannah. Even before what happened in Benghazi, Libya was probably more dangerous than here simply because we have so much security compared to every other post in the world.
I hope you’re off to some place nice and quiet for your next tour.
Great blog! I am curious on the duration of the hardship tours, are they 1 year assignments? If so, are you provided with mid-tour leave?
Hi Jose,
Thanks for stopping by. The real hardship tours (Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, etc.) are one year assignments, but sometimes people extend for two years. Other assignments are generally 2-3 years long.
In Afghanistan we actually get 3-5 breaks away in that year so about every two months we get a trip away. That sounds like a lot, but it feels about right when you’re here.
I’m going to do a post on R&R breaks here soon because I’m going on my next one soon.
Shawn- I’m curious about this, “While it is sad that I cannot take them up on their offers to come to dinner or attend a wedding, I at least get to know them at work.” Is it because of the danger of leaving the Embassy compound or are there official restrictions on how and with whom you spend time outside of work?
Hi Erin,
A little bit of both. We are only allowed to leave the compound for “mission essential” business and going to a dinner or wedding would almost never qualify. Basically, there is no social life here outside of the walls. Everything happens on compound.
All embassies aren’t like this, of course. It is just the security environment we live with here.
Hi Shawn,
How often do spouses get to accompany you to a hardship/danger tour? Does your wife work as a FSO? I am assuming only a spouse would qualify (not children). Are you able to do a danger tour early on in your career as a FSO and are there advantages to doing it early? Would you ever be “required” to do a hardship/danger tour?
Thanks,
Colleen
Hi Colleen,
Generally your family can accompany you to most assignments. For the particularly “hot” posts like Afghanistan, no children are allowed and a spouse can only accompany if he or she has a job at the embassy. My wife is working at the embassy with me. She isn’t an FSO, but embassies have some jobs, mostly administrative support type work, that they hold for spouses.
I don’t know that there are any particular advantages to doing it early apart from the fact that it is sometimes easier for family issues. Also, you should count on doing more than one hardship tour. Perhaps not “war zone” hard, but at least challenging. To advance to the highest ranks, you would probably need to do at least one really hard/danger tour.
When you’re coming and going, first to get to the site and then for R&R, do you use the regular local airport?
Also, how often have you had to travel outside of the embassy compound while in Afghanistan? It’s so sad and a bit frightening to read what happened to Anne Smedinghoff, and I’m wondering how common the situation of being sent out and possibly becoming a target like that is.
Hi Chase,
I assume you’re referring to Afghanistan in particular? Yes, we almost always use the regular public Kabul International Airport. We don’t get to fly military or private. We wait in the same lines as the general public though the embassy does send someone to help with check in.
To be honest, being in the Foreign Service doesn’t help that much when it comes to travel a great deal of the time. A diplomatic passport sometimes gives you access to a special line for immigration, but not always and technically only for your assigned post.
I don’t leave the compound very often for my job, but some of my colleagues travel outside and around the country all the time. It just depends on your duties. There is always going to be a careful balance of security vs. doing what needs to be done. Anne died delivering books to school children. Did she have to do that? No, of course not. Does a young American woman giving school books to children make a difference? I would say so. Far more of a difference than dropping a bomb on a nameless terrorist.
Thanks for all this information. It sounds from what you are saying that there are some jobs in danger posts that are very much in the compound, whereas others require you to go outside the fortification. Is that correct, and if so, how much choice do you get — before you go in — as to how locked in you are versus how much you need to venture out?
If you do venture out, what kind of protection do you get?
From my experience, that is true. Some jobs in danger posts require you to go off compound more than others. I was in Kabul though and that doesn’t necessarily mean things are the same in Baghdad, Islamabad, Peshawar, Erbil, Juba, or countless other places.
I think you have to take the assignment understanding there could be a certain set of risk. That’s why you’re receiving danger pay. For the most part, embassy security isn’t going to want to put you in excessively risky situations.
The few times I went off compound, I went in an armored vehicle to another semi-secure space. I didn’t have to wear body armor or go with guards, but for others it could have been different. I never felt safe off compound, but it was an unfortunate requirement of the position I had. I knew when I accepted the job that it was in Kabul and certain tolerances would have to be accepted.
