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..

Me: "Sprechen Sie Deutsch, bitte?" (Fat chance of that with his 5th grade education).

5th grade? you're much too kind as a 5th grader spends more than 2 days in class.

see spot run
see spot run
they want to catch a ter'wrist
they want to catch a ter'wrist
oh, see spot run

"SPOTniks" don't check ID's...poor kid was probably just trying to be nice!

Changing careers would be a better demonstration of niceness.

Why am I getting a mental picture of the pimply faced teenaged kid with the voice that cracks on the Simpsons?

"I don't discuss my travel plans." Beautiful, and so simple.

Many he meant that his Dad was stationed in Germany and he just didn't know where Vienna was. That would be my bet.

It's a flaw on mine that I do tend to overestimate when giving people the benefit of the doubt...

Kind of sad, but that may be the truth.

Ah, I do miss Vienna.

No human I know would lower themselves to the TSA dog level...so, feel good about yurself!

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

Yea... but the first thing I learned in my security briefing was "keep your ID put away at all times ouside the compound"...

Of course there are US military members in Belgium, we have bases there and in the Netherlands and all over Germany (Both US and NATO).
What does Belgium have to do with the OP? Maybe I missed it.

As for Austria, there are no NATO troops "assigned" to Austria. The only current US members, outside the Embassy are on exchange or less than 180 rotation so no short term tour credit is given. The majority were pulled by 1990.

Ciao,
FH

Yes -- that's the way I remembered it, too. The kid was obviously confusing Austria with Germany. We've had small groups of "advisors" in non-aligned countries like Austria as you noted for various reasons over the decades. We had to be careful what we called the guys and they had to be guys who knew how to be low-key. France was the same way, even though they pulled out of the military side of NATO. We had a significant number of advisor in France, and you would always see a French officer or two at SHAPE HQ.

Boston Bulldog had a great assignment. I always enjoyed going TDY to NATO and SHAPE because of the multi-national Exchange. As I recall, the common currency was the Canadian Dollar. You could buy anything that any NATO country would sell in its exchange -- what a deal!

Out of an abundance of caution, I had no choice but to assume he was a SPOTnik.....

FlyingHoustonian Please re-read my reply / post. I NEVER mentioned anything about "troops" being "assigned" anywhere.

I specifically stated that there (was then, as there is currently) a specific team of U.S. military members in Austria as well as Belgium.

I also stated that we were / they are NOT attached to the U.S. embassy or consular offices.

I specifically did NOT state the specialization of the military members or identify to what organization they were / and are ATTACHED to, and for WHAT specific PURPOSE they are so tasked.

I understand several FTers are USG, but as you well know, day to day activities within certain federal organizations are highly compartmentalized for reasons that need not be, and should not, be discussed.

Back to Topic: it could be, as a previous poster noted, that the young 'Spotnik' could have been referring to his father being stationed in Germany, giving the latitude that Austria was once an occupied country of the Nazis during World War II, or that his dad served during the Berlin Airlift of the 1960's.


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1918 - America's first transatlantic radio intercept station was built on Gillin Farm in Houlton, Maine, just before the end of WWI .