Post by OLKoot on Dec 18, 2010 15:49:39 GMT 12.75
Welcome
Home, boys, TSA "Interrogates" our Soldiers
As the Chalk
Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the
following:
When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we
flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF,
full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the
whole nine yards. Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to
refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop
off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That's
where the stupid started.
First, everyone was forced to get
off the plane-even though the plane wasn't refueling again.
All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people
from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a
holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a
male/female latrine.
It's probably important to mention that
we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4
Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9
pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of
course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of
all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN
at customs.
The TSA personnel at the airport seriously
considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo
hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been
unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials,
resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run
through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the
TSA decided not to reinspect our cargo-just to inspect us
again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been
inspected,
reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2
hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through
security AGAIN.
This is probably another good time to remind
you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some
of us were also carrying pistols.
So we're in line, going
through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber
multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but
it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets
and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA
informs the soldier that they're going to confiscate his nail
clippers. The conversation went something like this:
TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.
Soldier: What? I've had them since we left
country.
TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.
Soldier: Why?
TSA Guy: They can be used
as a weapon.
Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But
this actually is a weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.
TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the
plane. You don't have bullets.
Soldier: And I
can take over the plane with nail clippers?
TSA Guy:
[awkward silence]
Me: Dude, just give him your damn
nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I'll buy you
a new set.
Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy,
makes it through security] To top it off, the TSA demanded we
all be swabbed for "explosive residue" detection. Everyone
failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we
tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who the F**K is
hiring these people?
This might be a good time to remind
everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with
assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could
have been used as a weapon. Can someone please tell me what
the F**K happened to OUR country while we were gone?
Sgt.
Mad Dog Tracy
Home, boys, TSA "Interrogates" our Soldiers
As the Chalk
Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the
following:
When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we
flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF,
full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the
whole nine yards. Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to
refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop
off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That's
where the stupid started.
First, everyone was forced to get
off the plane-even though the plane wasn't refueling again.
All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people
from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a
holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a
male/female latrine.
It's probably important to mention that
we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4
Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9
pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of
course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of
all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN
at customs.
The TSA personnel at the airport seriously
considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo
hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been
unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials,
resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run
through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the
TSA decided not to reinspect our cargo-just to inspect us
again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been
inspected,
reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2
hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through
security AGAIN.
This is probably another good time to remind
you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some
of us were also carrying pistols.
So we're in line, going
through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber
multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but
it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets
and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA
informs the soldier that they're going to confiscate his nail
clippers. The conversation went something like this:
TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.
Soldier: What? I've had them since we left
country.
TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.
Soldier: Why?
TSA Guy: They can be used
as a weapon.
Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But
this actually is a weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.
TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the
plane. You don't have bullets.
Soldier: And I
can take over the plane with nail clippers?
TSA Guy:
[awkward silence]
Me: Dude, just give him your damn
nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I'll buy you
a new set.
Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy,
makes it through security] To top it off, the TSA demanded we
all be swabbed for "explosive residue" detection. Everyone
failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we
tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who the F**K is
hiring these people?
This might be a good time to remind
everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with
assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could
have been used as a weapon. Can someone please tell me what
the F**K happened to OUR country while we were gone?
Sgt.
Mad Dog Tracy