Welcome to the Kingdom - Parts 1-2

-1-
February, 1995

As I rounded the curve, I saw a commotion in the distance. I slowed the Mercedes and squinted ahead. I could not quite determine what it was that was going on. The sun was glinting off the sand ahead, interfering with my vision. Then, with a start, I realized “Checkpoint”!

I braked aggressively and the car quickly slowed. I observed a large number of people and vehicles to both sides of the road. There were families, standing in the hot sun and I could see their discomfort. Immediately ahead of me was another automobile and on both sides of the road were soldiers with machine guns, drawn and pointed in my direction. An armored vehicle sat with machine gun aimed, as if to dare anyone not to stop. As I slowed to a crawl, the Bedouin Colonel standing ahead and to the left raised his gun and pointed it directly at me. “Now what?” I thought, and wondered aloud “How had I gotten into this predicament?”

-2-
Sitting in the car, engine running and waiting for the column to pull ahead, my thoughts drifted two months previous and to my meeting with Ed, at my client’s headquarters in Houston. He was explaining the problem they faced that ultimately placed me in this car on this road connecting Shedgum with Al-Khobar: “We have a technical and political problem. It should only take you a few days to solve.” I looked at him, and thought “That doesn’t sound too difficult”. This meeting was the result of an earlier one with Roman, who had made the original request that I come to Houston to discuss a trip to Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. They were in a bit of a jam, he had said. It seems that Dwight, their representative in the kingdom, had encountered a bit of bad luck. He had failed in a technical assignment and as a consequence left Saudi and was not able to return. So they needed someone to finish the task. I had successfully applied their technology in a number of different industries in the states, so it should not be too difficult. In fact, this was more a technician’s job than an engineering assignment, but with some political overtones. The application, Roman explained, was an advanced boiler control system installed at the “Shedgum” Aramco facility, which was undergoing a firmware upgrade and includes a non-performing Operator Workstation. The workstation was to be replaced and the firmware upgrade to be completed.

At the time, I thought “Hey, this is an opportunity for some international experience”; I had been overseas, but only for non-business related travel and so, I told Roman I was interested. This led to a second meeting attended by Ed, the company president and by Roman. I would be their employee as far as the Saudi Arabian Oil Company was concerned. My identity as an independent consultant would be completely masked. I would be operating alone, but would coordinate through their Saudi sponsoring organization in Al-Khobar and report to Roman, the Executive Vice President and to Terry, the International Sales and Marketing Manager. The sponsor’s office was equipped with the necessary phones and facsimile equipment. I would bring some specialized technology with me, and a new workstation would be shipped in advance of my departure. As the task would require no more than five days there would be insufficient time to acquire any additional supplies. The only rapid route was via DHL, an express air carrier based in Europe and even if shipped overnight from Houston, clearing Saudi customs required a minimum three days. English was the official technical language; Arabic was the official legal language. I would therefore be supplied with proper English documents which I could have locally translated to legal Arabic, should the need arise. When Ed completed his 15 minute briefing on the problem I said “Sure, I’ll go”.

That is how I finally arrived here, a few days after Christmas, as a passenger on a KLM flight en route from Houston to Dhahran via Schipol airport, Amsterdam, carrying several books including one on the customs and politics of Saudi Arabia, which I had purchased in Chicago so that I would be better briefed. I really had no idea of exactly what I was getting into. Little did I know that my five day assignment would take many, many days to complete, and it would not be until 45 days later that I would finally be boarding the return flight, a changed man.

----- to be continued -----