Posted on 11/18/2016 3:08:35 PM PST by CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC
A young Norwegian man I know well, and who is married to a relative of mine, happens to be a veteran of Norway's armed forces - our staunch NATO allies. The day after Veteran's Day - seven days ago - he and his wife and their tiny daughter arrived in LAX to spend Thanksgiving week with US relatives.
Though he's had no problems before in traveling to the US, this time was different. His first problem resulted from his checking "Yes" in the wrong spot on the questionnaire. The question had the word "Court" in it, and he was thinking about a Civil Court case he was once party to, whereas the TSA was obviously thinking in terms of Criminal Courts.
So he was shunted aside for further scrutiny, and had to bide his time while they ran his fingerprints through the pertinent databases. This is where the 2nd problem occurred: his fingerprint images were of too poor a quality to be matched to anything. This aroused further suspicions, and he was moved to another room where he sat and waited with a group of men whose dubious appearances made him a bit apprehensive.
After a second long wait, with his wife and in-laws growing ever more frantic, he went into an office to be grilled further. After more questioning, the TSA person asked him to hold out his hands, for the purpose of scrutinizing his fingertips to see if he had messed around with his prints in some way, which of course he hadn't.
It was at this point the TSA guy noticed that one of his rings (the other is a wedding ring) looked similar to those that US military veterans wear, and asked him about it. The young Norwegian confirmed his veteran's status.
The TSA agent stood up, reached out to shake his hand, and said, "Thank you for your military service! Welcome to the USA".
My esteem for the TSA as a whole went up a few notches when I heard of this.
And from multiple other posts here, it's obvious many veterans *do* wear some type of ring to mark their service.
Look at that Vietnam ring link I posted. "Proudly honoring United States Military Veterans since 1987". So any claim that a veteran might purchase something like that is "BS" for you? Then just who is buying those rings?
Obviously anybody can order one online, but do you really think they could still be in business if neither vets nor vets' families were ordering them for them to wear?
I totally trust the people who witnessed this, and I'm afraid to say it's *your* story that does not pass the smell test.
Not one, no. But there are several than many US veterans wear, showing the symbol of their service.
http://www.jostens.com/military/military_lp.html
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