I was 20 years into my 30+ career in aviation electronics engineering that day and 11 had been with Boeing. With that experience I was dayshift supervisor in avionics on the United Boeing line at one of the largest third-party maintenance facilities in America. I had left Boeing to raise my children in North Carolina vs Seattle and was comfortably happy. I had all the instrument panels out of the flight deck of this United 737 and was “balls-deep” working on a weather radar waveguide mod and noticed the hangar floor was silent. Usually there’s constant rivet-gun & equipment noise unless it was break-time and it wasn’t. I stuck my head out the pilots window and could see no-one except the cute female United Rep jogging for her office door. I decided it was time for a smoke and I hung-out with her so I headed her way, but her office was locked. It never was...odd, so I headed for the avionics shop and still noticed on my way that nobody was on the floor anywhere. In the shop all the techs were surrounding a tv watching IT. I went home early and on my answering machine was a recording of one of my ex-Saudi Air Force trainees who had called to profusely apologize for Al-Qaeda’s actions, stating that his country-men were mourning with us...”you know we’re good people” he said and was crying. All these divergent pieces in my life were falling into place; United, 9/11 and my experience in Arabia. I spent the last decade of my career as a DoD Contractor working various programs IN Iraq and then Afghanistan supporting our troops. I missed a lot of my 3 children’s growing teen years but they were very proud of Dad and I was proud to serve the young troops with my experience. 9/11 is one small Chapter in my almost completed book. Yes, it now seems so effin misguided BUT WHO KNEW THE TRUTHS?!!! I would do it all over again to protect our young soldiers.
He was a mega-rich son of an Aramco executive and we would drive around Riyadh in his stretch opalesque-painted Mercedes like Princes. He was so proud of his American friend and for me it was like hanging with royalty. He was very intelligent as he wasn’t inbred, I’m sure his Father had a foreign wife. A really great friend. I got to go to his wedding...wow THAT was epic. Interestingly, on that day HE KNEW it was Al-Qaeda but most Americans had never heard the term. They had infiltrated the Saudi military and were regularly purged from the ranks. I recall one day at the AWACS hangar three AQ trainees were arrested right in the shop...they were scary-angry fuqqers.
This is fascinating! I hate that the only thing I know of other countries has been spoon fed to me by the MSM. What was the wedding like? I truly love to hear first-hand accounts, they help to cover the picture that has been painted for me.
I spent a total of 12 years in the Mideast and many years in Africa, Central & South America. The main thing I took from all my experiences is PEOPLE ARE THE SAME EVERYWHERE. Full of love for family and friends, music, food and the desire for PEACE. Evil persists everywhere as well. So many can run-down the list of negatives concerning Arabs & Persians (muslims) but what about the positives? I listed the common themes globally above. When traveling abroad there’s a phrase “ugly Americans” that inevitably is heard. When you’re in a foreign land YOU MUST forget the American cultural norms and always try to leave a positive “taste” in a foreigner’s memory of Americans. Humans judge and pigeon-hole any foreigner as a group by their possibly only experience they have interacting with you. That makes US ALL a Diplomat as we travel. That’s key to remember. I’ve seen SO MANY Americans act like asses abroad that yeah, we earned that title as “ugly”. However, I was quite an exception in Saudi and made MANY friends and relished my experiences. I went to 2 Saudi weddings and often joined my trainees in desert cookouts/parties and often brought my young Son. He grew up loving soccer and a small group of us Boeing guys went to a USA/Saudi soccer match in Riyadh sitting next to the Royalty section we were a blob of color in a stadium of WHITE robes. I brought an air-horn and we totally stuck-out. The Princes loved it with everybody laughing kindly and mocking us as the Saudi team scored, and us going ballistic as Team-USA scored. A great memory. The weddings were opulent, even for poor or middle class Arabs as the groom’s family’s would petition Royalty for money to rent a “Wedding Palace” for the occasion. The women were separated to the other side of the Palace and my ex-wife went. Traditionally that’s where the single girls get completely “whored-up” in their dress and makeup...trying to impress the gaggle of Mothers shopping for brides for their sons. It’s just their culture. I dressed completely in Arab garb and with my Ray-Bans and cigarette hanging off my lip looked quite the part. Surrounded by my trainees, meeting their Fathers etc and being accepted into the fold was an immense feeling of kinship that’s hard to describe. I truly was a good Diplomat thereby erasing much of the “ugly American” moniker.
