TSA madness

[Idaho]

I just got this in an email and thought some of you might appreciate it.......

Sgt. "Mad Dog" Tracy Speaks Out!


Helloooooooo Is there ANYONE at TSA with a brain??????????

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed thefollowing:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of BaghramAir 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]
To top it off, the tsa demanded we all be swabbed for "explosive
residue" detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who the F**K is hiring these people?

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.
Can someone please tell me What the F**K happened to OUR country while we were gone?

Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy

[dabull]

did you respond on a 3xd5 flash card with "NO" on it?? :)

[audiogooroo]

Ah, bureaucracy! What a load of crap!
Sure glad I have "dual citizenship". :)

[ringadingh]

That is about as dumb as it gets, someone should have a serious talk with the TSA chiefs.

[Dave]

I really find this one hard to buy.

But it did come via the Internet! :)

[Loafer]

Originally Posted by audiogooroo

Ah, bureaucracy! What a load of crap!
Sure glad I have "dual citizenship". :)

Dual citizenship? The US Insane of A, and Somewhere Else of the Sane.

[NRiderUSA]

and its getting worse, especially if your an American getting on an American airline.

[Sin City Stan]

Originally Posted by Dave

I really find this one hard to buy.

But it did come via the Internet! :)

It's a blog from the Sgt.. I thought the same thing and did a number of searches.

I have to admit it's really funny until you realize the stupidity involved. Picture it, combat hardened soldiers, armed and lined up single file getting their nail trimmers confiscated. It's a movie parody, a SNL skit, can't be real.

[Sin City Stan]

Originally Posted by Sin City Stan

It's a blog from the Sgt.. I thought the same thing and did a number of searches.

I have to admit it's really funny until you realize the stupidity involved. Picture it, combat hardened soldiers, armed and lined up single file getting their nail trimmers confiscated. It's a movie parody, a SNL skit, can't be real.

After thinking about this, maybe out troops should carry ammo. That way TSA could confiscate the ammo and the troops could keep their nail trimmers. Sound like a plan???

[Idaho]

This is great. I don't know if it is real and don't care if it is real or not. The sad part about it is that there is enough insanity in government and the TSA in particular that enough of us think that there is a thread of truth here.

[NRiderUSA]

What about our country in the last 2 years isnt pushing the lines of insanity.... we have a ruling party of people with Borderline Personality Disorder Syndrome (BPDS) running the show.

[Idaho]

Originally Posted by NriderUSA

What about our country in the last 2 years isnt pushing the lines of insanity.... we have a ruling party of people with Borderline Personality Disorder Syndrome (BPDS) running the show.

My point exactly. Government is out of control and clueless.

[Dave]

Unfortunately, We've let it get that way and I don not believe it can be reversed.

All great societies have failed in the past. It may be our turn.