It Was Never a Job

Epizode

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  Reactions to Loss 18.08.2026 52min

  This whole show is a reaction to the loss of USAID. Not so much the loss of the Agency’s lifesaving programs or its contribution to our national security. Not even the loss of a part of our country’s own sense of itself. This show focused on the loss of the community of under 2,000 Foreign Service Officers who, along with our loved ones, spent our lives and careers overseas in the world’s toughest places. Every single member of my family – me, my wife, our kids – we all carried a black diplomatic passport on our overseas assignments. Every time I looked at mine I felt a sense of pride and belonging that I imagine might be what a member of the military feels when they put on their uniform. I felt like: this thing is big, and important, and I am so lucky, and I worked very hard, and sacrificed some big things, and so now I get to be part of it. Except now we’re not part of it. And the complex feelings of grief that creates are the subject of this episode. If you’re a USAID alum, or family member, with a story of loss after the destruction of the Agency, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.ItWasNeverAJob.com.
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  LGBTQI+ Diplomats 11.08.2026 47min

  USAID’s LGBTQI+ diplomats had different experiences, navigating the policies and norms of both the U.S. and the places where they served. Many countries around the world don’t recognize same-sex marriages, and therefore don’t grant diplomatic status to most spouses of LGBTQI+ Foreign Service Officers. Without the protection of that diplomatic accreditation for their families, USAID staff either pursued more welcoming postings or lived apart from their loved ones. This episode shares the perspective of navigating those trade-offs as well as the pride and gratitude of being able to represent an important facet of America, often with support from employee groups like GLIFAA and Gender and Sexual Minorities @ USAID (GSM), which offered community and a collective voice. USAID’s LGBTQI+ diplomats faced the same questions of safety, comfort, expression, and authenticity that accompany the experience of queerness anywhere in the world. They often did so in places where that identity carried perilous risks, but also led to deep connection with local community members. If you have a story to share about life as an LGBTQI+ diplomat with USAID, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message at www.ItWasNeverAJob.com.
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  Pets. 04.08.2026 22min

  USAID’s overseas staff took their whole lives with them from country to country, including their pets. Living and working all over the world offered plenty of opportunities for USAID staff to adopt dogs and cats in need of love and care.  Those canine and feline companions became dear members of many a Foreign Service family. But the process of moving from country to country with animals posed endless challenges and complications.  Especially after COVID, countries tightened import requirements and airline restrictions grew, adding costs and logistical headaches to the already daunting process USAID’s diplomats faced in moving from one post to the next. And when a pet’s health declined, or when faced with an emergency evacuation, sometimes pets had to stay behind, where local colleagues often stepped up to care for them. We love all the animal companions who made their way around the world with us. So, on behalf of many grateful humans, thank you Mango, Modi, Masabo, Panela, Luna, Rosie, and all the other pets of USAID. If you’re a USAID alum, or family member, with a story of life overseas with pets, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.ItWasNeverAJob.com.
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  Other Stories 28.07.2026 36min

  I’ve had a lot of conversations as a part of making this show. In most cases, I was able to find thematic groupings to create episodes. But there were also a bunch of harrowing, hilarious, improbable stories that just didn’t fit under any single category. And so here’s an episode of other great stories. Locusts. Girl Scout cookies. Highly unexpected compliments from strangers. It’s all here. If you’re a USAID alum, or family member, with any kind of story to share from your life overseas, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  Friendship 21.07.2026 41min

  Life overseas with USAID meant spending years at a time far from extended families and home communities. During those times, the Agency’s staff found new connections with the colleagues and families serving alongside them. Those attachments often formed quickly – sometimes ending when it was time to move to the next assignment in the next country – but other times growing into lifelong bonds. Close quarters, small communities, and remote postings could be socially stifling, but when we found the right people, friendships were deep and durable. Alongside those friends, we navigated tough bosses and shared office gossip, just as any other workforce would. But we also celebrated holidays together, cared for children together, and invented our own ways to have fun together. If you’re a USAID alum or family member with a story of friendship overseas, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  Health & Healthcare 14.07.2026 40min

