What Do You Do In A Foreign Country?

[anygunanywhere]

This recent incident in Algeria illustrates the danger that many workers face just trying to provide for their families. My prayers go out to the families of all who are affected by these incidents.

We are blessed by our ability to exercise our RKBA in these United States. For the most part.

Making the decision to defend oneself is a decision that should not be taken lightly. This decision should also be accompanied with an increase in one's situational awareness and take measures to ensure one's safety to the best of our ability, no matter where we are.

This story is true.

Back in 2007 and 2008 my employer was building a facility in Mexico, in the state of Tabasco, which is in extreme southern Mexico on the border with Guatemala. We were chauffeured to and from the plant by the local Mexican (not Hispanic!) engineers and were housed at a brand new Hilton near the airport. Evenings we ate at the hotel but occasionally we made it into town to a local restaurant. On these nights we used local taxis.

One night 5 of us went to town to a fabulous restaurant where they did the multiple meats on pits and cut it to order at the table. Great food, great wine. Good time. I had been there 8-10 times and knew my way around town pretty well. If I had needed to hoof it I could have.

After dinner 3 coworkers took one taxi while myself and a mechanical engineer took the second cab. I was in front with the cab driver. We departed the restaurant at the same time. The other cab was in the lead. As we exited the parking lot they went right which was the correct way. We took a left. My spidey sense lit up and I was in condition red immediately.

I looked at the driver and he would not make eye contact with me. In my limited spanish I told him to take us to the Hilton. He said "SI, Si."

I looked in the back at the engineer and he read the look on my face and asked me what was wrong. By then we were speeding along the outskirts of town along black streets. I told him we were not heading to the hotel. He asked "What are we going to do?" I told him "If he doesn't turn this taxi around, he is a dead man."

I always carry a very sharp knife.

I had the knife out and open in a second, holding it by my side. I spoke in english insisting he take us to the hotel.

"No hablo Ingles! No hablo!!"

I grabbed the hair on the back of his head and brought the knife to his throat. I asked "Speak english now? Take us to the hotel. I know the way. One wrong turn and I will gut you right here. If I am going to die I am taking you with me. Turn around now!"

He made a fast u-turn and made tracks for the hotel. I held the knife to his throat almost the whole way. When we were about a mile from the airport I put the knife by my side. He grabbed the radio mic and began jabbering about some crazy gringo.

At the hotel the manager I was working for was waiting outside with the other taxi. She asked me what happened and we told her. My mexican coworkers gathered me inside the hotel and called the managers of the joint venture partner. The owner of the JV was notified. He was the brother of the old dictator of Spain, Francisco Franco.

The next morning we were escorted to the airport and placed on the first flight back to Texas. Evidently my actions caused quite an incident. The companies had never had an incident like this and they do not know why we were targeted. I did not sleep well that night.

I told my wife what happened and she questioned my returning. I actually did go back but I stayed out of town and only went to work or the hotel.

I changed jobs in 2009 to my current position. I was told I was going to China and the Middle East. Also possibly Russia. I told them no thanks. I'll pass.

This incident made me acutely aware of what it takes to survive in this world. I am a blessed man. There is no such thing as luck and there are no coincidences in this world. I will do what it takes to survive and protect my families and those I love. Regardless of the barriers.

I honestly believe that with the rapid decay of our society we will all be tested at one time or another. We need to be ready.

Anygunanywhere

[The Annoyed Man]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Sounds like you did exactly the right thing.

Have you ever figured out exactly what that guy had in mind?

[anygunanywhere]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Sounds like you did exactly the right thing.

Have you ever figured out exactly what that guy had in mind?

I think he was driving us to either a kidnapping or someplace to rob us. While I was holding the knife to his throat I was scanning for cars tailing us and did not see any. The road we were on was a dark road that wound around on the outskirts of town. You could see the occasional bar with the associated street life and hookers on the road. Not a nice place to be.

I never heard anything back from our JV partners. In Mexico the wealthy do rule. I sincerely think that the only thing that saved my bacon was the owner of the JV. I had met him several times before and I had a good relationship with the upper managers of the JV. I made it a habit to try and learn their language and culture and tried to not be just the average gringo there working.

Several of the Mexican engineers visited me recently in Pasadena at my operating center. They brought a bunch of the owners grandchildren who are now all young engineers in the company. We had an impromptu reunion of sorts. I never brought up my incident.

Anygunanywhere

[JALLEN]

Women and children can be careless, but not men.

Vito Corleone

A good many Asian companies opened up factories in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, right on the border east of here, and sent over supervisors, executives etc. but refused to allow the them stay in Mexico over night. They had to cross the border each morning and return before night fall. There was a building boom of sorts in El Centro and Calexico back then to provide accommodations for them.

I feel safe enough in France, where I am "family" but that's out in the country. I wouldn't feel safe going around in the big cities. I will never go to the Middle East again, for any reason, or Mexico, for that matter, even though I could walk to Tijuana from my house.

