The creativity and inventiveness of the early civilizations of the Middle East continue to astonish us moderns. Faced with major obstacles to overcome, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Arabs, et. al. time and again successfully devised solutions using available materials and know-how.
As co-hosts of the 31st Saudi Aramco Annuitants’ Reunion held last month in Texas, we extend our thanks to the 412 members of our Aramco family who attended the reunion. In particular, we would like to thank the following people who, as members of the Hafla Committee, coordinated various reunion activities:
There’s an old expression dating from the Middle Ages in England that refers to “sending coal to Newcastle” (or, alternately, “carrying coal to Newcastle”). It means to do something that is obviously needless or superfluous. For many hundreds of years, Newcastle-on-Tyne...
On a beautiful sunny Saturday, September 15th, the 5th Aramco reunion was held at the Woodbine Beach Park. Thirty-nine ex-Aramcons, and 8 guests met up for a fun-filled afternoon. Rafiq Syed and his wife were visiting here from Hyderabad, India, and attended the picnic along with their son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandkids.
Houston — The Aramco Services Company (ASC) board has officially inaugurated ASC’s new headquarters in North America. Located in downtown Houston, the building’s top six floors house ASC functions, including Procurement and Logistics, Public Affairs, Upstream, Technical Services, Finance, Law, and Industrial Relations.
There’s an old Gene Autry cowboy song I recall from my grade school days that my classmates and I used to sing and clap along to with unbridled glee. The few lyrics I remember went something like this: The stars at night Are big and bright, (clap, clap, clap, clap) Deep in the heart of Texas...
Milt and I are hunkered in the oleander bushes along the side yard of my house in Dhahran talking about how to blow up Soviet tanks in Budapest.
Beginning in August 1990 and lasting into January 1991, responding to a request from the Saudi government, US military units began arriving in the Kingdom in the massive military build-up known as Desert Shield. Tens of thousands of American soldiers and sailors and marines...
MONTREAL: Cirque du Soleil will stage a show in Saudi Arabia for the first time later this month, the high-flying acrobatic troupe announced Monday. The show will take place in the Saudi capital on Sept. 23 to coincide with the country's national day, public relations director Marie-Helene Lagace told AFP.
Smith is in the hospital. Despite half a summer spent in the sun, he's as pale as a Norwegian in winter. Beneath his sweaty brow and coke-bottle Buddy Holly glasses, an oxygen mask obscures the rest of his face. He's got double-pneumonia at least, the doctors are frightened that he might have a virulent variation of Valley Fever.
The four signature fauna of Saudi Arabia are the dromedary, the falcon, the Saluki, and the Arabian horse—magnificent creatures all. And while substantial arguments could be proffered on each of the four’s behalf in support of their claim to be called Number One...
A good friend is one of life’s greatest gifts, and Ali Baluchi—a member of the Aramco family for going on 70 years and today one of its pillars—is living proof of that. Ali is a treasure whose friendship enriches everyone privileged to know him.
If your path has crossed dear Ali's Then you will surely know When he wants to make "it" happen "It's" always good to go! He has a way of working That leaves you in no doubt His plans will clearly come to pass And find a gainful route!
The cowboy is an icon of American culture, every bit as much as is baseball or the log cabin or apple pie. Cowboys, indeed, are one of the first things people think of when an American traveling overseas tells someone they’re from America. “Oh, you must be a cowboy...
Richard W. Slatta is author of ten books, including Cowboys of the Americas, Cowboy: The Illustrated History, and The Mythical West. He has studied cowboy history and culture across the Americas for four decades and is currently in his last year as professor of history at...
“Clothes make the man,” is an oft-heard expression that’s provided the title to numerous short stories from various authors from different countries around the world over the years. Based on the cultural history of Arabia, perhaps that declarative sentence should be modified to read...
It was the summer of 1964. Smith and I were 17, working as apprentice divers for the freshly established Al Gossaibi Diving Services, the brain child of the legendary Dee McVey. Dee had been the lead diver and manager of undersea operations for all of Bechtel’s offshore projects since the mid-fifties.
Saudi Arabia has four times as many species of birds per square mile of territory as does the United States. Whenever I point this out to a fellow American, they refuse to believe me. They simply can’t imagine that a desert country like the Kingdom could possibly match the USA...
Shaikh Amin, retired chief photographer of Aramco, recently traveled to Lahore, Pakistan where he visited friends he has known since his Aramco days. In this photo, Shaikh Amin visits with Anwar and Mahara Kamal.
In May of this year, AXP published an article, “A Street Called Straight,” featuring Bert Seal and his amazing corpus of work dating from his years working as a photographer for Aramco. Bert snapped a treasure trove of priceless images documenting the history of the company, the country, and the people of Arabia.