[ga medic]

He is a firefighter and only wears one thing, ever. Jeans and an EMS t shirt. He speaks Spanish, English or Portuguese. It is generally the Portugeuse that people mistake for arabic. He hasn't been removed from a flight, but he has been asked to leave stores and once he was asked not to return to a dry cleaners. He has also had many patients ask for another medic because they thought he was a Muslim. Unfortunate, but not a big deal. Removing him from a plane would be a big deal. It is sad, even more because he worked on the WTC recovery for 6 weeks, without pay, and he is as American as he could be.

[gridlock]

Nope. Still busted.

Sorry your husband suffers because of the difficult times we live in. I wish we lived in less difficult times, but we don't. If we act in such a way that your husband is never offended or inconvenienced, we will leave ourselves much more vulnerable to people who want us dead.

Sorry about that. I wish it was not so, but it is.

BTW, I have never heard of Portuguese being mistaken for anything other than Spanish. And in my neighborhood, we know Portuguese.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's a shame, but since the Muslims aren't cleaning up their own house, people are having to use the information available to them on the ground. And people are going to err on the side of caution, because they don't want to wind up dead.

If guys are moving around, sitting down, standing up, changing places, dressed in unusually heavy clothing, and whispering in a strange language, that is VERY suspicious. There's no way they DON'T know that their behavior will provoke suspicion.

Perhaps they were a "dry run".

[NittanyLion]

once he was asked not to return to a dry cleaners

Maybe they just got tired of trying to get all that soot out of his clothes...

Just kidding. I'm sorry that he's been subjected to that - especially given the fact that he's obviously a patriotic American. However I do think these passengers were justified in their actions.

[CindyDawg]

First of all, a thank you for your husband's service to this country. Being at "ground zero" would he have understood and e said "I'm American guys. I'm watching you too" or something and everyone would have laughed and went on their way?

My oldest is in the Navy. He's very dark. My youngest is red headed. When he's home, he doesn't get waved thru check points and the one time he was with his brother, following us in his truck, he was pulled over and searched. It's just the way it is. Something about him, gets a second look (maybe because he's so handsome, huh?:') Anyway, the two of them together just wasn't their norm and flags went up. Just the way it is.