Don’t know if it’s true....It’s a fun read but seems wildly unlikely.....
As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from
Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:
When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we
flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs
at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of
our bags searched, the whole nine yards.
Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After
that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop
off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard.
That’s where the stupid started.
First, everyone was forced to
get off the plane–even though the plane wasn’t
refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane,
rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off.
We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No
vending machines, no means of escape. Only a
male/female latrine.
It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying
weapons. Everyone was carrying an
M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also
carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B
machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded.
And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we
even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.
The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered
making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE
cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this
cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by
U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing
dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours
of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not
to reinspect our Cargo–just to inspect us again:
Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already
been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE
holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up
to go through security AGAIN.
This is probably another
good time to remind you all that all of us were
carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us
were also carrying pistols.
So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of
our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA
confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets
better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets
and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers.
TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to
confiscate his nail clippers. The
conversation went something like this:
TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.
Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.
TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.
Soldier: Why?
TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.
Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this
actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.
TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the
plane. You don’t have bullets.
Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail
clippers?
TSA Guy: [awkward silence]
Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we
can get the f**k out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.
Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it
through security]
This might be a good time
to remind everyone that approximately 233 people
re-boarded that plane with assault rifles,
pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that could
have been used as a weapon.
Your report is another example of why I refuse to fly since 2002. The TSA BS is NOT making us safer, its just pissing us off and making us sheep.
I drive or I don’t go. Thank you for your service to the country and I am sorry for the way you were treated by the idiots at TSA.
Uncle Sam wants you to join the US Military in order to fight terrorists......so the TSA can treat you like one at home.
And the TSA still has not caught a single terrorist. not a one