Suspicious Saudis in my Military Class

This is the first time that I am telling this story in public. I'm not implying anything, nor am I asking anyone to believe me. All I ask is that you listen before making a judgment.

I grew up in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania. Since it's cheaper to import coal and steel from the complete opposite side of the world to the U.S. this region is plagued by the reminence of dying towns, far far far before the recesion begain. So far, that my family there to this day don't even realize that the country/world is in an economic crisis.

Like many young people from the area, I decided to join the USAF because there literally were no viable options to better oneselfs soley in that area, unless you were from a family with an established trade.

After boot camp, AKA six weeks of inprocessing, I went to Keesler, AFB to learn all about my new career that I was going to perform in the "real military". I was in tech school during the events of 9/11.

After my initial electronic theory school, I went into my specific classes for my particuliar job. It was during this time that I got to meet three unique people who were high ranking Saudi Arabians who were there learning the same job as I was. The strange thing was that they already knew the job, and were all close to retiring from the job back in their country. They said that they were there just to waste time in "training", for something to do. Though odd to me at the time, I saw later how the military likes to send people on temporary duties, though nothing tangable is really gained for it. Sort of like a vacation really.

Anyways, these Suadis were really smart, due to their prior experience in the field, so they were always the first ones done with the tests. Since I'm a dork in disguise, I too was usually finished ahead of my class and as each person was finished, we were asked to leave the room until all test takers were finished.

The Saudis were full of information about the world, a lot of credible information that would make for a GREAT post on another day. But one thing they weren't full of was information regarding the North eastern part of the US. Once they found out I was from that region, they would always ask me and I quote, " Airman _____, how long do you think it would take to fly a plane from Washington D.C. to New York." They would also ask me how long it would take to fly from Maryland to Pittsburgh and a few other routes.

These question came up everytime after a test, never failed, until the day of 9/11. On this day, the Saudis were acting very weird, and would not speak to anyone in English, not even the instructor. After the news started reporting the plane/s had hit the tower, we were all called into the break room to watch the tube. The Saudis spoke to each other very energetically in Arabic. I have no idea short.

Because I was so young and naive, I did not put any clues together about their questions about flight times. It was only after I was about to leave my text school to embark on my quest to the "real military" that it just hit me. I was sitting with my friends, two of them who were in my classes, two of them who I knew I would never see again, when I just said, " you know what, did anyone find it strange that those Saudis were asking about flight routes which the planes took, and specifically the times"?

Well, my two friends, who I will refer to friend A and B, had different opionions. Friend A said, yes, it was very weird, and that they would ask him similiar questions involving the areas, and friend B said that it was weird but don't cause trouble for the Saudis. You see, we had a lot of time with the Saudis and they were a likable lot.

Well, I went to the headmaster in the school to tell him of these things, and he told me that the Saudis were flown home for their protection, and if I told anyone else about this, that I would be in serious trouble. The rest of my school mates

[edit on 14-5-2010 by Dwellewd]

THe rest of my school mates said that I was wrong for starting trouble and that they would lie if they were asked about what the Saudis asked me. Honestly, they got so in depth that they actually went over to a map on the wall and was discussing it thoroughly.

Well, I did what any 19 year old would do, in the military on the brink of war, and STFU. I figured it would make a good story one day. Well, when I arrived to my first duty station, the story got a little more in depth.

After being at my duty station for about a month and a half, I got called into the Office of Special Investigations because apparantly friend A had commited suicide. THis was really hard for me, because I did not know that friend A was even remotely depressed, at all. Also, they said that the suicide was very graphic and it appeared that friend a was, " Trying to summon demons" I # you not, this was what they said.

I have many a witness to this and a lot of the prior information. After they gathered information about my friend, I decided, that I was in the right place and time to reveal my dealings with the Saudis. They were really astounded by my remarks, and after a little investigation, my school mates weren't as silent as they boldly claimed they'd be. They told the same story, after lying at first.

I was called in on multiple occasions and didn't even realize that a lot of the things the Saudis were asking us out of the classrooms was definetly intel, and I have a thread of things I could tell you all.

I never knew what came of this, but the OSI agent told me that when I read in magizines, like TIME, in the future and see information that there was intel being gathered within our own government, that I could smile and know that it was because of my integrity to come forward with my informaion. They could not, however, tell me the nitty gritty because of the ongoing investigation. They did provide me with an award stating, "For the possible determent of an attack on the United States of America" The award hangs proudly above my desk in my office.

