Steven Bremner knew he wanted to work as a foreign service officer for the United States when he was in college, but he didn’t find his way to the career until 2010.

“As time went on I just decided, it’s time to move on into what I wanted to do from the beginning,” Bremner said.

Bremner was accepted as a U.S. diplomat in 2010, after spending 10 years working for Hormel Foods Corp. in the international division, including two years spent in Japan. Bremner enjoys his job, even though it requires he and his family move to a new country about every three years.

“I am a US diplomat working at embassies overseas,” he said. “The role of a foreign service officer is to promote US foreign policy overseas and to protect American citizens and American interests around the world. That’s the mission.”

Bremner’s first assignment was in Kuwait, working as a political officer developing foreign contacts and working with political party members and more.

His second and most recent assignment was in the Philippines serving as a consular officer, protecting American citizens, issuing visas for people going to the United States, and helping with things such as the super typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.

Bremner served on a mission trip for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Japan during his time at college, which was his first taste of being overseas. Since then, he knew he wanted to travel. When his international relations professor highlighted a foreign service officer as a possible career, he knew that’s what he wanted to do.

“The career for a service officer is primarily spent overseas,” he said.

Bremner, who was back home in Austin for a vacation, is currently between assignments. He and his family are headed to Warsaw, Poland, for the next three years, but he has to take 36 weeks of training in Washington to learn Polish, first. Bremner has learned Japanese, Arabic and Tagalog for his assignments, and is excited to learn another new language, which he will be expected to speak fluently after the training.

Bremner said he always had his head buried in the news and before making it his career, it was a full-time hobby.

“I spent all my time reading about foreign affairs, following foreign affairs news,” he said.

Part of his love for the job is connecting with people from all over the world. Bremner said he loves the engagement with government officials, working with elected parliamentarians, political activists, immigrants hoping to come to the United States, and more.

“The individual interactions with people all over the world is probably what I love most about the job,” Bremner said.

An Austin native, Bremner and his wife, Micah, along with their six children, will always consider Austin their home. Though they have lived various places the last five years, along with Japan about 10 years ago, Austin is where Bremner grew up and where family and friends are. He said being a foreign service officer is a defining aspect of family life, and they refer to themselves as a foreign service family.

“We’ve worked hard to keep a sense of home,” he said. “The hardest question to ask a foreign service family is ‘Where are you from,’ because you get a lot of different answers.”

Though the children had a tough transition at first, everyone has adapted to the moves and the children have started getting excited about the different places they’ll get to visit.

“A lot of people think we’re crazy because we’re willing to get up and move every three years,” Bremner said. “But that’s really part of the fun of the job.”

He said the opportunities for the children have been great as well, as they have been to international schools and even traveled to different countries for school events. Bremner is also glad his children get the chance to see things in a more global context they might not otherwise get. The Bremners’ family have also been able to visit them overseas.

There are a few things Bremner misses, though, such as short commutes, going home for lunch and the quiet nature of life in a small town.