Author note: For those readers who have not read “part one” of this short story I strongly suggest you “click here” and read it before proceeding. Happy Valley | 1980: A Mid-Summer Nightmare Chynna and her mom were in a real fix. A dangerous panga gang had broken into their home located in an isolated…
Category: International Assignments
American Embassy Nairobi | Terror at Happy Valley!
My assignment to the American Embassy Nairobi during 1979 to 1981 occurred during a tumultuous period. The security of regions throughout the world was on the edge. Nairobi had its own security concerns as tribal factions and bandits confronted an increasingly westernized city with violence. My job at the RCO office (Radio Communications Office) was…
Cairo International Airport | Thanksgiving in August
August 1978 Preface When I departed the American Embassy Cairo after my third visit I felt good about my situation. It had been nine months since the Pakistani Air flight had touched down at Karachi where I would be assigned for two years. The RCO (Regional Communications Office) there had been a big challenge but…
American Embassy U.A.E. | The Music Man
June 1978—The United Arab Emirates I was serving the U.A.E. missions on the way to Cairo and Athens. I had begun at Muscat, Oman. It might have been Abu Dhabi or Dubai (memories fail) where I ran into CRO Wojakowski. Wojo, short and non-descript, was in his mid-thirties. A short man, he owned a bald…
The Summer of ’78 | Technology and Magic
Preface: In Profiles of the Future (1962) Arthur C Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey and others) postulated his three laws. Also an inventor, a philosopher, and a futurist the author’s glimpses into the future changed a lot of opinions. Clarke’s famous three laws best describe his ideas: Law#1: When a distinguished scientist states that something is possible,…
Darts With Donna Summer | The Disco Queen
June 1978—American Embassy Amman, Jordan I enjoyed my visits to Amman, Jordan. Hands down it was the closest thing to Israel in the Middle East. I had to believe that was due mainly to the guidance of King Hussein, one of my idols. As I’ve mentioned in several previous messages (tag: King Hussein of Jordan),…
Travel Tuesdays in the Middle East | The Only Way to Fly
Travel experts argue that Tuesdays are the best days for travel. They point out factors such as competition, demand, the economy, and seasonality. It’s always nice not to stand in long lines at departures. A flight can be more comfortable with a vacant seat next to you. But there are other reasons for traveling on…
The American Embassy Athens | A Home Cooked Meal Includes Spoiled Milk
April 1978 RCO Bob Roberson had offered for me to layover the weekend in Athens before returning to my home base at Amconsul Karachi. I accepted with the only caveat being that I attend a half-day security upgrade at Am Embassy Athens. >photo Hellenikon Air force Base, Athens, Greece circa 1976 by forgottenairfields.com I was…
The Belgium Interest, Baghdad | WATTS Up?
May 1978 TDY (temporary duty), Baghdad: The U.S. government was starting up an “interest” at the Belgium embassy. I was part of a team of OC (Office of Communication) technicians tasked with installing an HF (High-Frequency) radio system called WATTS (West Africa Telecommunication and Teletype Systems) there that had the capability to handle classified telegrams. …
Baghdad | The Casablanca Nightclub
April 1978 TDY (temporary duty), Baghdad: The U.S. government was starting up an “interest” at the Belgium embassy. I was part of a team of OC (Office of Communication) technicians tasked with installing a High-Frequency radio system there that had the capability to handle classified telegrams. After drilling into very hard walls using very dull…
Baghdad | By the Rivers of Babylon
April 1978 The ’57 Chevy driven by a black-mustached Iraqi rumbled (the shocks were all gone) down the highway from the airport into Baghdad. I bet the tires (probably retreads) had little tread wear left. Boney M album cover courtesy en-wikipedia.org We passed a billboard that advertised the Iraqi leader Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. The old man…
Baghdad, Iraq | Arrival Resistance
April 1978 My cohort at the American Consulate Karachi, Al, had warned me. Regional Communications Officer Bob Roberson was adept at “expanding” our scheduled trips once we got out in the field. Bob’s well-crafted messages not only exonerated him but put the onus on us techs. Robertson’s message referenced the Office of Communication’s “Request for…
American Embassy Damascus | The Effect of Nilsson Schmilsson on African Violets (part II)
Late March 1978 A full day had passed at the American Embassy Damascus and I had yet to deal with the technical problem at the Ambassador’s residence that required my immediate attention. So far I had learned that CRO Wanda H. owned a pocketbook made out of the finest African elephant foreskin, that her African…
