12 Dimensions....

Ok, I decided to give DoS a call and see when my Oral Assessment date will be. Since I'm in Japan, I want to schedule my flight as far out in advance as possible. Tickets to D.C. are averaging around $1600 r/t. OUCH!!! Long story short...The nice lady that answered the phone said they probably won't send out any OA dates until mid to late October, with the actual evaluations taking place in November or December time frame.

As so many others before me have already said...Hurry up and wait!

This actually gives me a little time to take the advice of a fellow blogger Foreign Obsession: I feel the earth move under my feet... . She recommended making 3 examples of each one of the 12 Dimensions, and become extremely familiar with them. So, this week, that's what I plan to work on. 36 examples of my life.

As always, Thanks for sharing my Journey with me.

To your success!!

Few weeks later...

I'm assuming that when DoS says we will contact you in a few weeks...they really mean. Don't call us, we'll call you when we remember. LOL Just kidding, I suppose I'll receive my OA date soon enough.

This gives me more time to study and prepare for the 12 Dimensions in which I will be judged off of...so I hear.

As far as what's going on with me now...Just preparing my exit strategy. Enjoying the great Okinawa weather and out-processing for my pending retirement. I've decided on leaving the island around mid-January since I'll also be graduating from Grad-school on January 28th. I didn't go to my ceremony for my Bachelors degree, but I've decided to make the journey to Nebraska and attend my Master's Degree graduation ceremony. Yes...All of you are invited!! :)

As I have said before...it would be great if all goes well with my OA, I pass medical and since I already have a TS clearance...that goes well and I'm on the register with a class date before I leave the Air Force.

I'll keep dreaming the dream and sharing with all of you!

Thanks for sharing my journey with me!!

Email from DoS...

It's been a really long 9 months since I first submitted my application to Department of State. Im about 6 months out from retiring from the U.S. Air Force, so ive been pretty busy with that transition. The closer I get to my retirement... The more I look at my Units leadership and say... "Are you Serious?" oh well....

On a brighter note...I woke up to bright and sunny day on the island with the sun shimerring off the Pacific Ocean to a email from DoS:

Congratulations!  Your October 2010 application for Foreign Service General Services Officer has successfully passed the Qualifications Evaluation Panel and has been forwarded to the Board of Examiners Assessment Center to be scheduled for an oral assessment.  They should be contacting you in the next several weeks with further instructions.  

As always... Thanks for coming along for the journey and wish me luck through the next phase.

Mark

The waiting game...

Wow, I can't believe it's already June! Typhoon Songda just rolled through the Island with winds of up to 145 MPH! No structural damage, but lots of trees and debris all over the place. The Japanese built the infrastructure of this island really well. Concrete buildings, roofs, telephone poles, even concrete posts for the stop signs!
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At the end of last month, I received an email from a guy that is a member of the Yahoo group, "Foreign Service Specialist", telling me that he received his notification from Department of State that he was not selected to move on to the next round of the selection process. My heart sank, so I immediately started checking my email folder, and spam and junk folder to see if I may have missed my letter. It was a frantic 10 seconds...:)

Lucky for me it was about 1 A.M here in Japan, so I was able to call DOS and ask the simple question "What is the status of my application?"

I was told that I was one of the few that was selected to have my records reviewed at the Qualification Evaluation Panel. Wow!...so, although it has been 8 months since I initially submitted my application, I'm happy to say, the journey continues.

On another note...I received my Retirement orders from the Air Force this week. So that means, I can finally start out-processing the base and the Air Force in preparation for my November Retirement ceremony.

As one journey ends...Another begins...Thanks for being a part of it!

As always..thanks for sharing this Journey with me.

It's May...where is my Invite????

Ha ha... I know it's still pretty early in May, but the federal budget crisis has been resolved, I've cleaned out my email box, and DoS did say they would send out invites in May. So... where the heck is my invite??? This has been a long 7 months since I initally submitted my application. It's funny how fast time goes by. I'm still pretty confident that I'll receive an invitation to the Oral Assesment sometime soon. For those of you that are still with me on my journey...look back at this blog a year from now and say WOW...how did he know he would be FSS a year ago. LOL.

Wishful thinking...I can't stop the dream now.

Thanks for sticking with me as I continue this Journey!

209 Days to go...

Just a bit more than 6 months to go before I retire from the Worlds Greatest Air Force!! And no, that was not paid advertisement. Received another email from DOS today,they plan on sending out invites to DC next month. I think part of the reason it has taken so long is the looming federal budget shutdown. Once State receives a budget, they will have an idea on how many new people they can hire. My blog..my thoughts :)

Other than that...I spent a week in Seoul South Korea...one of my favorite cities! My knee is recovering quite nicely, no more crutches for me.

As always...although the journey is long and slow..thanks for taking the ride with me. Until next time....

Ciao!

Ray Charles - A Song For You

This is one of my favorite songs...the first 10 words describes how I feel about my life. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

One of my favorite lines in the song is "Your image of me, is everything I hope to be"