Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: grampster on March 19, 2012, 07:59:52 PM
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From an e mail that got posted to my son's Facebook.
"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 re-inspected. 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 re-inspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, re-inspected 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 F**K**G 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 Hell 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 hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?
Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy
Remember for 2012
ABBO
AnyBodyButObama — at Email from a friend"
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I've read this once before.... Can't remember exactly when....
This missive (if true, and I have no reason to believe it's not true) is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with not only the TSA, but with gov't in general. This bass-ackward lack of logic and common sense leaves me to wonder just who we're supposed to let run the country. Because the dumb***es running it right now aren't exactly doing anything stellar. And I don't blame it all on the current administration. George Bush is the one who got this whole TSA ball of idiocy rolling. I mean, seriously... This is just one more example of gov't gone stupid.....
On a lighter note, when the TSATard stated that he couldn't have used it to take over the plane because, "You don't have bullets." I would have gladly contributed to said soldier's legal defense fund if the soldier had unslung and butt-stroked the TSATard in the head.... Granted, it would have been wrong.... But it would have been funny as heck... :)
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I've read this once before.... Can't remember exactly when....
Same here, several years ago (pre-Obama Administration, in fact). It looks like this one has simply been updated.
I have no doubt it actually happened at some point, though. There is nothing like a bureaucracy for enforcing petty, inane rules, and the TSA is the worst.
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it would have been wrong
What - would it have damaged the rifle ???
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What - would it have damaged the rifle ???
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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What - would it have damaged the rifle ???
That kind of scum can never be thoroughly cleaned off.....
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People that talk in the theater are just going to have to go to the regular hell from now on ;)
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I still like the one about the NG soldier buttstroking a securitytard with an M-16 because he felt up the soldier's girlfriend.
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Apparently fake:
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/12/tsa-not-to-blame-for-this/
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A proper subject for this thread eludes me
Reading through the tale, I think "That's where the stuipd started" and "Who the Hell is hiring these people? " would work.
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Apparently fake:
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/12/tsa-not-to-blame-for-this/
Doesn't really matter - what the TSA does everyday to people is bad enough :mad:
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I still like the one about the NG soldier buttstroking a securitytard with an M-16 because he felt up the soldier's girlfriend.
Uhm. I was not there and saw nothing, and I'd testify even at gunpoint to that effect. No bloody one wanted THAT one to make the news once tempers calmed down.
But basically, yes. TSA, and Customs before that, has long screwed with soldiers. This one may be fake, but I could cite dozens of real examples. From soldiers and/or citizens. Hell, one of my old bosses is on the "harass as much as possible" list for making a public comment in the search line comparing the TSA to Soviets. I was put on the same list for refusing to allow TSA employees from searching a laptop with classified information.
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I am under the impression that the average Iraqi or Afghani passing through American military security gets treated with at least more logic and common sense than the average American civilian passing through the TSA checkpoint does.
I bet if Ron Paul had made his entire primary campaign about TSA abuses and what he'd do about the whole sub-agency under the DHS, he'd have doubled his percentages. He'd still not be winning, but I bet he'd be #2...
That's stuff the average American can identify with. Being treated like a criminal just because they wanted to fly commercial air and take their kids to Disney.