THE EMBASSY GUARD

"My choices for assignments were Germany, Iceland, or Spain. I got sent to Argentina."

Argentina wasn't really on Chris Mangione's radar at that time, but he spent two years as a U.S. Marine Embassy Guard in the late 1970s in Argentina.

Although the guards look very glamorous and intimidating, they are there to "assess to see what kind of risk you are," according to Mangione.

They are all business.

If you were coming into the United States Embassy, your first stop would be Post One. The guard behind steel and bulletproof glass "looks you over."

The first words out of their mouth: "State your business."

Mangione continued. He said that is where "I assess you to see what kind of risk you might be; I look at your clothing, your pant legs. I look at everything. How big of a bag you might be carrying."

Most people would call Chris Mangione a small-town country guy as he has lived a quiet life the past 30 years in Potter, but it wasn't always that way.

Born and raised in Denver, Chris Mangione, at 18 years old, joined the Marines in 1975. The Vietnam War era was just drawing to a close.

Mangione describes his reasoning for going into the Marines: "I can't pin it down to just one reason. Let's just say the Corps was the most enticing and fulfilled everything I imagined and hoped for."

According to Mangione, there was no plan to become an embassy guard. He simply went through 13 weeks of basic training in Camp Pendleton, Calif., then as a recruit, he was given some additional tests, which he passed.

Mangione was assigned to a weapons platoon which included everything from handguns to a 106 mm howitzer. The howitzer was mounted on a vehicle and Mangione realized, "I didn't have to walk" – so that became his specialty. After another three weeks of advanced infantry training, Mangione was sent to Japan, then Korea, the Philippines, and Saipan. His experiences included training in the jungle, base landing, searching for land mines, booby traps, and unexploded ordinances.

While back in Japan, out of the blue, his sergeant told him he should put in an application for embassy duty, mainly because he looked Cuban and spoke Spanish. In all honestly, Mangione said, "I thought I didn't have a chance."

He was quickly accepted and immediately left Japan for Arlington, Virginia and the Embassy Training School. His training included police duty, training in anti-terrorism (verbal and vehicle), anti-spy, security risk, geography and message systems. They were taught to look through trash cans, searching for carbon copies, typewriter ribbons, and used envelopes; he was looking for any kind of security risks.

When U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was dispatched to Argentina during a small war with Chile, Mangione was selected to be on his personnel protective security unit.

Mangione did two years of embassy duty in Argentina. The 18 embassy guards lived in apartments on the embassy compound. Mangione experienced history in the making when he lived at the embassy as Argentina transitioned from a dictatorship to a democracy.

Now, Mangione lives a quiet life in Potter, Nebraska.