  The experience of navigating health and health-care captures both the adventure and the mundane realities of everyday existence overseas with USAID. Mystery ailments and emergency room visits feel very different in unfamiliar languages and cultures. But regular checkups and annual visits need to happen all the same. Nearly every U.S. Embassy overseas has an in-house clinic called a Health Unit, where a diplomat’s medical journey usually starts. The Health Unit provides basic services like prescriptions and immunizations. They also offer support in navigating the country’s hospitals and doctors for more advanced care. The Embassy’s small medical team, often an American nurse-practitioner plus a handful of local nurses, also managed urgent medical evacuations – called “medevacs” – when needed. Sometimes a medevac would take the patient back to the USA. But more frequently a diplomat, or their family member, went to the nearest place that offered the right care, often in a regional hub like Thailand, South Africa, or the UK. Life with USAID meant living in places without state-of-the-art medicine, and often without great options for healthy food and water, especially outside the capital city. And so, fair warning, listener: there is some gross stuff in this episode. Folks who served overseas with USAID have seen more than their share of worms, malaria, and… digestive distress. If you have a story of health and health-care overseas with USAID, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  COVID 07.07.2026 43min

  The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was difficult for just about every person on the planet. We all have losses from that time, some large and tragic, others small but often long-lasting. For those posted abroad with USAID, the experience varied tremendously depending on your location. Every country made its own rules about masking, isolation, businesses, testing, and vaccines. Countries with weaker local health systems saw horrific death tolls. For a while, the State Department allowed U.S. diplomats and their families worldwide to return to the States for several months under a status called “Authorized Departure.” For those who stayed at post, every Ambassador assessed the risk in their country and set rules for American diplomatic families under their authority. No matter where in the world they were physically located, USAID staff worked long days for months on end to strengthen in-country health systems, deliver ventilators, and procure medicine and protective equipment. If you are a USAID alum, or family member, with a story of living through COVID-19 overseas, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  Connecting with the Military 30.06.2026 40min

  USAID people have a lot in common with military people: a wicked sense of humor, a sort of weird enthusiasm for hard problems, and a commitment to getting the job done no matter what. When USAID folks and military folks encountered each other in our overseas deployments, we bonded quickly, having both chosen a path of service, often in harm's way, and often far from our loved ones. USAID and DoD personnel lived together on remote bases under austere conditions. We worked together to address things like military coups, surprise helicopter landings, and catastrophic earthquakes. One or two USAID people also joined each class at year-long military training programs called “war colleges.” Whether in those classrooms or in the field, we learned a lot from each other. The military taught us the right way to ride a helo and how to start a fire with some surprising tools. USAID helped DOD connect with local communities, led disaster response, and made long-term progress on national security challenges like migration, disease, and climate change. If you’re a USAID alum or family member with a story about connecting with the military overseas, I’d love to hear it. Send a message at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  "Wow" Moments 20.02.2026 24min

  Life and work with USAID offered amazing experiences. Visits to the wildest, most beautiful, most remote places in the world. Meetings in the Presidential palace or the White House. Real human connection across wide gulfs of language and culture. Seeing firsthand how our work helped families and communities live better lives. Service to the United States through service to the world. Next time you’re with a former USAID person, ask them about a time when they said to themselves, “Wow. I can’t believe this is my job. I can’t believe I get to be here, in this place, with these people, and do this work.” You might see them smile or cry. Maybe both. Maybe at the same time. No other career offered the same opportunity to show American values, advance American interests, and learn so much about the world. Learn more and get in touch at www.itwasneverajob.com
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  Duty Officer 13.02.2026 20min

  A US Embassy has no higher purpose than serving Americans overseas. When a fellow citizen loses their passport, ends up in jail, gets seriously ill, or dies in another country, specialized State Department officers are there to help them. Those State Department officers who focus on services for American citizens do plenty of work on nights and weekends, but they need a break sometimes. So when an anxious family member or distressed tourist calls the Embassy late at night, the Marine on duty connects them by phone with the Duty Officer. All the diplomats in a US Embassy take turns serving as Duty Officer, usually for a week, to be the helpful voice at the other end of the phone after hours. Armed with only about an hour of training and a manual that describes how to handle typical situations, that week’s Embassy Duty Officer keeps the phone by their side day and night, to address whatever comes at them. USAID’s Foreign Service personnel took their turn alongside all the other members of the Embassy community as that first line of support for fellow citizens in need. Learn more and get in touch at www.itwasneverajob.com
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  Diplomats of Color 06.02.2026 23min

