Civilian Pre-Deployment Check list?
 

Scenario: about to go on a business trip and/or vacation

Who: Individual businessman or family

Where: OCONUS - not a war zone, but not Disneyland.



Questions:

Is there a pre-departure checklist of sites to check?
Is there an in-country checklist of daily do's & don'ts


Reason:

My kids are doing business all over the world, some 3rd world countries. #2 SiL almost weekly. #2 daughter & #1 SiL monthly.

They also visit family in multiple 1st world countries.

None have a military or state department background.

They are not linguist, so they rely on local business partners & family for local guidance.

Given the current problems in NZ, Sir Lanka, Paris, Africa (all of which they have visited multiple times in the last yr),,
I'd like to give them something to raise their awareness, without needing a case of Reynold's Wrap Aluminum Foil. :munchin


AS I am old-school, my 3x5 card presentation (pre-powerpoint) would probably run 3hrs with video. Looking for something like a 9-line card..

The US State Department has the country briefs/advisories online. They cover a bunch of issues, but listening to the locals provide great benefits as well.

Agree with travel.state.gov.

We also monitor local in-country news outlets when possible before business travel - found some nasty stuff about local kidnapping/rape of a tourist (happened to be a Russian tourist - prior week) in a certain city in India wife was visiting on business which failed to make world news. This information upped her already heightened situational awareness when outside the hotel.

I'd like to help but I refuse to ever leave Texas again.....:)

Use a VPN, never trust free WiFi/local cell network Here is a decent starting list. It's business focued, but applies equally to personal travel.

https://www.travelinsurancereview.ne...ty-guidelines/

FWIW,
I've used the state dept web site before for OCONUS travel a couple times. I was pretty oblivious prior to but checked because the Army "made me". It was an eye opener because the Army briefing I felt was a BS scare tactic. As US citizens, it's easy to be oblivious to the reality of what's happening in a country when we only travel in the protected areas of a foreign country. They often times want our tourist money and will avoid areas they feel will show the less desirable parts of their counties. If we're oblivious to our surroundings then it doesn't matter why we're there, we'll miss potential threats. State's web page gives an overview of issues and armed with that information I noticed a lot more, and it was obvious I was being sheltered from specific areas.
Not sure if this helps, but if you need to break it down "Barny Rubble style" or using the BIG CRAYOLAs, then this might do the trick. But the recipients have to be receptive to the information to begin with, otherwise it really won't matter how you try to get the point across.
G2

JJ,

This SF-owned security consulting company has some articles posted on situational awareness and travel security that might be of interest. They are collected on the company's news page: https://adopcon.com/news

Thank you all for the input,

I consider the kids (actually in their 40t's :D) as being above average in awareness, with their personal workspace security tight.

All three work in the GOV sector. One is involved with big boy toys, one with IT security infrastructure, and one with IT financial infrastructure.

With the bits added here, I'll feel a little better about their international travel space.

Again Thanks :lifter