Soldiers deserve TSA's respect in screenings at airports

Orlando Sentinel ^ | August 15, 2006 | Steven Alvarez

[rightalien]

A little-known fact about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that the U.S. military requires soldiers to travel in uniform from theater. An even lesser known fact is that the Transportation Security Administration aggressively targets war veterans as they travel home to their loved ones.

At Baltimore's airport on my way back to Orlando from Iraq, there were about 50 soldiers in line, waiting to be cleared by TSA. I noticed soldiers taking off clothing, and then they assumed the position so commonly seen in police-chase videos, arms and legs spread wide as a screener passed a wand close to their bodies. Soldiers were asked to remove belts, boots and shirts, and their carry-on bags were ransacked.

[angkor]

"nice guys that they were broke wind when bending down to unlace their boots :)"

Ha. Good for them.

[Gator101]

Back in 1991, A LOT of soldiers were caught with contraband, including unexploded cluster munitions and other weapons.

I can attest to that. When we came home in '91 a lot of guys had "stuff". We received briefing after briefing warning us what would happen if we got caught. I chickened out the day before we flew and left a big old Ghurka knife I had traded for buried in the sand, and then only had the top layer of my duffel searched!

A few guys in my battalion got through some pistols they lifted off of surrendering Iraqi officers. I heard later that the company tool-room (a conex) has a little heavier coming back from theater than when it went.

[yankeedame]

This is beyond disgusting behavior. The jerks who are doing this are union members of the TSA.

Which, in the real world, it would be easier walking to Japan than having one of these characters fired, or even called on the carpet. What an ego/power trip this must be for these TSA union thugs.

[SJSAMPLE]

And yet, that soldier was able to get a dummy grenade into his luggage and into airport security.

Sure, it was a dud, but TSA aren't trained to know that or authorized to handle it to find out.

And ordinance has already made it past those tough screeners, on airplanes and in ship-borne containers.

[boxerblues]

Hard to say, military men are always easy to spot, but that does not give them a free pass for screenings IMHO.

My oldest son come home in the DCU is had been wearing in Iraq, they were dirty, bloody and torn, yes he tested positive for explosives over and over again. By the time my youngest come home on leave they military had set out a set of rules that all DCU's were to be clean & presentable before boarding any flights out of theater, only his boots tested positive. Both were required to present their leave papers for a valid reason for the residue. Once these were presented the screeners basically just went though the motions of a thorough screening.

[angkor]

Sorry, your post and your followups are ambiguous and unconvincing.

Too anecdotal, not enough fact material.

[wolfcreek]

At least they weren't spit on and called baby-killers.

[M1Tanker]

First, all of this information is not only open source, but activly distributed so others know how to spot a fake military ID. That said.

There are methods that are very unlikely to fail. Nothing is "failsafe", but the lengths terrorists (or their allies) would have to go through and the support required from moles within the DOD to make the system fail would be monumental. If a coordinated act of treason of that magnitude happened, a crashing/bombed airliner would be the very least of our worries. How? Why sneak fake soldiers on airliners when you can get launch codes for ICBMs?

Running our ID card is a failsafe. Arriving in mass with units should be a fail safe (this is easily coordinated ahead of time with the anti-terrorism/movement officers and the TSA). Also, units coming from Iraq have already gone through checks. US military officers are held accountable for their units (and the weird stuff I've been yelled at for could fill volumes). Once we and the unit transportation officer clear the soldiers for flight, we should be cleared for the trip.

Soldiers moving alone (R&R leave, etc) have little choice. If the airport has a USO or military assistance area, then the checks could be done there and we could move faster. Not much of a concession.

My beef is why single soldiers out like this? The military ID card, orders, and the fact that very little training on TSA's part could fix this, hit's my "this is wrong" button. Is there an internal political issue at the TSA? If there is, then the TSA needs another shake-up. All of our SSNs and the new CAC cards are on a database and are easily referenced. If someone steals our ID, the CAC card and a service photo from our ORB/ERB would be enough to give the person away. Also, a few simple military specific questions would throw most potential terrorists off. I have to use my military ID card to interface with any governmental organization. This is not rocket science. Why is interfacing with the TSA any different?

Would this have stopped SGT Ackbar? No. Dedicated traitors are difficult to stop. Note that he traveled with his unit. If he did act out on the flight, 45+ other soldiers would stomp him. But out of a military of over a million, exactly how many have "snapped" in recent memory???

