Posted on 06/02/2004 10:04:40 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon
MSNBC is reporting that US Air Marshals are reporting that air passengers are frequently pointing the Marshals out to other passengers. I have played spot-the-Marshal for over a year now. Guess how I spot them...
The Air Marshal's management requires them to travel in freshly pressed suits with ties plus brightly shined shoes. In these days when most people fly in comfortable clothes, a fit, a clean cut man in a suit and tie sitting in the back rows of First or Economy stands out like a sore thumb.
This reminds me of REMFs who decided that our Special Forces in Afghanistan must be cleanly shaved and in regulation uniforms. There is no limit to the stupidity of chair bound government bureaucrats.
a suit and dress shoes are hardly helpful in a fight ... I hope the tie is a clip on ... if they use martial arts (besides their weapon) then some loose jeans and comfortable shirt are called for ... they should look like joe-average-traveler ... and josephine-average-traveler if we have any ladies working the jobs ...
clean-shaven troops in Afghani clothing probably stick out like a sore thumb ... as would wearing any American-made cologne, etc ...
just my .02
Ha!
I think this is why they treated me so well when I wore a suit and tie on a flight recently. Cool!
This sort of nonsense isn't new. Back in the 60's, ror several years J. Edgar Hoover required all "undercover" FBI agents to drive black American-made sedans, kept spotlessly clean. Nah, *that* wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb at all, especially in the SIXTIES, would it?
LOL.
They do need to alter their clothes though.
All your thoughts belong to us......
"What good... is an in-flight meal, Mr. Anderson... if you... cannot... eat..."
Uh....no.
BTW the pic is courtesy of MSNBC.
> There is no limit to the stupidity of chair
> bound government bureaucrats.
And we won't even talk about the domestic enemy press who
run articles like this to ensure that any terrorists who,
having missed bin Laden's FAX on this topic, are brought
fully up to speed.
Until and unless this SOP changes, the traveling public
can help, by dressing like sky marshalls, and adopting
the sky marshall demeanor. Keep the bad guys guessing.
I believe it was this very set of pictures that caused the dress code change.
And here is another link.
And this link tells how that set picture of caused pictures caused the uniform change.
I say that they take it to the extreme and have the Air Marshall wear full body armor, multiple weapons and have him pace the plane during the entire flight. Hire only guys with over-bulging eyes as well.
I recently went through LAX and the guy in front of me had a black T shirt and jeans on. He looked liked 99% of us out there.
My tip off that he was an air marshal was he checked his gun and it sounded off the alarm. He took out his badge and the guy got waived through !
How about getting chicks to do it??
If I recall, the FBI made their agents wear suit and ties... IN HAWAII...
Nope. Didn't stick out at all. I believe shortly thereafter they relaxed the dress code after they realized the TOURISTS could spot them..
Yes, you will see more dressed-for-success men on many domestic flights. What about on a 12 hour flight from SFO to CDG(Paris)? Only an eccentric or an air marshal would put themselves through that. :-)
It may not be what you think.
Though commercial airline pilots must go through a strict, complex process to be allowed to carry a handgun in the cockpit, federal agents – from agencies such as the Department of Education and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – routinely carry guns into airports and onto airplanes – a fact that raises safety concerns with pilots.From here."It's just crazy," Capt. Greg Rice, a pilot with American Airlines, told WorldNetDaily. "[Federal agents] don't need guns on my airplane or in the terminal."
Rice explained employees with several federal agencies routinely carry their concealed guns onto commercial flights when they have "official duty status." The agents fill out forms with the ticket agents, which then are forwarded to the gate agents and on to the pilots, Rice said. That informs the pilot an armed federal agent will be flying with him.
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