What does this ski lift ticket have to do with Shadow Sanction?
My first time in Tehran, Iran was late in 1977. Life was good. Tehran was a fun city, full of life and filled with people interested in how Americans lived day to day. I remember them as especially interested in our capacity to do whatever we wanted and become whatever we desired.
BY 1979, the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as Mohammad Reza Shah, or the Shah had worked to transform Iran into a middle eastern powerhouse. The national income had risen 432 times over its level in 1963 when he introduced his White Revolution. Anger at his changes came from the outside when he nationalized Iran’s natural resources and began industrialization with the building of cars, appliances, and other goods.
During the Shah’s reign he spent billions on his military, at one point, making it the fifth largest in the world. One memory from my first visit to Tehran was the four-brand-new Boeing 747’s line up on the military side of the runway.
Nearby were eight Soviet fighter jets parked in a circle nose to nose. The military attaché later told me it was the Shah’s way of showing displeasure with the Russians. Another image is that of a soccer field filled from end to end with Bell helicopters still covered in shipping material with blades folded back.
So, we normally traveled in pairs, were met by a State Department liaison and then handed off to a pair of big burley guys who were our drivers. We loaded the eight boxes and three Haliburton cases of communications and other gear into a van, then we were directed to a sedan. The driver unbuttoned his coat before getting in and I see his Browning High Power and badge (lion holding a sword) – he’s SAVAK – Iran National Intelligence and Security Organization.
I’d expected State or Military Attaché support so being handed off the Iran version of the CIA was eye opening. We were in Tehran to support the Secret Service advance team who was preparing for a visit from Vice President Mondale. It took us two days to set up our gear and test the quality of the communications all with our SAVAK minder in tow.
Then it was Friday night and my introduction to the ABC club. An acronym for darts, drinking, and some great food with American, British, and Canadian staff from their respective embassies. I was assaulted the next hazy morning in my Inter- Continental room by a Marine and communicator who worked for the other team in the embassy.
“Get up, we’re going skiing.”
“You got a flight to the alps?”
“No, stupid. We’re going to Shemshak.”
Dumped on the floor and wondering how they’d entered my locked room I said, “Give me five.”
Exiting the shower, I was pointed to a pot of exquisite dark coffee and saw my teammate talking to the guys.
“He skied with President Ford and his son Jack in the back bowls at Vail. You’ll have a hard time keeping up with him.”
I’d been set up.
I was a blue intermediate skier at best. Black diamond runs were a crash in the making. I was surprised that my SAVAK minder wasn’t around. The Marine told me not to worry so I jumped in the car and we headed out. So, I cleared the air on the ride to Shemshak, a ski resort situated to the north-east of Tehran in the Alborz mountain range. I remember the equipment as old but usable and the slopes within my less than graceful method of skiing. The sky was dark blue and the temperature on the warm side which made for some heavy wet snow.
After several runs my dehydrated self-needed some water and food so I stopped at a little stand for a water and pastry. I found a seat and was taking a long pull on the water when a young man my age came over and sat next to me.
“You’re an American, would you mind if I practice my English?”
“Is it that obvious? And no, I don’t mind,” I said, my counterintelligence briefings popping warning signals.
The conversation was mostly about two things. Skiing and Skydiving. Both things we shared in common. When the talk got around to his asking what I did for living and why I was in Iran I said I was with a global telecom company looking at possible investments in Iran.
He was more forthright and explained he was a lieutenant with the famed NOHED Brigade. Iran’s most elite special forces unit. His first name was Kamran. It was a great conversation where I learned a lot about the people of Iran and what they looked forward to. We kept in touch, after I cleared it with my leadership and a few other interested parties. I saw him again in the US in 1979 and sold him a skydiving rig and altimeter. That was the last time I saw him and communication with him ceased after the revolution.
I often wondered what happened to him. Did he have to flee or did he thrive. When I started writing Shadow Sanction 44 years later, I was researching the movement of opium out of Afghanistan through Iran and remembered him.
Kamran became General Kamran Ahmad and Lance Bear Wolf became his friend in the west.
And that is what a ski lift ticket means to Shadow Sanction.