Life in the Land of the Pure, 2024-25 season, episode 3: A tour of the neighborhood

I can’t give you much of a visual tour of the embassy compound—the regional security office frowns on it because it’s difficult to avoid including the security features, which would be a no-no.   But I can share and describe the attached map. 

As you enter the front gate, or Main Control Access Center (MCAC), you’d pass the American flag on your right and see on your left a two-towered building, the Chancery.  The right-hand tower as you face the chancery is the New Office Building (or NOB, kind of labeled as “chancery”), which includes many of the embassy offices such as the Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission, regional security office, the finance, HR, logistics, and IT functions, the political and economics sections, the defense and legal attaches … so that’s the tower I work in.  The opposite tower (New Office Annex or NOX) holds USAID, the cafeteria, the community liaison office, and the sections that deal with the physical plants of the embassy itself and the houses and apartments in which we all live.  

The various CACs allow entry to/exit from the compound.  M is for main, S is for service, G leads to the garage, R is in the rear.  See the watering can by the label PCAC (P for personnel, most of the local staff use that entrance)?  That’s where we have a dozen garden plots. I may try my hand at raising something if one becomes available.  The nearby Service Annex is where you can find motor pool, service vehicles for construction and landscaping, and a warehouse.

The main buildings are “new offices” because they opened up around 2018 to replace the old embassy that was built in the 1960s and had been outgrown.  The new embassy is on a larger plot of land—we bought the plot adjacent to the old embassy to make the growth a bit easier.  The surveying and construction probably started around 2010, these things do no go up overnight, between the massive amounts of utilities required to make it somewhat self sufficient, the vagaries of the federal funding process, and all of the safety and security features.  A big change between the old and new campuses is the old campus had one small apartment building that housed maybe 100 full-timers and no short-term visitors (temporary duty or TDY), but the new facilities house almost 300 full-timers and scores of short-term TDYers.  We do lease houses in the city as well, many of which are split into apartments.

The next major building, to the right as you drive in, is the consular annex.  Pakistanis—students, businesspeople, artists, tourists—go there for visas to the US, and American citizens can get services such as certification of adoptions and passport services there. The health unit is also there—full time doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists, some of whom have been there for more than five years, both US and local staff.  They helped me with first aid and hospital and physical therapy visits when I broke my finger in 2011,  tore my hamstring in 2020, ran a blood drive in early 2022, and provided rabies shots when baby Pepper was teething in late 2022. We are one of the only posts to also have a full time social worker. There’s also a serenity room with low lights, sound insulation, and massage chairs.  The same building (through a separate entrance) also houses our TDY “hotel,” the Islamabode. 

There are three staff-designated apartment (SDA) buildings.  #2 is across from the consular annex (named Muree for a hill station people summer at), while #1 (Isloo, the nickname for Islamabad) and #3 (Pindi, the nickname for Rawalpindi, where I live) are downhill, near an exterior wall.  #1 also houses the commissary, where we can buy staples like cereal and milk, as well as canned goods, frozen foods, and beer/wine, much of which is imported from Europe or the US. A board runs the commissary and the dining establishments, to ensure they turn a sufficient profit to cover staff wages and upkeep. 

MSGR, near SDA3, is the Marine security guard residence (https://www.mcesg.marines.mil/Become-a-MSG/ ). We have one of the largest marine security details in the State Dept.  they report to the regional security officer and are charged with helping defend the embassy. 

The CMR is the chief of mission residence, that is, the ambassador’s residence.  

You’ll see the baseball diamond, tennis courts, and soccer field in the upper left, but much of the recreation is found in the Rec Center and club.  That’s where we have the pool for starters, and a two-story gym suitable for basketball & pickleball.  The ground floor includes a restaurant and coffee shop, cycle room, and weight room. The second floor has our bar, the SafeHaven, plus (on the gym side) ellipticals, rowing machines, etc.  each floor also has a patio area. See the basketball on the far right (signifying the gym)? The tennis racket next to it is for the rooftop tennis court?  Rooftop, you ask? Yes … the roof of the adjacent parking garage doubles as a tennis court.  

The road that runs along the inside of the walls is about 1.4 miles, which makes for a nice pre or post dinner stroll most nights.  

So that’s my new neighborhood.  Often described as a community college blended with a low security (Martha Stewart) penitentiary. But it’s surprisingly comfortable. 

See you again soon 

Howard