  This episode doesn’t need much of an intro or summary. It doesn’t have obscure government acronyms or a lot of Embassy inside baseball that needs explaining. USAID’s diplomats of color had different experiences, and this episode shares a few of them. Learn more and get in touch at www.itwasneverajob.com.
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  VIPs and Visitors 30.01.2026 22min

  Embassy life can be pretty fancy. Diplomats meet with heads of state, CEOs, and Ambassadors. The President, Cabinet secretaries, and other Washington bosses visit. The only thing that’s a bigger deal than a VIP is a *V*-VIP. That’s of course a VERY very important person – usually code for the President, the Vice President, or the Secretary of State. Congressional delegations – abbreviated “Co-Dels” – travel the world to see firsthand the quality and impact of foreign assistance. The theater of pomp and circumstance that often comes with these visits is an important part of diplomacy, signalling friendship, power, or rivalry between countries. But before the photo ops and major speeches, the rank-and-file of the Embassy toil for weeks to choreograph every detail and plan for every contingency. High-level officials – and their staff – have high expectations. Security preparations are uncompromising. Members of Congress sometimes bring their spouses, who get their own bespoke itineraries, full of cultural experiences, and sometimes retail. USAID staff took their turn, planning and organizing, and often helping visitors get outside the capital and connect with ordinary local people. Learn more and get in touch at www.itwasneverajob.com
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  Family 23.01.2026 31min

  The families of USAID’s foreign service staff had a tough job. They moved every few years, to new schools, new houses, new cultures and climates. Spouses and kids had to reinvent themselves in every place, looking for employment and new friends, trying to figure out soccer or dance class in a language they hadn’t learned yet. And after all that work to find a place, usually after more than their share of tears and frustration, just when they figured out whatever place they were in, it was time for the next posting in the next country. Extended families back home visited to experience how different – or sometimes not so different – life abroad could be. USAID folks even convinced most of our people back home that we didn’t actually work for the CIA. So for as hard as it was, the bright side was awfully bright: USAID families speak languages, adapt to anything, and can find – or create – a community for themselves anywhere they go. We came away with a clearer picture of life in the USA, and gratitude for the many blessings this country offers us. Learn more and get it touch at www.itwasneverajob.com
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  Field Visits 16.01.2026 29min

  USAID's real work took place outside the capital city. The greatest needs and opportunities for development assistance were in the more remote, more disease-affected, more unstable areas. USAID folks would speak of visiting “the field” when going to see projects in these areas. Sometimes a visit to the field meant a simple drive or short commercial flight. Other times USAID’s teams rode military helicopters, boarded a State Department plane, or did their best to find a seaworthy boat. It was important to get there, in order to see whether programming was happening as expected and to hear from beneficiaries and implementers how projects were going. Field visits helped us stay connected to the real-world results that flowed from all the memos and meetings and emails that it takes to make anything happen in government. Those opportunities USAID staff had to get out from behind the desk and get their shoes muddy were the occasions that made all the bureaucracy worth it. Learn more and get in touch at http://www.itwasneverajob.com/
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  Danger 11.01.2026 30min

  USAID didn’t work in easy countries. The Agency’s purpose was to help the United States, by helping others, in some of the toughest places in the world. USAID staff lived and worked in those places. In all but the most dangerous assignments, their families were with them, going to school and driving on the local roads. US diplomats, including the ones who served with USAID, are all under the protection of the Embassy’s Regional Security Office, the RSO. Foreign Service Officers usually live in the wealthiest parts of the capital city, under heavy security, and sometimes under surveillance by the local authorities. In the most unsafe locations – places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen – USAID’s foreign service officers went into harm's way, often serving alongside the U.S. military, while their families lived apart. Those separations and risks were hard, but many USAID officers found the work they accomplished and the friendships they made during those unaccompanied tours to be among the most meaningful experiences of their lives. Learn more and get in touch at http://www.itwasneverajob.com/
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  Trailer 11.01.2026 3min

  This podcast shares the stories of former USAID Foreign Service Officers, who recall moments of danger, traveling to monitor remote projects, hosting VIP visitors, how moving to a new country every few years impacted their families, and more. On this show, we’re not here to talk s*** about DOGE, or lament the changes to foreign assistance, or share again the earnest facts about the many lives USAID saved. This show is about what life was like for those posted overseas with USAID. Their stories are harrowing and hilarious, heartbreaking and joyful. Because USAID service was never a job. It was our life. Learn more and get in touch at http://www.itwasneverajob.com/