American Embassy Damascus | The Effect of Nilsson Schmilsson on African Violets
March 1978 The Foreign Service brochure had actually been correct on this one. The FS was a melting pot of people from all walks of life and all regions of the United States (and sometime overseas). It shouldn’t have been a surprise given that the government advertised that it represented all of the people. No,…
American Embassy Damascus | The Skinny on Elephant Skin
March 1978 Perhaps it was the numbing effect of my in-flight epiphany (see previous message). I have no remembrance of what Damascus International Airport looked like. A cohort had told me that every Middle East city had a character of its own and the chameleon-like American embassy changed the color of its skin to blend…
Middle East Travel | The Road to Damascus Ends at the Emerald City
March 1978 (Aboard a Jet Airliner 33,000 feet above Syria) In biblical scripture the “Road to Damascus” referred to the sudden turning point in the life of the apostle Paul (when God shined the light on him) while literally on the road to Damascus from Jerusalem. Prior to that moment, he had been called Saul,…
American Consulate General Karachi | The Return of Tony the Tiger
March 1978–Karachi, Pakistan After several days of fighting “Karachi’s revenge” I awoke in a pool of sweat sans a fever. My steadfast servant Basheer smiled. I asked him what day it was. Friday morning hearkened the beginning of the weekend in Karachi. For the first time since before I got sick I felt hungry. Basheer…
American Consulate General | The Karachi Curse
February 1978 After my botched date with CIA Agent Allison I returned to Am Embassy Cairo to fix the radio repeater that had mysteriously ceased to function just hours after I had boarded a plane for Karachi. I had attempted to have the crypto tech Bill H at Am Embassy Cairo look at the problem…
Caught on Film | The CIA Girl Who Waitressed at a Virginia Disco
[Part Three] February 1978 Looking back the CIA girl incident unfolds as a series of scenes, like a one-reel wonder. To bring the reader into the fold I will treat this message as such… <feature photo by lightbulbs.com Scene One—Rewind: The American Consulate General Karachi fourth floor hallway. I first meet the CIA girl… When…
The CIA Girl Without a Name
[Part Two] American Consulate General Karachi | February 1978 I stood in the middle of the fourth floor hallway at the American Consulate General Karachi with mouth agape. I had stopped the new girl in the hallway and hadn’t even bothered to introduce myself to her. She said that she worked, “Upstairs.” During our brief…
The Pharaoh’s Curse Reaches Out | American Consulate General Karachi
February 1978 [Part One] After an arduous two weeks in Cairo trudging over one sand hill after another (not literally) I packed up and returned to Karachi. The majority of my time at the “sand pile” had been waiting on a radio repeater that was intended to extend the radio network coverage from Am Embassy…
Conversations About Am Embassy Moscow | Secret Tunnels & Microwave Radiation
1978: The Shepheard Hotel Bar, Cairo Egypt I sat on a stool at the Shepheard Bar and digested what Regional Security Officer Childress had told me about the Soviets radiating our embassy in Moscow with microwave energy. While Childress went to the restroom I came to the conclusion that the only reason why he would…
Am Embassy Cairo | TUMS (Not a Remedy for a Stomach Ailment)
Late January 1978 Secretary of State Cyrus Vance spent less than twenty-four hours and a handshake with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo. I would spend three weeks at post… <feature image of microwave radiation effects on US Embassy Moscow by abovetopsecret.com Before Regional Security Officer Childress left to join his family in Rockville, Maryland on…
The Cyrus Vance Cairo Detail | Radio Interference of the Third Kind
January 1977 At the Cairo International Airport ARRIVALS hall I looked out for the embassy driver dressed in dark trousers, blue cotton long-sleeve shirt with perspiration patches in the armpits, and a well-worn black tie (the drivers all seemed to wear the same uniform). <feature photo by ghettyimages.com When the American Embassy Regional Security Officer Childress…
Rome Fiumicino International Airport | Security Lapse
January 1978 I sipped coffee in a departure lounge café at Fiumicino airport. The New Year had afforded me about two weeks at Am Consul Karachi to get my shit together. My partner Al (a fellow tech out of the Office of Communications in D.C.) and I had figured out each other’s strengths and weaknesses….
Portrait of a Foreign Service Secretary | Welcome Aboard!