I was 20 years into my 30+ career in aviation electronics engineering that day and 11 had been with Boeing. With that experience I was dayshift supervisor in avionics on the United Boeing line at one of the largest third-party maintenance facilities in America. I had left Boeing to raise my children in North Carolina vs Seattle and was comfortably happy. I had all the instrument panels out of the flight deck of this United 737 and was “balls-deep” working on a weather radar waveguide mod and noticed the hangar floor was silent. Usually there’s constant rivet-gun & equipment noise unless it was break-time and it wasn’t. I stuck my head out the pilots window and could see no-one except the cute female United Rep jogging for her office door. I decided it was time for a smoke and I hung-out with her so I headed her way, but her office was locked. It never was...odd, so I headed for the avionics shop and still noticed on my way that nobody was on the floor anywhere. In the shop all the techs were surrounding a tv watching IT. I went home early and on my answering machine was a recording of one of my ex-Saudi Air Force trainees who had called to profusely apologize for Al-Qaeda’s actions, stating that his country-men were mourning with us...”you know we’re good people” he said and was crying. All these divergent pieces in my life were falling into place; United, 9/11 and my experience in Arabia. I spent the last decade of my career as a DoD Contractor working various programs IN Iraq and then Afghanistan supporting our troops. I missed a lot of my 3 children’s growing teen years but they were very proud of Dad and I was proud to serve the young troops with my experience. 9/11 is one small Chapter in my almost completed book. Yes, it now seems so effin misguided BUT WHO KNEW THE TRUTHS?!!! I would do it all over again to protect our young soldiers.
How profound that your trainee would make it a point to call you and apologize...and now, knowing what we know...crazy
He was a mega-rich son of an Aramco executive and we would drive around Riyadh in his stretch opalesque-painted Mercedes like Princes. He was so proud of his American friend and for me it was like hanging with royalty. He was very intelligent as he wasn’t inbred, I’m sure his Father had a foreign wife. A really great friend. I got to go to his wedding...wow THAT was epic. Interestingly, on that day HE KNEW it was Al-Qaeda but most Americans had never heard the term. They had infiltrated the Saudi military and were regularly purged from the ranks. I recall one day at the AWACS hangar three AQ trainees were arrested right in the shop...they were scary-angry fuqqers.
This is fascinating! I hate that the only thing I know of other countries has been spoon fed to me by the MSM. What was the wedding like? I truly love to hear first-hand accounts, they help to cover the picture that has been painted for me.
I spent a total of 12 years in the Mideast and many years in Africa, Central & South America. The main thing I took from all my experiences is PEOPLE ARE THE SAME EVERYWHERE. Full of love for family and friends, music, food and the desire for PEACE. Evil persists everywhere as well. So many can run-down the list of negatives concerning Arabs & Persians (muslims) but what about the positives? I listed the common themes globally above. When traveling abroad there’s a phrase “ugly Americans” that inevitably is heard. When you’re in a foreign land YOU MUST forget the American cultural norms and always try to leave a positive “taste” in a foreigner’s memory of Americans. Humans judge and pigeon-hole any foreigner as a group by their possibly only experience they have interacting with you. That makes US ALL a Diplomat as we travel. That’s key to remember. I’ve seen SO MANY Americans act like asses abroad that yeah, we earned that title as “ugly”. However, I was quite an exception in Saudi and made MANY friends and relished my experiences. I went to 2 Saudi weddings and often joined my trainees in desert cookouts/parties and often brought my young Son. He grew up loving soccer and a small group of us Boeing guys went to a USA/Saudi soccer match in Riyadh sitting next to the Royalty section we were a blob of color in a stadium of WHITE robes. I brought an air-horn and we totally stuck-out. The Princes loved it with everybody laughing kindly and mocking us as the Saudi team scored, and us going ballistic as Team-USA scored. A great memory. The weddings were opulent, even for poor or middle class Arabs as the groom’s family’s would petition Royalty for money to rent a “Wedding Palace” for the occasion. The women were separated to the other side of the Palace and my ex-wife went. Traditionally that’s where the single girls get completely “whored-up” in their dress and makeup...trying to impress the gaggle of Mothers shopping for brides for their sons. It’s just their culture. I dressed completely in Arab garb and with my Ray-Bans and cigarette hanging off my lip looked quite the part. Surrounded by my trainees, meeting their Fathers etc and being accepted into the fold was an immense feeling of kinship that’s hard to describe. I truly was a good Diplomat thereby erasing much of the “ugly American” moniker.