Ron, Civil Service
My name is Ron. I am a Civil Service employee in the Department of State. I've been in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs for eight-plus years now.
The day that mattered most to me would probably be my introduction into the United Nations General Assembly that happens in New York in late September. I was a staff assistant for then-Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried and I realized that the UNGA, as we like to call it, is probably our response to the Golden Globes in California. It is chaos, it is press, it is police, and it is as much fun as I've ever had in the Department of State.
My job was to coordinate the Assistant Secretary's meetings, keep track of his briefing papers, and to make sure that his meetings ended on time and started on time, which was impossible. I think that a number of our agency officials count on our ability to stay calm in the focus of all this chaos, this madness that happens and we manage to do that year in and year out.
What the Department of State offered that those did not was actually ability to work and do something for my country and that was the most inviting aspect to it all. And to be a part of—it's very difficult to live in Washington and not be a part of the political scene, and I think that once you connect you begin to understand what Washington is all about and that was what drew me to it.
There is a great acceptance of Civil Service workers in the Foreign Service community, and the notion that we are equally as important to the Foreign Service and to the Department of State as the Foreign Service officers who serve abroad.