Bri's Swearing-In Ceremony!

Briant had his last day of his six week A-100 class on Friday!  It was an orientation to the foreign service and his job as a diplomat.  He was in the 178th Foreign Service Officer Class.  He loved it!  Loved his classmates, instructors, and the learning.  At the end of the class, they have a Swearing-In Ceremony where they take the Oath of Office.  The kids and I were able to go.  Unfortunately it wasn't with Secretary of State John Kerry at Main State because he was busy with the African Leaders Summit.  So they held it in the large room at FSI where we had Flag Day the week before with Heather Higginbottom, the Deputy Secretary of State  (Yes, my kids thought of "Mr. Ramsbottom" from the movie Despicable Me 2 when they heard her name).  :)  It was a nice ceremony where they congratulated all the participants on not only getting accepted into the foreign service, but for surviving the A-100 class.  The supporting family members were also given a standing ovation. :) They had each FSO (foreign service officer) stand as they read their name and announced the country where they were going.  It really was amazing to see the breadth of service and assignments that comes from the State Department and those working in the Foreign Service.  Heather Higginbottom spoke and then read the Oath as the class repeated it:

"I do solemnly swear

That I will support and defend

The Constitution of the United States

Against all enemies foreign and domestic,

That I will bear true faith

and allegiance to the same,

That I take this obligation freely, 

Without any mental reservation

or purpose of evasion,

and that I will well and faithfully

Discharge the duties of the Office

on which I am about to enter,

So help me God."

We're very proud of Bri and are glad he is enjoying his experience thus far.  He is now on to a Sub-Saharan Africa Studies class to prepare himself for Angola, then his Consular General class, and a "crash-bang" course (I'll have to go into further detail later on that one :) ).

A few of Bri's classmates and coordinators (the bosses).