BUT, @ 1983/84 I was pumping gas at the local Exxon and a white van pulled up at the adjacent pump. The panel door slid open and a black-jump-suited guy got out. He was armed. He slid the door closed as he pumped gas but I did catch a glimpse of a couple others just like him inside. I watched him from six feet away. He met my eye with a look that was half embarassment at having to be seen and half "You're not really seeing me, I'm not here.".
It was not until ten years or more later that I first heard of the infamous "white vans" (probably here). To quote Lou Costello..."I know what I saw when I saw it"
Well, departures were forbidden until the weather broke and I was parked right next to a US Government Falcon 50 accompanied by several of those vans full of black clothed thugs who enjoyed each other's company and nobody elses. Lot's of lethal gear inside of them too.
I tried to joke with them, asking if they were with CNN? They snarled me off. I slept in my plane and they departed about an hour or so before me once the conditions improved.
It was not until ten years or more later that I first heard of the infamous "white vans" (probably here). To quote Lou Costello..."I know what I saw when I saw it"
That description would have pretty well fit me and my appearance, right down to the vehicle used, around that time while I was working as a classified materials courier, AKA a *mailman*, for a number of federal facilities and contractors in that timeframe.
That was before the usual widespread use of the HK MP5 submachinegun by most police and fed SWAT teams, and Ingram M10 submachineguns and M79 grenade launchers were our more common equipment then. We didn't get bothered much, though there's a reoccuring story about a highway cop who decided to pull one of our units over for a traffic offense once. They reported it via radio as a possible armed hijacking, received authority to shoot the attacker, and did so.