[Middle Age Russ]

Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Harrowing and illustrative story, anygunanywhere.

[filmtex]

I travel to Israel, Jordan, Greece and Turkey many times every year and have since 1999. Although I've NEVER had a problem per say in any of those places, I do operate in alert mode when I'm in Arab countries and areas. Something that's not know to to many Americans is that there is a large part of the Israeli population that is "Arab" that is decidedly NOT "Palestinian"- whoever they are. They tend to be alot like my neighbors here in south Texas- honest, hard working, family folk. I understand perfectly why many would prefer not to travel to the Middle East, it is certainly an unusual place. But we tend to stay in area we are familiar with, on the beaten track, and always operate with our eyes wide open. I like Turkey and Jordan, but I'm always glad to be back in Israel. It really is a great place. Just my 2 cents.

[Venus Pax]

Wow. That is eye-opening!

[powerboatr]

A few years back my company sent two of us to Honduras (Tegucigalpa) for a week to "train" some persons
it was so dangerous that our company had us sign a few documents before we left.
1 they doubled our company provided life insurance while we were gone, 2 they initiated a kidnapping fund if were to get taken, 3 they also provided 2x my salary each month to my wife until her age of 65 if i was found to be unalive.
this place had the john deere store with armed machine gun carrying personal in front of it

worse part was the darn quanine tablets before and after to prevent malaria
needless to say i have not ever been back

[K.Mooneyham]

Gotta keep your eyes open in those foreign places; you might feel almost on holiday, but to the locals you're simply fresh meat.

I picked up the habit of carrying my wallet in my right front pocket from going to Italy courtesy of Uncle Sam many years ago...cuts down on being pick-pocketed. Even if you aren't in physical danger, doesn't mean you aren't being targeted in some form or fashion. Anygun, that was a good story to highlight being alert for things that just aren't "right".

[WinoVeritas]

The last thing you want to do is break any law when working in a foreign, 3rd world country, and end up in their prisons. Don't bank on your American consulate coming to your rescue. Having lived and worked for extended periods in Mexico, Central & South America and Philippines I found you best keep your wits about you and stay in condition red almost constantly. I've been spit on in the streets, rocks thrown at my house, accosted in restaurants, bars and just walking down the street - I finally started telling those idiots I was Canadian not American, and that made it all well most times.

In 1979 having completed a contract in Asia, I was offered a job by a Dutch company to do sales/service work in the Mid-East, Iran being one of the countries I was to travel. I asked the man if he had been reading the papers of late, considering Iran had a few Americans held hostage. he said not to worry, they would get me a Canadian passport. I turned them down. two weeks later the Canadians were kicked out of the country for helping Americans to escape. The salary offered was very enticing, but life was more so.

I did take a short contract in Honduras in early 1980. Flew into San Pedro Sula and traveled by car to mine site. Just a few years ago, the hotel i stayed in in San Pedro was bombed, and recent read that San Pedro Sula took the death crown away from Juarez in 2011.

I look back on those years and ask myself, "What were you thinking"!!

[Vol Texan]

Anygun,

That's a wild story, indeed, and I'm sure you did the right thing.

I travel extensively overseas. I'm not an 'always in one place' kind of traveler, rather I'm often hopping across multiple countries and continents on a single trip. I have a few things that I do ALWAYS when out of the US:

• Always keep my passport with me on my body. If I ever had an incident such as this, I'd want to take a beeline to the US Embassy without having to stop at the hotel first.
• At night, while sleeping, I keep a 'go bag'. Wallet, money, passport, chemlight, important meds, etc... are all in one small bag next to my bed. If the hotel were on fire, and I needed to get just one thing, I'd grab that bag and go. With that bag, I can survive to get home.
• Of course, I always know where the US Embassy is. I program it into my iPhone's mapping app, and I can get there in a hurry if I need to.
• Depending on where I am, I'm always in some heightened state of awareness. If I'm in a VERY familiar locale, such as London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Bangkok, Perth, Kuwait City, Ho Chi Minh..., then I'm more comfortable, but if I'm in an unfamiliar place, I raise my awareness. If I'm in a 'danger zone', such as Rio de Janiero, Lagos, Caracas..., then I adopt very strict security measures. These vary from location to location, but can be as simple as no taxis (company provided transport only), all the way to no travel (stay in the secure zone 100% of the time).
• Be careful what you bring to other countries. Prescription medications here in the US may get you a prison term in another country.
• It's hard to keep a pocketknife with me always when I'm abroad - I rarely ever check a bag. But it's actually simple to 'weaponize' a credit card by sharpening the edge. It may not be helpful in all situations, but it would be very useful in the situation you described.
• I always do my recon before travel. Of course, I check the State Deptartment website, etc. before going. Don't forget the 'local expat websites'. These are very informative. For instance, the local expat website for Nigeria is http://www.oyibosonline.com/.
• It's also important to talk to someone who's been there recently. I can learn a lot more about what I'm going to face in a 5-minute conversation with another expat than I will get from hours of reading online.
• I keep a copy of my passport photo, TX DL, CHL, etc. on my phone as photos. These photos are also on my PC, which is always backed up to Carbonite. Even if I lose my phone, wallet, passport, etc., there is still a chance to get to them. Of course, you have to be with a person who is willing to let you online to get them, but I figure it never hurts to have an additional layer of backup for these important documents.