While it seems like doing a Hardship post or two is an integral part of the the FSO career path is it possible to get a number of back to back hardship postings? While being in Afghanistan for a year at 25 sounds tolerable what happens when you are 35 and have a pair of kids? Is the state department pretty good with making sure that families can stay together? Also if an officer gets a posting, say to Sudan and they refuse to go what happens? Do they just quit and its all okay or are there legal ramifications?
Hi Eric,
I would definitely join with the mind set that I will have to do at least two hardship tours. However, don’t think that all hardship tours are Afghanistan or Iraq. We have plenty of “lighter” hardship spots that some would argue aren’t a hardship at all. I did a tour in Kyiv, Ukraine which is a hardship tour, but not too bad a place to live.
State is pretty family friendly, I think. Keep in mind, you will almost never get directed to an assignment without any say. If you don’t want to go to Sudan, you just wouldn’t bid on that job. Technically, your first two tours are directed, but you get to give your input and people are generally happy with the result.
State does have the right to direct you though if a job needs to be filled and no one takes it. Should that happen to you (and again…this is extremely rare) then you could refuse. More than likely, you’d get a black mark on your reputation and get to go somewhere else, but if it came down to it you could quit with no repercusions. It isn’t the military.
Shawn,
I’ve been told by a family member of a FSO that the FSO must decide which continent they will dedicated their career to; so in other words, if you chose Asia you will only be able to apply for subsequent post in Asia. Is this a fact or misperception?
Hi Domonique,
That isn’t exactly true. We can bid on any post around the world. In my four tours, I’ve served in DC, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. However, most people do tend to develop a preference and will do multiple tours in that region. This is often tied to language. If you know Spanish, it only makes sense you will tend to stick to that region.
Shawn
Shawn,
I’ve been told there is very little room for career advancement. People say you get stuck doing the same thing in different places? Is that true. What about coming to D.C. and working at the State Department there?
Hi James,
I wouldn’t say that is really true. It may make for a good series of blog posts down the road.
While they’re could be some repetition of duties in different countries, even then the job would be quite a bit different. Doing the “same” job in Mexico City as in Phnom Penh would be a very different experience.
However, location differences aside, your duties will change as you advance throughout your career with more and more responsibilities added to your shoulders (just as in most jobs.) Plus, you could pick radically different jobs every tour if that is most important to you.
As you mention, there are plenty of jobs in DC. I’d say most Foreign Service Officers probably spend around 20% of their career in DC.
Dear Shawn, I think I sent you an email through your newsletter and then discovered this. Thank you so much for the feedback in living in Afghanistan. I have applied for a limited term Social Work position and am awaiting clearence. I am truly excited about the opportunity. Your blog has helped me in understanding more about living there. I understand the compound concept, how are living quarters assigned, what are support systems like, the rr and rr – is one able to fly to US every two months?? What is a must to bring??
I unders
Shawn, I deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 with the U.S. Army. One of the things I miss the most are the relationships I developed with my interpreters and the Local Nationals. I would love to go back to Afghanistan or to another danger post upon entering the State Department.
Thank you for your blog. I’m reading everything I can about life in the U.S. State Department and your posts are certainly comprehensive.
Yeah. I definitely miss the Afghan workers I befriended. Unfortunately, unless I do another tour there, it is unlikely I’ll see them again.
Hi Shawn,
I’ve really learned a lot from your blog, and it is helping me to realize that the FSO path is a path I could one day take myself. I was wondering, when exactly did you become a FSO? Do you think that you could give us a breakdown of your time serving–place, occupation (political, management, etc), and duration of tour? I know the places that you have served, but I am unsure of how long you were at each place. I’m also curious to get an understanding of how one progresses throughout their time serving, though I understand that it is a different experience for everyone.
An additional question. You have touched on this, but what would you say the benefits are to an applicant having a masters degree, as opposed to a bachelors, for example? I recently earned my BA in English from a state university, and have considered a few different routes to continue my education, particularly in the fields of international affairs, politics, and economics. Does the State Dept. consider this much (in terms of generally accepting you, determining your base pay, and so on) when hiring you? or do they put you on a more-or-less even playing field with others who have passed the test, regardless of education level, to the point where it may be beneficial not to worry about completing a further degree before pursuing a FSO track? I apologize for being wordy; I am still trying to piece a bunch of questions together.