The strange thing is that the OSI agent ended up living across the street from me when I moved off base and bought my first house. I always thought that was weird because he lived in a duplex and I know that those officers don't make bunk pay enough to stay in a #ty duplex.

So, if anyone read all of this, I swear to you that it is all true. Enjoy

reply to post by briantaylor


patience and a F5 button do wonders.

Nice story OP, wouldn't surprise me if true.



[edit on 14-5-2010 by Grey Magic]

reply to post by Grey Magic


Thanks, man. I promise it's true, and as I said, even though it seems I'm implying something, I'm really not, I'm just telling people what occurred. How do the Army folks say it?

It is what it is. And BTW, please don't anyone try to call me a liar. I'm just telling people what I went through. I could care less who was responsible for 9/11, I only care about the fact that it happened.

This is all a little rediculous, I'm sorry to say.

Saudi spies wouldn't need to ask a USAF airman the flight durations for commercial routes. They could find that information for themselves quite easily, just by contacting the airline or looking up the relevant information.

Why would they not speak to anyone in English on 9/11? Why act so strangely? That doesn't make any sense on their part. If they were undercover surely they would behave normally.

The headmaster of a military school would not tell you things that need to be kept secret. Why would he share sensitive information and put himself at risk?

I am also stunned the OSI would give you an award stating that you deterred an attack on the country. It just seems a little strange to me and naively written, not to mention the demon suicide part.

Originally posted by SteveR
This is all a little rediculous, I'm sorry to say.

Saudi spies wouldn't need to ask a USAF airman the flight durations for commercial routes. They could find that information for themselves quite easily, just by contacting the airline or looking up the relevant information.

Why would they not speak to anyone in English on 9/11? Why act so strangely? That doesn't make any sense on their part. If they were undercover surely they would behave normally.

The headmaster of a military school would not tell you things that need to be kept secret. Why would he share sensitive information and put himself at risk?

I am also stunned the OSI would give you an award stating that you deterred an attack on the country. It just seems a little strange to me and naively written, not to mention the demon suicide part.

Ah, my friend, you don't have to be sorry, this does sound ridiculious. But give me a second and I will respond to each of your statements.

Originally posted by Dwellewd

"For the possible determent of an attack on the United States of America" The award hangs proudly above my desk in my office.

Wondering if you could take a picture of this and post it I am very familiar with the USAF, OSI and awards. Id love to see it

[edit on May 14th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

Does not surprise me in the least.

We have Americans come to Australia on exchange duties to study our training methods and maybe learn something new or useful. These are not guys straight out of boot camp either, but usually very seasoned NCO's or experienced middle ranking officers.

Likewise we send people over to the US to not only do training courses, but study your teaching methods.

At a much higher level, the US navy and Australian navy do joint training exercises, and so it goes..................

Those Saudi military guys were not there to learn basic electronics as you were, but the way in which it was taught. They will probably go back as senior lecturers or department heads of military technology training in Arabia.

Nothing really mysterious about it.

Out of curiosity. Why are you telling this to us and now as a matter a fact. If you're telling the truth then wow you have a big story. Why I think you are wrong is why three high ranking Saudis were in your class and you make it sound like they were never apart of the U.S Air force. It just doesn't add up in my view.

reply to post by Silver Shadow


Yes, US does have foreign military training with US Military as there are many joint operations/jobs. USAF Space Command for example is multi-national. Very common to see Australians, Canadians, Brits and Germans.

However, Im a little skeptical of Saudi Arabia having their military training along side at US military installations/schools. I will have to ask around about this. Just not something im aware of. But something is not sounding right here

[edit on May 14th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

Saudi spies wouldn't need to ask a USAF airman the flight durations for commercial routes. They could find that information for themselves quite easily, just by contacting the airline or looking up the relevant information.
---------------------------------
I didn't nessisarily say that they were spies, only that they asked me certain questions which the OSI agent stated was intel. I don't know why they were asking me these questions, they said that they were going to go on a vacation after the text school, which the OSI agent said wasn't true because they were not allowed to. They had to go back to Saudi immediately after the school, no exeptions. They weren't even allowed to leave the local area of Biloxi, in fact.

