Reply to Are foreign service benefits excessive or reasonable given the sacrifices?

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[quote=Anonymous]Wow.  I am a current FSO and am still making about $30K/year less than I was before I came into the service seven years ago.  The housing and education benefits are generous, but my wife makes less than half of her previous salary and I think you vastly overestimated the value of many of the other benefits.

For example, I've never made money on selling a car overseas, and lost a ton of money, time and sentimental items (despite the insurance which I paid for myself) when one of our crates was lost in our last move.  Differentials are shrinking in most of the world and we don't all get a ticket back to the US every year.  And I believe that Home Leave is about ten days for each year abroad, and you can only take it if you can negotiate the time off in the US between overseas jobs.  Hell, many of us resent home leave because it's logistically and financially so complicated.  Did I mention that I've been shot at twice in the last year, and my wife was robbed at gunpoint when we first arrived at our current post?

For us, the most important benefits didn't make it on to your list.  My kids can order street food in three languages, and have seen elephants, swam with whale sharks and met presidents.  We are closer as a family than we were in the US because it's really clear that we're in it together - for good and for tough times too.  There are things the kids miss out on in the US, but I think they've built some real life skills that their friends back home have never had to develop.  I have had a series of job that are challenging and usually meaningful, I've had a front row seat to some truly historic moments, I'm rarely bored, and I like my colleagues and the mission we share.  And did you mention the receptions?

I love what I do and am grateful for my job - but I think your list is no where close to representative of my reality as a FSO.  [/quote]

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