January 1978 | Am Consul Karachi—Stuck in an elevator (continued) After claiming she had accidentally sat on LBJ’s ten-gallon hat as an eight-year old youth BJ waited for the smile to melt off my face. Then she continued her autobiography while I fought to keep the elevator walls from inching closer … <Feature photo of…
Portrait of a Foreign Service Secretary | The Early Days
January 1978 | Am Consul Karachi (stuck in an elevator) My cohort Al had said to me on day one: “Watch out for BJ. She’s paddled around the world in a boat with one oar for the past thirty years.” When I got stuck in the Am Consul Karachi elevator with her I cursed myself…
Portrait of a Foreign Service Secretary | The End of a Career
January 1977 | Karachi, Pakistan The Saudi Air flight from Riyadh touched down at Karachi International Airport at close to eleven p.m. The Pakistani embassy driver smiled and took my luggage. It was too bad that I hadn’t stayed here long enough to meet more Pakistani people, but I enjoyed traveling. From what I had…
President Carter/Secretary Vance Joint Protective Detail | The Wrap Up
January 1978 | At the American Embassy Riyadh, Saudi Arabia From my point of view as a radio tech the Carter/Vance S.Y. protective detail was all about the arrival and the departure. What happened in the hours in between were the harmonic byproducts of the constant chatter coming out of the base station’s speaker mixed…
President Carter/Secretary Vance Joint Detail | The Arrival
January 1978 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The second wake up call rousted me out of bed at 6:30 a.m. (instead of six a.m.). Thanks to our late engagement at the gold souk last night I would miss the breakfast buffet at the Hilton Hotel. But today was the big day–President Carter and Secretary Vance would arrive on…
Part Two: The President Carter/Secretary Vance Joint Detail | The Riyadh Gold Souk
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: January 1978 On the evening of “Day One,” S.Y. (State Department security) had completed their advance work. I had installed and tested the UHF radio network the S.Y. agents would utilize, centered around their RCA handheld radios. S.Y. was generally satisfied with the radio coverage provided by equipment flown in from a…
The President Carter/Secretary Vance Joint Detail | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
January 1978 I had arrived at Riyadh with a full tank of expectation for ’78. From what I heard the mysterious Saudi Arabia had always been a closed society. Visas were hard to come by and tourism didn’t exist here. While In Bangkok I had talked to a guy that worked for the American ARAMCO…
1977 in Retrospect | An Incredible Year
January 1978 I began the New Year in the air. Ironically, the Thai International flight from Bangkok terminated at Karachi, Pakistan my home base where our Regional Communications Office resided in the American Consulate General. After a two-hour layover at the airport I changed planes to Saudi Arabian Airlines. I was surprised to see foreign…
A New Year’s Gaze Ahead | One Fearful Yellow Eye
Bangkok, Thailand New Year’s Day | January 1, 1978 On New Year’s Day, it wasn’t my intention to sit around and worry about what was going to happen in the future. I would play a small role in the upcoming Middle East Peace Initiative in three days time when U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance…
A Not So Merry Christmas | Bangkok, Thailand
Arrival: December 24, 1977 The Boeing 727 Nepal Airlines flight from Kathmandu had played like an accordion through the frigid Himalayas before the heavy aircraft plopped on the runway at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport. The stewardess opened the hatch. It was late morning in Bangkok, but the heat didn’t care, nor had it paid attention…
American Embassy Kathmandu | Mystery of the Himalayas
<Feature photo Kathmandu by hinducosmos.com Late December 1977 My flight to Kathmandu, after brief stopovers in Athens and New Delhi, was uneventful until a spectacular view of the Himalayas grew visible outside my window seat. Over the intercom, the captain praised the famed mountain range along with the weather. He said December normally began the…
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance Arrives | The Middle East Peace Initiative Begins
December 1977 The Author: Perhaps Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat didn’t get the memo when former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had stated: “You can’t make war in the Middle East without Egypt and you can’t make peace without Syria.” Unbeknownst to the world Sadat had decided to bypass the influence of the Russians, Americans,…
The Jerusalem Advance Detail | An Overindulgent Sgt. Pepper
December 1977–Preparation for the US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance Visit to Israel | The Middle East Peace Initiative Our driver Ben sped along the downtown avenue in the center of Tel Aviv on his way to Jerusalem. S.Y. Agent Halliday, not in a talkative mood this morning, sipped on his coffee. <feature photo by…
Middle East Peace Initiative | The Jerusalem Advance Team
December 1977 When I left RCO Karachi the repair bench was clear of radios. My cohort Al was happy. After returning from Riyadh next week Al hadn’t planned to go anywhere during the holidays other than attend a Christmas Thai dinner at the Thai Consulate General. I gave my servant Basheer a couple of hundred…
“Back in the U.S… Back in the U.S… Back in the… U.S. Consulate General Karachi”
Late November 1977 As my cohort Al drove his Toyota into the rear parking lot of the American Consulate General Karachi the cassette player left jet fumes from the Beatle’s opening song of the White album: “Back in the U.S.S.R.” Been away so long I hardly knew the place Gee it’s good to be back…
Foreign Service Messages 