Rands family sets off on a journey of a lifetime

Jeff Rands has traded in his Realtor hat to join the U.S. foreign service.

Last month, the Rands family loaded up a huge moving van and set off on an adventure of a lifetime.

The 47-year-old decided that it was time to begin his “encore” career and was happy his family was just as eager as he was to pull up stakes.

The first stop is Washington, D.C., where Rands will soon find out where he will be assigned. Although he really doesn’t have final say about where he will land, he thinks it will be Korea.

How do you get to be a diplomat?

Rands took a test in Spokane that is given three or four times a year. A person has to be at least 21 but not older than 59.

“It’s all about tests and assessments, nothing else really. Foreign language skill can give you a bonus once you’re on the register,” he said.

Rands is modest.

He received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He also went on a mission from his church to Korea. He also worked on Capitol Hill when he was in his 20s.

“I’ve always followed foreign policy, having studied it in college and reading up on things since,” he said.

“Those who know me realize I rarely miss an episode of the major policy talk shows and always have my nose in the Times or the Journal. As the say, timing is everything. Once my kids got a little older, things just sort of fell into place for me to make a run for it,” he said.

 After Rands took the written exam, there were a series of essays and an in-person all-day oral assessment and group activities and case write ups. That can take up to six months.

He didn’t mention anything about secret spy training and I didn’t ask.

 If a person makes it that far, they start a security clearance process that takes from three to 12 months. Plus medical clearance, it’s about a year to make what they call the “register,” sort of a list of qualified candidates. Once you’re on that, you have 18 months to get called up or you start over.

Rands was called up after being on the register for only a month.

Rands has promised to let us know where in the world he lands.

I’ll miss talking politics with him or hearing him yell at the referee at football games. Lynett almost ran me over while I was on a bike one day. She waved and smiled afterward. I’ll miss that as well.

Good luck, Rands family.

•••

If you checked out the county’s website early during election night, you would have seen that while voters were asked if they would want to retain certain judges, if you were voting for judge Debra Heise, you were voting to “retrain” her and not retain her.

She is still smiling about the typo.

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.