20231220_Vocabulaire militaire français-anglais.pdf — page 75

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Paris 
 
No, not Paris, Idaho, or Paris, Texas, but the legendary city of light—Paris, France, home of the 
Eiffel Tower, high fashion and some of the finest cuisine in the world. 
Like Flint, Overstreet is an operations assistant, but because France is a much larger country, it 
requires a much larger DAO. Still, Overstreet’s mission remains inherently the same: build 
and maintain relationships. 
“This job is all about relationships,” said Overstreet. “We’re here to maintain open lines of 
communication with the French. I’m trained to blend into the French culture enough to effectively 
communicate the American interests to the French.” 
“I think I have it pretty good,” said Overstreet. “I get to go home every night to my wife, Rebecca, 
and home is Paris, France.” The Overstreets like Paris so much that they felt comfortable enough 
to have their first child there. 
 
While being married is certainly not a prerequisite for being an operations assistant, couples like 
the Overstreets succeed on foreign soil as a team because that’s exactly how the Navy trains 
them before they deploy. That’s right, the Navy trains your spouse. 
“This is the only job I know about, but there may be others, that trains your spouse in culture and 
etiquette,” said Overstreet. “They taught Rebecca things like, how you behave at a meal, the 
way you look, walk and even how to talk to a shopkeeper and communicate ideas to the 
French.” 
In addition to culture and etiquette, the Navy teaches spouses to speak the host nation’s primary 
language. 
According to ISC Kim Michael, attaché affairs chief for the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Navy 
expects a lot more from spouses than most Navy jobs. 
“Anyone applying for the operations assistant job with family members needs to be aware that the 
family must go through the same security checks and top secret security clearance investigation 
as the candidates,” said Michael. After all, according to Michael, wherever the Sailors are, so are 
their family members, so the security concerns are the same. 
According to Michael, there are other benefits if you’re an operations assistant including: some 
billets count as sea duty; you may receiving special duty assignment pay or language pay (if 
applicable) there’s a civilian clothes allowance; complete immersion in a foreign culture as an 
education; small offices with short chains of command. For applicants with family members, 
spouses attend language and spouse training. In most cases government quarters are provide; 
and all children receive fully-funded educations through DOD, usually at the best schools in the 
country. 
 
Ambassador Mull offered the following insight into why a Sailor may want to choose embassy 
duty: 
“An OPSCO’s position offers a lot of variety in who you work with and how, more than on most 
bases,” said Mull. “I think OPSCOs get a chance to broaden their skills and their experience, for 
onward assignments or for positions after they retire from the Navy. It’s also a chance to live 
abroad with the benefits of being part of an American community, so it’s not too alien, and to work 
with and live among the local population, so it’s more challenging and exciting. And, while many 
Sailors might prefer to be at sea, sometimes it’s time to stay on dry land for a while,” Mull added.” 
 
 
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