Almost Never a Good Sign - Notes from Training, 1

The scenario is a visit to the marketplace. Only the sharpest eyed and eared could spot the clues that all was not well and that insurgents were about to attack:
- Every damn stall in the market was closed.
- If you asked the interpreter what the graffiti meant, he said, "Death to America." Even if that's not what the graffiti meant, still, it can't be a good idea walking around with an interpreter who has this opinion and isn't shy about telling you.
- Before we left post, the soldiers went over how they were going to practice responding to the attack by moving everyone up the alley and shoving them into the Humvees.
- (see above), a soldier's combat boots dangling from a wire above the street.
This is almost never a good sign.