Monday, June 6, 2011

Vietnam -- The day when a Vietnamese kid tried to steal my watch

I, of course, didn't shoot him. I would have liked to. Besides, since then, I've seen some pretty slick rip offs in New York City that would make this incident look like a picnic by comparison.

And if you're really reading this, here's a word of advice if you're up in New York. You walk up to a street corner and your spouse asks if you have $5.00. So he/she pulls out his/her purse or wallet and hands you a 5 dollar bill.

Over in the corner is a guy with a camera who has taken a picture of the location of the wallet or purse. Also taken is a picture of your spouse. You purchase something at the corner store and head down to the subway.  Two professional distractors and one professional pickpocket go into motion and the wallet or purse is taken at the same time a subway comes in.

The distractors distract you long enough for the pickpocket to get on the train and then walk back up the stairs.

Mission accomlished.

In Vietnam, the kids would literally attack convoys when they stopped at a street corner. So, you always had a guard in the back and you didn't have a watch on your arm exposing it to highway view not expecting it to be ripped off your arm.  Perhaps, your arm, too.

Don't know what the watch would have bought him, I do know many GIs would not have hesitated to shoot him.  He didn't get either the watch or a bullet in his head. He got lucky.

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