[Unicorn]

I don't know why Pres. Bush don't get involved in some of these things.All it would take is one phone call from his c of staff to stop this.

[HairOfTheDog]

I noticed soldiers taking off clothing, and then they assumed the position so commonly seen in police-chase videos, arms and legs spread wide as a screener passed a wand close to their bodies. Soldiers were asked to remove belts, boots and shirts, and their carry-on bags were ransacked.

Everyone else has to remove belts, boots, and extra clothing. Don't be so fast to make a very normal thing sound like bias or hatred. People, which includes soldiers, need to realize that not only is a soldier's uniform not all that hard to get, a soldier also habitually carries with him things that would set off security. Tools, clothing that contains metal, and souveniers from where they came from.

Among the terrorists just arrested were parents with a baby, don't forget... profiling without exception can be exploited and needs to be avoided.

[Brooklyn Kid]

Thanks for all your information.
It sounds as though it can handled a lot better. They should be screened as any other passenger. Not singled out for 'special' treatment.

My only concern is, if all military became exempt from screenings, that would be an invitation to terrorists.

[Apercu]

..and we the people should be frisking the congress critters & their bueaucrat minions as well at election time.

[Gamecock]

Can they be duplicated?

I suppose the answer is always yes, but....

The new "IDs" used by AD, GSs, and contractors are very high tech. Known as CAC Cards, they have multiple high tech devices (embedded chip, magnetic strip, and a barcode) that provide multiple redundancies for security. It's not just faking a card and laminating it. I need mine just to log onto my computer and to send email.

(Not Gamecock, just a sample found on the internet)

The issue here, IMHO, is they are trying to make the whole screening process at airports idiot proof. The weakest point in the system probably are a few TSA screeners. Take the thinking out of the process and they can't screw up.

[TET1968]

As long as unauthorized souveniers and assorted contraband are being found, the searches must continue, but out of respect for those who are risking their lives everyday so we can bitch about the petty stuff, the searches should be conducted in a screened off area designated for the military.If they can devise special travel registration for VIPS to navigate the lines more quickly, they should be able to accomplish this small act of respect..

[ansel12]

"That screening is done WWAAAYYY up front, in Iraq, by enlisted customs personnel who are much toughter than any TSA weener would ever think of being."


Coming back from a Winter Reforger we had to go through the military customs, I was bringing back a few of the spring loaded knives Germany had then.

Just as I was walking past the last "amnesty box" and telling the guy I had nothing to declare one of those knives fell from it's hiding place, I was surprised at the guys hard nosed attitude, but whoever he went to, to turn me in, told him my unit was authorized to carry those type knives.

That spec 4 (or whatever) wanted my ass, which I found a little disturbing, oddly there was no follow up search, I was simply sent on.

[M1Tanker]

I could be an invitation, but the amount of work it would require would be staggering for most cells. They have better luck infiltrating the skycafe or other service companies and the ACLU would (knowingly or not) help them by suing companies that didn't hire them. There are so many other easier targets in airports than trying to play fake soldier. The chances of discovery are too great and the DOD would simply go back to "everyone gets searched" in a second.

My concern is that this appears to be "profiling". And are we not told the TSA will not profile?

[theDentist]

I fully agree.

[donmeaker]

When ever I am in an airport, I watch out for soldiers, and buy one dinner. Usually I get to his waiter, and pay for his meal (with a tip) before he knows it.

[Steel Wolf]

The point is, why not treat soldiers as normal passengers? It appears, from the article, that the soldiers are being "racial stereotyped" so to speak.

That's pretty much it. I learned a long time ago to show my drivers license when not in uniform, otherwise I get the TSA pawing over me like they're the Duke lacross team.

As part of my job I tend to travel a lot. Allegedly if you're traveling under orders, you're supposed to present a copy of those orders to the airline desk, and they'll take you off any random check list.

This is not the case.

I've been caught up in as many as three random checks in one flight, one for my bags and two for my person and carry ons. One guy that I worked with, a big farm boy from North Carolina, didn't make it through the 'random check' process once for a three year stretch without being pulled aside. He was determined to show his military ID and orders every time, though. I just hand over my state drivers license and take my chances.

[CheneyChick]

A friend of mine who is a CSM in the Reserves also works for the TSA. He says he has busted a few folks in uniform that were posing as military. He pulled this one gal aside and started asking a couple of questions - she couldn't even identify her unit patch, had no ID card and no orders. She missed her flight.