Weapon Found at Checkpoint For American Compound in Saudi

self

[fourdeuce82d]

Following was received from a friend residing in Dhahran.

-----Original Message-----

For those of you who have been here, this makes perfect sense.

Things are quiet here - just the way we like them. Certain areas of town are under heavy security, so we don't go out much. There's something discouraging about having a 50 cal machine gun pointed at you. Got a great story which actually happened to friends of ours:

They were going to a local compound and had to go thru 3 checkpoints to get there. At each checkpoint they were stopped, trunk inspected,

license checked., etc. At the second checkpoint, they popped the trunk and the soldier started yelling, "You've got a weapon in there!" Big commotion and a guy from the first checkpoint comes running up. Then in English one of the soldiers shouts, "Hey Abdullah, your gun's over here!"

Abdullah had dropped his gun into the trunk at the 1st checkpoint and then closed the lid and our friends drove off to the 2nd checkpoint. It helps to have a sense of humor around here.

[fourdeuce82d]

Having lived there from '62-'80, I can believe it.
Actually, having been a snot nosed little E-1 in the 82d., I can believe it as well- "Private Shiite-Head- WHERE IS YOUR WEAPON? *grin*

[blau993]

Actually, in the Kingdom it would be "Private Sunni-Boy".

[Iris7]

If I were to repeat the first hand stories I have heard about the Saudis told me in confidence by people who were totally amazed by their experiences, by people totally shocked to the core, by people who really, after months and years can hardly believe what they experienced truly happened, even in this forum I would be accused of racism. So I won't.

I will say this, that when those folks run out of oil money they will either have to be fed and watered by outsiders or most of them will die.

[fourdeuce82d]

in the Kingdom it would be "Private Sunni-Boy".

true- but I was the private getting yelled at, while in the US- used "Shiite" as a euphemism...

[blau993]

Got you. It's that Southern pronunciation of the "i".

[blam]

"There's something discouraging about having a 50 cal machine gun pointed at you. "

Yup, met one of those in Saigon in 1966 as a civilian breaking curfew.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I will say this, that when those folks run out of oil money they will either have to be fed and watered by outsiders or most of them will die.

They have that one all figured out. "We will just go to the desert" is the response we always got from Saudis when we asked about what they would do when the oil runs out.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Some of those guns are even loaded. It seems that Barney Fife does exist in real life, even in the Middle East. In remote areas, chances are the men at the checkpoints are most likely locked and loaded, but in areas with a large police presence some guards aren't given bullets to keep them from hurting themselves or others.

[RightWhale]

"There's something discouraging about having a 50 cal machine gun pointed at you. "
Yup, met one of those in Saigon in 1966 as a civilian breaking curfew.

Just an ordinary military rifle in the hands of a sincere soldier is thought-provoking. Happened in Berlin (American), and in the Vatican (Swiss Guard.) Gotta luv Europe.

[Iris7]

This reply reminds me of the hourly employees where I work, who would reply "I'll drive Semi" when asked what they were going to do for a living after the Union drove the company into bankruptcy. I gave up trying to reason with people years ago. As Burke said, people cannot be reasoned out of a belief they were not reasoned into.

What is the population of Saudi? About twenty million? Beduin life might support one percent of that, and urban life maybe three percent more.