Originally Posted by
FliesWay2Much
I flew out of IAD last night. I was in the premium line and arrived at the ID checker/SPOTnik. He was a young Millennial-age kid who looked like he started shaving last week. Looks at my boarding pass after a purfunctory look at my passport. Conversation:
SPOTnik: "Is Vienna your final destination?"
Me: "As far as I know..."
SPOTnik: "Where are you staying?"
Me: "I don't discuss my travel plans."
SPOTnik: "Oh, OK... Just wondering because my dad was stationed there in the military."
End of conversation... I must have flustered him because he had to make up the last statement. Austria has been non-aligned since WWII, so the only way his dad could have been stationed there was if he was one of a few at the Embassy.
I really hate having to be this way with another human being, but, it is the TSA..
Sorry,
FliesWay2Much, my friend, but
that's incorrect. There
have been and currently ARE a team of U.S. military members assigned to other areas in Austria & Belgium who are not necessarily attached to the U.S. Embassy in those two countries.
As a U.S. Marine officer I was assigned to NATO Hq Brussels and served a year in the general vicinity of Vienna myself -- NOT at the U.S. embassy or attached thereto.
I think we're so paranoid these days about TSA, Spotters, SSSS et al, that we might not recognize an innocent question and or truthful statement when we hear it now.
FliesWay2Much, if you just flashed your USG credentials, you probably would have scared the kid from speaking at all.
Cheers,
Robbie
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“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
--Sigmund Freud