Ups and downs of diplomacy

America’s other Army: Inside the Foreign Service

eighth in a series

Carol Hazzard was a 20-year-old secretary at the University of Buffalo in 1969, but the life she dreamed about was far removed from the monotony of upstate New York.

“My only goal in life was to travel and see the world,” she recalled recently.

One night, her mother asked her to go to the corner grocery store for some milk, and on her way there, she ran into her old high-school basketball coach, who was working as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.

Miss Hazzard thought such a job would help her realize her dream of traveling. But the former coach was not enthusiastic about recommending her new profession to others. Instead, she advised Miss Hazzard that she could see the world while continuing to work as a secretary.

“She told me the best job I could wish for was with the State Department, working in American embassies overseas,” Miss Hazzard said.

After a long application process, she joined the U.S. Foreign Service in September 1973, and, after three weeks of training, began working as a secretary at the embassy in Paris.

More than three decades later, she has served in 70 countries around the world — both on regular assignments lasting from two to four years, and as a “rover,” filling positions at various missions for several weeks or months.

“I think my brothers and sisters don’t understand why I spent 30 years traveling,” Miss Hazzard said in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, her most recent roving post. “The first 15 years they thought I was a bit odd, but now they enjoy my stories and take me for what I am.”

Soon after speaking to The Washington Times, she received a regular assignment at the U.S.Mission to the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. She has chosen to remain what the State Department now calls an office-management specialist, rather than become a Foreign Service officer or a diplomat.

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