Ich hoffe, dass Ihre Zeit in der Oesterreich schoen ist! Viel Glueck aus den USA!
Tony
Hi Tony,
I joined in 2008. I served 2 years in Ukraine, 2 years in The Bahamas, 1 year in DC, and 1 year in Afghanistan. The rest of the time has been taken up with training. I’ve done tours in Econ, Management, Consular, and a functional office (intelligence).
Having a masters will only affect your starting salary and may help you with the Qualifications Evaluation Panel. Once you’re in, we’re all pretty much equal and no one cares much about your education. I’ve had colleagues at the same level as me with BAs, masters, law degrees, Ph.Ds, and other experience. I wouldn’t know unless they told me though. We’re all doing the same stuff.
Danke!
Shawn
Hey Shawn,
Thanks for getting back to me. It sounds like you have accomplished a lot as a FSO since 2008! And thank you for answering my question on education.
Are you able to reapply for a FSO position if you are not accepted the first time? And for how long are your test scores good?
Best wishes,
Tony
Hi Tony,
You can take the test as many times as you want. It is common for people to fail once or twice before passing. When you pass everything and get on the register, you have 18 months to get hired or else you have to start all over.
I feel like most of the sources I’ve read say you will most likely get at least one or two hardship posts in your career. Yet there was one I read that said you’re lucky if you get one or two non-hardship posts. Which do you think is more accurate?
Hi Charley,
I think it depends on what you are calling “hardship”. I think State defines a hardship post as any with 15% or greater hardship pay. Going by this definition most of Africa, much of South America, most of Asia, most of the Middle East, and a portion of Eastern Europe are hardship tours.
When I said you would get at least one or two, I was thinking more along the lines of the really tough places: Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc. You could avoid doing a tour in these places, but I think most people in the modern FS will do at least one there during their career.
Hello Shawn,
Thank you for creating such a fantastic blog, it is a valuable pool of information for aspiring FSO’s like myself. Great work, your help and input is much appreciated!
First off, is it true that one of the first two assignments will most likely be to a danger zone? Or does this depend heavily on language experience (if any), and/or applicable job experience? Also, you spoke of how it was generally rare for you to leave the compound/embassy in Afghanistan, could that be taken to mean that your housing was on the premises? Is the housing for FSOs usually very close to the embassy? Prior to being assigned to a dangerous post, I understand you go through rigorous training regarding situations you might be faced with in the host country, but does that usually include first aid or self defense? What was something you wish you had known or kept in mind before being assigned to a danger zone?
I also have a few questions that are slightly off-topic, sorry about that! I understand that every FSO, regardless of career track must spend time doing consular work, but does that mean that if you choose to become a consular officer that you are required to do the opposite, and spend time in other tracks? Additionally, do you need any special permit/license for driving in whichever foreign country you serve in (ie. International Driving Permit)?
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
-Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for your message.
It’s not true that one of your first two assignments will be in a danger zone. In fact, it is extremely unlikely your first tour will be at a danger post and I think your second one only would be if you actively went for one. I honestly don’t know any fellow FSOs who have told me they felt forced to go to such a post.
All of the so-called danger posts are different and I can only really speak to Kabul. My job only required me to leave the compound occasionally. Other colleagues were out almost daily for meetings with government officials or NGOs so that just depends on the job. You would generally know that before accepting the job. The embassy compound is essentially like a military base with office buildings and housing all in one place.
We do receive some special training before we go and much of that is combat zone first aid type stuff. We don’t do self defense training apart from some basic weapons familiarization to help people feel a bit more comfortable with the amount of guns they’ll be surrounded by.
As to your other questions, consular work is the only thing required by generalists. In (my) ideal world, every generalist would also do a year of management as well as that is a critical part of the embassy that many either underestimate or don’t fully appreciate.
The driving question depends on country. Some countries let us use our U.S. drivers license. Others require us to get a local license.
Shawn