But when it's all done, it's always good to come home to Texas, where I can carry every day.

[RoyGBiv]

[*]I keep a copy of my passport photo, TX DL, CHL, etc. on my phone as photos. These photos are also on my PC, which is always backed up to Carbonite. Even if I lose my phone, wallet, passport, etc., there is still a chance to get to them. Of course, you have to be with a person who is willing to let you online to get them, but I figure it never hurts to have an additional layer of backup for these important documents.[/list]

All good suggestions VT. I also keep a copy of my docs online as a "Draft" message in my personal email. I figure if it works well for a terrorist dead drop, it should be good enough for me in a pinch.

My passports have MANY miles on them. I've had only one "incident".

I had 2 days open to do some tourist things in Beijing while on a business trip. This was maybe 10 years ago or so. Well before the Olympics. Day one of course I visited the Great Wall. On the second day I planned to visit the in-city attractions, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, etc. At one point I took a bicycle rickshaw from one venue headed to Tienanmen Square. My Mandarin is not so good, but felt I was very clearly understood when we agreed to the destination. When we initially veered off onto the winding side streets my spidey senses went immediately to orange. A few blocks off the main drag and I asked the driver "Tienanmen?" to which he replied "Tienanmen.!" As we continued winding around I started tracking landmarks. Making sure I could find my way out quickly, feeling more concern. The driver finally stops in front of an old building. A house? and motions me inside. Clearly that's not gonna happen.

As I look around I see several people mulling about, staring at me. It had been raining earlier, I had an umbrella in my hands. Holding it with 2 hands like a spear, I pointed the umbrella in the guy's face, maybe 6 inches from his eyes and start yelling at him. Making as big a fuss as possible so people would notice. I didn't care that he didn't understand my words, I'm sure he got my drift. Then I start backing away and heading for the main road. Yelling intermittently as I went. He didn't follow.

I have no idea what alternate ending fate had in store for me that day. Clearly the driver knew where I wanted to go.

Lesson 1: Always trust your gut
Lesson 2: Suspend disbelief sooner than I did
Lesson 3: Even bad people are afraid of crazy people

[filmtex]

Anygun,

That's a wild story, indeed, and I'm sure you did the right thing.

I travel extensively overseas. I'm not an 'always in one place' kind of traveler, rather I'm often hopping across multiple countries and continents on a single trip. I have a few things that I do ALWAYS when out of the US:

• Always keep my passport with me on my body. If I ever had an incident such as this, I'd want to take a beeline to the US Embassy without having to stop at the hotel first.
• At night, while sleeping, I keep a 'go bag'. Wallet, money, passport, chemlight, important meds, etc... are all in one small bag next to my bed. If the hotel were on fire, and I needed to get just one thing, I'd grab that bag and go. With that bag, I can survive to get home.
• Of course, I always know where the US Embassy is. I program it into my iPhone's mapping app, and I can get there in a hurry if I need to.
• Depending on where I am, I'm always in some heightened state of awareness. If I'm in a VERY familiar locale, such as London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Bangkok, Perth, Kuwait City, Ho Chi Minh..., then I'm more comfortable, but if I'm in an unfamiliar place, I raise my awareness. If I'm in a 'danger zone', such as Rio de Janiero, Lagos, Caracas..., then I adopt very strict security measures. These vary from location to location, but can be as simple as no taxis (company provided transport only), all the way to no travel (stay in the secure zone 100% of the time).
• Be careful what you bring to other countries. Prescription medications here in the US may get you a prison term in another country.
• It's hard to keep a pocketknife with me always when I'm abroad - I rarely ever check a bag. But it's actually simple to 'weaponize' a credit card by sharpening the edge. It may not be helpful in all situations, but it would be very useful in the situation you described.
• I always do my recon before travel. Of course, I check the State Deptartment website, etc. before going. Don't forget the 'local expat websites'. These are very informative. For instance, the local expat website for Nigeria is http://www.oyibosonline.com/.
• It's also important to talk to someone who's been there recently. I can learn a lot more about what I'm going to face in a 5-minute conversation with another expat than I will get from hours of reading online.
• I keep a copy of my passport photo, TX DL, CHL, etc. on my phone as photos. These photos are also on my PC, which is always backed up to Carbonite. Even if I lose my phone, wallet, passport, etc., there is still a chance to get to them. Of course, you have to be with a person who is willing to let you online to get them, but I figure it never hurts to have an additional layer of backup for these important documents.

But when it's all done, it's always good to come home to Texas, where I can carry every day.

Tat pretty much mirrors my modus operandi when I'm in the middle east as well. I keep all my important docs in hand, on my phone, on my laptop and in drop box.