Lifestyle From RAF Russian Linguist To British Diplomat. How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat. What was the journey from the RAF to the Diplomatic Service? Did my military service and qualifications help with the process? All reasonable questions, so here is a brief description of the journey.
The Diplomatic Service was in effect my second career. Prior to joining, my first was serving as a Russian/German dual linguist with the Royal Air Force (RAF).
On joining the RAF, I took the language aptitude exam and was fortunate enough to pass and be offered the opportunity to become a linguist. So, after 2 years intensive Russian language training at the RAF School of Languages at RAF North Luffenham near Stamford, I was posted to West Berlin . Although based/housed at RAF Gatow on the far western fringes of the city, my place of work was Teufelsberg, which was a joint US/UK facility. It dominated the Berlin skyline, being built on top of a man-made mountain (from WW2 rubble). To say the work there was interesting would be an understatement!
Some years later, I returned to the RAF School of Language Training in the UK to qualify as a dual linguist, my second language being German. On completion of the 18 month course, I returned back to Berlin and back to Teufelsberg.
Although the bulk of my RAF career was spent in West Berlin, I also had postings in the UK, to GCHQ in Cheltenham and then to RAF Wyton where I had the opportunity of working as an airborne linguist with 51 Squadron who at that time were flying the Nimrod R1.
Although ground based at Wyton, I had the opportunity on many occasions to fly with the squadron on various sorties. It really was an experience I would never forget and later on in my career I was tempted on more than one occasion to volunteer for full-time aircrew and follow that career path with the squadron. Unfortlunately, events transpired in my personal life that would have made this difficult.
After leaving the RAF, I spent a year visiting relatives in the USA and then came back to the UK where I then got a job as a regional manager for a newsagent chain. I hated it!
Then one day, I was reading a newspaper where there was an item that reported how the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) were looking to recruit “mature” candidates for a new diplomat scheme they were introducing. These “mature” officers would only complete 6 years service (two 3 year overseas tours) and then be let go.
A career as a diplomat now this looked very appealing and I appeared to meet the requirements needed to apply. However, I was rather reluctant. It would mean leaving secure, well paid employment for a 6 year gig with the FCO even though I was unhappy in my current job.
It was actually my daughter who encouraged me to apply and gave me the necessary nudge to go for it. For that I am really grateful as without her encouragement, I am pretty sure I would not have applied.
So, I applied and after written tests and then interviews was successful. My language qualifications helped in the application process and I was told at my interview how impressed the FCO were with them. The strange thing about this was that the FCO, during the entire course of my FCO career never posted me as a diplomat to a place where I could use my language skills! The nearest I got was an attachment to our embassy in Kazakhstan (a former Soviet republic) but as luck would have it, the government at that time were actively promoting Kazakh culture and identity and at the same time strongly implementing the Kazakh language throughout society. Therefore, Russian whether spoken or written was actively discouraged. Just my luck!
Thankfully, in a relatively short amount of time, this new FCO scheme proved to be so successful that the FCO decided that they needed this new, experienced asset, therefore all officers who came in under this scheme were transferred to the regular, permanent FCO establishment. A pukka diplomat at last!
I can honestly say that my time in the Diplomatic Service was amazing. The opportunities to travel and serve in strange places was exhilarating. At the time, I did not give much thought to the experiences and situations I was involved in. It was only after I had left and had read some books penned by senior diplomats that I thought “hang on, it is all very glamorous and high powered at your level, but you are only showing a privileged glimpse, there is so much more.