Why would they not speak to anyone in English on 9/11? Why act so strangely? That doesn't make any sense on their part. If they were undercover surely they would behave normally.
--------------------------------------
Or would they. Are you a spy? I'm not, so I can't attest of the actions of spies. I don't even know if they were spies, once again, the OSI agent said they were gathering intel. Like I said, they asked me many questions. Perhaps they weren't undercover, perhaps they just got a tip that day. Who knows, but they did not speak to anyone in English that morning, and definetly after the news. I know it sounds strange, that's because it was.

The headmaster of a military school would not tell you things that need to be kept secret. Why would he share sensitive information and put himself at risk?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Now you're getting personal and calling me a liar, indirectly. I specifically asked for this not to happen. You could of said, " I wonder why the headmaster, etc." Since you asked for it, I'll give it to you. Have you ever been in the military? Could you imagine being a headmaster at a school and have a young airman come up to you and make such claims. And by the way, the guy was a civilian, and his name was Mr. Bush, prior Army, had a hairlip from a grenade ( or so we were told ) and he, as far as I know, got into a lot of heat for what he told me not to say. So, please understand that sometimes, people for whatever reason would like to brush things under the carpet, no matter how bad they are. And, since this is your first time here, I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the planet earth.


I am also stunned the OSI would give you an award stating that you deterred an attack on the country. It just seems a little strange to me and naively written, not to mention the demon suicide part.
----------------------------------------------------
Once again with the personal attack. Naively written? Defined: marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption

Friend A we will refer to as Airman Allamillo and the "demon suicide" part it not at all strange. You see, if the military can prove that a suicide was caused by a person just being a whack job and not because of service related stress, they don't have to pay as much, if any, life insurance to the beneficiary. I'm sure Airman Allamillo's mother would love to come on here and explain how much money was alotted to her after her son's death. In fact, I can make that happen, as she is actually still in battle about this and needs all the help she can get.

Saudi spies wouldn't need to ask a USAF airman the flight durations for commercial routes. They could find that information for themselves quite easily, just by contacting the airline or looking up the relevant information.
---------------------------------
I didn't nessisarily say that they were spies, only that they asked me certain questions which the OSI agent stated was intel. I don't know why they were asking me these questions, they said that they were going to go on a vacation after the text school, which the OSI agent said wasn't true because they were not allowed to. They had to go back to Saudi immediately after the school, no exeptions. They weren't even allowed to leave the local area of Biloxi, in fact.

Why would they not speak to anyone in English on 9/11? Why act so strangely? That doesn't make any sense on their part. If they were undercover surely they would behave normally.
--------------------------------------
Or would they. Are you a spy? I'm not, so I can't attest of the actions of spies. I don't even know if they were spies, once again, the OSI agent said they were gathering intel. Like I said, they asked me many questions. Perhaps they weren't undercover, perhaps they just got a tip that day. Who knows, but they did not speak to anyone in English that morning, and definetly after the news. I know it sounds strange, that's because it was.

The headmaster of a military school would not tell you things that need to be kept secret. Why would he share sensitive information and put himself at risk?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Now you're getting personal and calling me a liar, indirectly. I specifically asked for this not to happen. You could of said, " I wonder why the headmaster, etc." Since you asked for it, I'll give it to you. Have you ever been in the military? Could you imagine being a headmaster at a school and have a young airman come up to you and make such claims. And by the way, the guy was a civilian, and his name was Mr. Bush, prior Army, had a hairlip from a grenade ( or so we were told ) and he, as far as I know, got into a lot of heat for what he told me not to say. So, please understand that sometimes, people for whatever reason would like to brush things under the carpet, no matter how bad they are. And, since this is your first time here, I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the planet earth.


I am also stunned the OSI would give you an award stating that you deterred an attack on the country. It just seems a little strange to me and naively written, not to mention the demon suicide part.
----------------------------------------------------
Once again with the personal attack. Naively written? Defined: marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption

Friend A we will refer to as Airman Allamillo and the "demon suicide" part it not at all strange. You see, if the military can prove that a suicide was caused by a person just being a whack job and not because of service related stress, they don't have to pay as much, if any, life insurance to the beneficiary. I'm sure Airman Allamillo's mother would love to come on here and explain how much money was alotted to her after her son's death. In fact, I can make that happen, as she is actually still in battle about this and needs all the help she can get.

reply to post by Dwellewd


O, and I forgot to ask about what you meant by Naively written? Because of my grammer? I'm not going to proof read these huge posts or make it formal for your reading pleasure. If you can't understand, I can ellaborate more.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
Originally posted by Dwellewd

"For the possible determent of an attack on the United States of America" The award hangs proudly above my desk in my office.

