Land Mine Is Found in Passenger's Luggage

Newsday ^ | 01/10/2004 | unknown

[pageonetoo]

DENVER --

A 24-year-old Army sergeant was removed from an American Airlines flight after an inert land mine was found in his checked baggage, the Transportation Safety Administration said...

...The soldier, whose name was not released, could face civil penalties for trying to put a prohibited item aboard a flight, Fierberg said. No criminal charges would be filed, he said.

[pageonetoo]

Is an INERT land mine, something which needs to be defended against? That seems like having a squirt gun, without water!

Why do we have such ignorance, in the face of real threats?

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[ErnBatavia]

I'd say he's a pretty stupid sergeant, though...

[Prodigal Son]

I wonder if it was a trainer mine? Lot of those laying around in the military. On another thread on this topic, someone posted a link to one on Ebay- going for a $100. If that's what it was, they're not dangerous.

[boomop1]

DITTO that!!

[Jaxter]

"If that's what it was, they're not dangerous."

Do you think a baggage inspector would be able to tell the difference? This sergeant is a nit wit. At the very least the Army will probably bust him for stealing this device even if the Feds let him off.

[baltodog]

It IS stupid carrying that thing into an airport in this day and age.

the other prroblem is that most people to whom the media caters do not know what the word "inert" means.

[Lazamataz]

INERT LAND MINES!!!!

NEXT WE WILL BE FACED WITH THE HORRORS OF PLASTIC GI-JOES!

[1rudeboy]

Do you think a baggage inspector would be able to tell the difference?

Of course. It's right in the training-manual, next to the section on identifying guns with removed firing-pins.

[Lee'sGhost]

"I wonder if it was a trainer mine?"

Perhaps a claymore.

A security guy would be nuts to let this go through. What if this guy was a wannabe terrorist, got on a plane and starts waving the thing around? The passengers and crew wouldn't know it's inert. And it should be OK just because the guy is in the military? Remember the GI/muslim that threw a grenade into his comrade's tent?

People who pooh pooh this just aren't thinking.

[TheBattman]

What if this guy was a wannabe terrorist, got on a plane and starts waving the thing around?

Ummm.... You missed something kind of important - it was in his checked

bagage....not his carry-on. I think they flight personnel would notice him going through the floor to get to his checked bagage to get at his "landmine" long before he starteed "waving the thing around".

[Prodigal Son]

People who pooh pooh this just aren't thinking.

Who's pooh-poohing it?

[Prodigal Son]

Do you think a baggage inspector would be able to tell the difference?

No.

[pageonetoo]

He is probably not the brightest, but this item was in CHECKED luggage. They probably spotted it, and freaked. But a short investigation would have revealed that this 'momento' was not a threat.

Unfortunately, he had to continue his trip home, another way. AA refused to fly him, any more!

The TSA list includes too many items, and most of them present no REAL threat. My brother is asst mgr of this airport, and knows how worthless most of these 'precautions' really are... But he is responsible to the g'umt! As everyone knows, the G'umt never errs!

BTW, be sure and leave your toe-nail clippers, at home!

[SJSAMPLE]

Really?
Do you think it should be the job of airport/homeland security to determine which landmines are intert/training and which are real? Soldiers go through intensive instruction on identifying landmines from all over the world and now there's ONE MORE THING that screeners have to worry about?

So now we can all just paint actual, LIVE landmines blue (the color of training or inert munitions) and bring them on board a commercial aircraft?

Sometimes the TSA goes overboard (nail files, tweezers) and we get all incensed that they're taking this to the extreme. Then, some asshole brings something that's readily identified as an explosive into the airport and we're not going to support them?

That soldier needs to be taken into the back room and HAVE THE LIVING SHIT BEATEN OUT OF HIM.

[Mulder]

I'd say he's a pretty stupid sergeant, though...

Yeah. What an idiot for believing all of the rhetoric about America being a "free" country.

WWII vets brought back tons of stuff (much of it was NOT inert), and somehow the country survived.

[Mulder]

Do you think a baggage inspector would be able to tell the difference?

Probably not. I'm guessing either the seargant made the mine such that it could be seen harmless to the most stupid observer, OR there was someone in the TSA chain-of-command with military experience that enabled them to quickly determine that.

Otherwise, they'd have shut down the entire airport and Tom "Fritz" Ridge would be giving a press conference about how TSA is protecting Amerika.

[eno_]

Gramps had enough Russian gear to see a sqaud through a days-long firefight. My mom freaked out when she found it.

[Mulder]

That soldier needs to be taken into the back room and HAVE THE LIVING SHIT BEATEN OUT OF HIM.

So you support felony assault and battery against a US soldier who's only "crime" was bringing back war souveniers?

You would have done well in 1940s Germany or 1930s Russia.

[Mulder]

Gramps had enough Russian gear to see a sqaud through a days-long firefight.

You need to call Fritz Ridge and turn him in.

Get your free Homeland Security decoder ring.

Call in the next 24 hours, and get a special bonus gift: a pair of cheap binoculars that you can use to spy on your neighbors to determine if they are "evil doers".