 

Wondering if you could take a picture of this and post it

I am very familiar with the USAF, OSI and awards. Id love to see it

[edit on May 14th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

Yes, I certaintly can. I will by the time the weekends up, I promise. Just remind me. I have to look but I believe that the agent's name is on their so I implore you to go ask him because I don't think that I ever swore an oath to secrecy or anything. I just wasn't allowed to use it for my military record because of the ongoing investigations.

reply to post by Romantic_Rebel


They weren't officers, and I can't remember each of their ranks, but I can find out. They weren't part of the Air Force, they were training from Saudi Arabia.

There was another guy there from Kenya, though he was pretty slow. Huge language barrier. Nice guy though.



[edit on 14-5-2010 by Dwellewd]

I have little doubt that what you say here is true, although it does seem a tad odd that, as Saudi Air Force officers, they would need to ask anybody such basic questions about flight times from one place to another. You would think that they would be able to do basic calculations like this - or could have done a simple web search to get the info if not.

Perhaps these kinds of simple questions were just ice-breakers for whatever real information they wanted to get from you...or maybe they were in the know about what was about to happen on 9/11, had limited flying knowledge, and were a little careless. Was it Winston Churchill who said "loose lips sink ships"?

You might be interested in the little Saudi connection that I happened to have, in relation to 9/11. It may be loosely connected in some way with your story.

At the time, I was a senior manager at a large property management company in London, Ontario, Canada. A few months prior to the attack, the company had rented an apartment to two guys whose personal information suggested that they were Saudi Airlines pilots.

Nobody really thought that it was strange, I guess, that Saudi Arabian Airlines doesn't fly into London. But these two guys seemed otherwise legit and they paid the rent for one year in advance.

To get to the point, they moved in and then on or around 9/11 they just disappeared, leaving behind all of their belongings. Because of the circumstances, we reported this situation to the RCMP (which act much like the FBI does in the U.S.).

We were never advised what became of the investigation into their sudden departure.

I never met these guys, and my only involvement was acting on the information about an abandoned unit by one of my managers. But, for what it's worth, I will add this little bit to your experience of "Saudis acting strangely" around the time of 9/11.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
Out of curiosity. Why are you telling this to us and now as a matter a fact. If you're telling the truth then wow you have a big story. Why I think you are wrong is why three high ranking Saudis were in your class and you make it sound like they were never apart of the U.S Air force. It just doesn't add up in my view.

Honestly? I couldn't even tell people back at my lab. Not only because at the time I wasn't allowed, but because anyone that spoke about anything againts the war got serious heat. When I drank with people, I would occassionally tell people the story to get their reaction, and then I'd just laugh and say I was joking. They never believed it because terrorists were in Iraq, right?

Also, past my military career, my mother in law kept up with the latest happenings in 9/11 conspiracies. To be honest, it kinda made me sick because everyone had all these ideas/proofs/conspiracies, and she was fool of them.

After it got to a certain point, I figured it didn't matter because even if the gov said, guess what this is what really happened, most people would just say, "O thought so" because they've been exposed to so much information involving the events of 9/11.

And also, honestly, I thought what difference could it make.

Originally posted by Dwellewd
he, as far as I know, got into a lot of heat for what he told me not to say.

That's my point. The information wasn't personal, there was really no motive to tell you. I can't see why he would take the risk, he obviously knew it could backfire.

You see, if the military can prove that a suicide was caused by a person just being a whack job and not because of service related stress, they don't have to pay as much

Fair answer. I'd like to see the award you were given.

By naive I meant the sequence of events just seemed a little off, unrealistic. I'm not calling you a liar, just saying how it appears to me.

Did you associate with these Saudis in off duty time? Did they appear to be strict muslims, avoiding pork, women, etc.

Thanks.

Originally posted by Dwellewd

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
Originally posted by Dwellewd

"For the possible determent of an attack on the United States of America" The award hangs proudly above my desk in my office.

 

Wondering if you could take a picture of this and post it

I am very familiar with the USAF, OSI and awards. Id love to see it

[edit on May 14th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

Yes, I certaintly can. I will by the time the weekends up, I promise. Just remind me. I have to look but I believe that the agent's name is on their so I implore you to go ask him because I don't think that I ever swore an oath to secrecy or anything. I just wasn't allowed to use it for my military record because of the ongoing investigations.

Awesome! Thanks for your cooperation