The person who wrote this article is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran. He wrote about his experiences going through airport security not once but twice. One of these times may have occurred after the recent London arrests, but not both. According to this writer, what he experienced is common practice at airports. For some reason possibly known only to the TSA, the men and women heading to and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are getting extra special attention when they go through airport security. Not the attention where people wave you past the long lines. No, they are getting searched again and again before they even board the first plane.
I’m going to do something I have never done before. I’m going to post this article from the Orlando Sentinel in its entirity.
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.
“We’re fighting a war. Do you guys think we’re a threat?” I asked as I spread my legs and arms.
The screener replied, “I dunno,” and kept his wand in motion.
Before long my leave was completed and I was at Orlando International Airport, standing in line, waiting to clear security again. This time my wife accompanied me through the checkpoint so we could spend every last minute together before I returned to Iraq.
I wore my desert uniform, and as I approached the gate, a TSA screener directed my wife and me to additional screening after my bag had been inspected and scanned. My wife was searched, making an already miserable event, my leaving for war a second time, even worse than the first time.
Travelers shook their heads in disgust. One man glared incredulously at the screeners and said, “Unbelievable.”
I was humiliated, not because I was being searched, but because I was being searched while wearing the cloth of the nation — a U.S. military uniform. While wearing the flag of our nation on my sleeve, enroute to fight a war to support my government’s interests, I was categorized as suspicious.
The same government that employs both the TSA and U.S. Army sent me a contradicting message. It trusted me enough to train me, give me a weapon and send me to do its dirty work, but it didn’t trust me enough to fly on commercial airplanes with other citizens without close scrutiny.
“I don’t agree with it,” said a TSA screener. “We’re just doing what we’re told,” she said. The airlines, the screener said, decide who is exempt from secondary personal searches.
The screener’s comments were intriguing to me, and, in conversations with soldiers in Iraq and returning from Afghanistan, I learned that uniformed soldiers were routinely pulled aside and vetted through an extra layer of screening — their carry-on bags searched and their bodies double-checked.
When I returned from the war, I asked an airline representative to exempt me from the second level of searches since I was in uniform and had military identification.
“We have nothing to do with who gets searched,” she said. “That’s TSA’s decision.”
At the checkpoint, I asked a TSA screener if I could be cleared just one time by the metal detectors and the luggage scanner since I was a military officer. She smiled and directed me to a line with no passengers in it.
I took off my boots and belts as other passengers did, and I put my carry-on bag on the scanner. After I walked through, without activating the metal detector, I was pulled aside. I was herded with other soldiers returning home from their war tours to a line for those who needed closer review. I was told to remove my shirt, assume the position, and then I was searched with a wand and my bag was unpacked.
Since then I’ve been further dismayed to learn the TSA doesn’t even exempt severely wounded war veterans. According to the TSA, it tries to gracefully screen soldiers wounded in battle by making sure security screening is conducted “with empathy and respect.”
“We want to make sure the overall experience for the service member is as expeditious and pleasant,” as possible, the TSA Web site states.
Odds are wounded soldiers will set off metal detectors, but the TSA won’t find weapons intended for use in hijackings. Instead, the TSA will learn their detectors were set off by the shrapnel still embedded in the soldiers’ bodies, or the metal components of prosthetics, or plates that now hold service members’ bodies together.
Welcome home. Thanks for your service.
Steven Alvarez is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who lives in Maitland. He wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.
Cross posted on Bring It On!
Rhymes With Right says:
One Group That Is Singled Out For Searches…
Despite the fact that contemporary acts of terrorism are committed almost exclusively by Muslims, our government refuses to take the reasonable step of subjecting every Muslim to special scrutiny while flying. There is, however, another group that gets…
8/15/2006, 9:30 pmJon says:
Wearing uniform while traveling isn’t unusual, when I was in the military we often were required to wear our uniforms while traveling. The screeners are only doing their jobs and it amazes me that how many people want to complain about the steps being taken to prevent what happened on 9/11.
8/16/2006, 7:01 amPaul Watson says:
Jon,
8/16/2006, 7:10 amYes, because there were a lot of US Military personnel involved in 9/11, weren’t there?
Dean says:
Reprehensible behavior, but as a Vietnam vet not much about the way some people treat vets surprises me. On another note, I thought one could not pass through security unless one had a ticket/boarding pass for a flight?
8/16/2006, 10:16 amGinger says:
Paul,
8/16/2006, 10:23 amMaybe not, but you know after being over there and maybe not agreeing with the concept of all that is going on you never know what state of mind every soldier is coming back to the US with. It doesn’t have to be a Muslim the next time something happens. I am happy to say that I am glad that the airlines are taking the extra time to do their job. I think every person that travels should feel a little safer that they are trying to keep things safe. If that means taking my shoes off or a coat or what ever they ask, with in reason of course, I will do it and so would my husband in unform or not. Just because you are in a uniform doesn’t mean a thing. I can go right now and buy an official US military unform and have as many set of dog tags made as I want and if I were trying to do something I would probably have access to making a good copy of an ID, so why complain about a little inconvience of going over to an area and having to be searched for a minute. Just becasue there is a uniform involved doesn’t mean the person wearing it has all good intentions.
Steve in Kansas says:
I feel sorry for the Soldier. This could have been avoided if he had presented his orders and military ID when he checked-in at the counter. When traveling on government orders with government identification the individual should not be selected for inspection. At least that wa the rule in the past. It is frustrating though when you have a military ID and are in uniform that the TSA pulls you for inspection when you passed cleanly though the scanners.
8/16/2006, 10:32 amSean says:
Worse example I saw was when I came back on a medical evacuation flight and they made soldiers on stretchers and wheel chairs go through screening at one base. “Gee sir the metal pins holding your leg together seem to be setting off the detectors. ” I came up postive for explosives, which I explained to the lady was caused by the bomb that had put me in the hospital in the first place. I was once told by a check in clerk there was a TSA regulation that exempted military traveling on orders from security checks but haven’t been able to find out more about it.
8/16/2006, 11:07 amArgghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys.. says:
H&I* Fires 16 Aug 2006…
Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That’s only polite. You’re advertising here, we should get an……
8/16/2006, 11:22 amJoefish says:
Pleasant? Maybe if you’re talking body cavity searches from bikini models.
8/16/2006, 12:56 pmOD says:
Er, complete US military uniforms with patches and even IR tabs are being sold on eBay. So if the TSA stopped searching soldiers, buying one would be a guaranteed way to get on a plane without being searched.
8/16/2006, 2:22 pmAlso, while this may not excuse harassment of outgoing soldiers, soldiers returning from war are notorious for bringing back dangerous souvenirs of all sorts. And their idea of what is safe to carry is likely to be considerably more relaxed than the TSA’s.
This seems a strange thing to get mad about.
PigBoatSailor says:
Personal Experience:
Coming back from overseas deployment, with 10 other sailors, via Turkey, Athens, and Amsterdam. We had to overnight in Amsterdam, so we had to go through their security – and wouldn’t you know it, they searched every.single.sailor. And by searched, I mean made us dump out our sea bags (meticuluously packed so as to manage to hold 6 months worth of clothes and junk), remove every article of clothing save pants and undershirts, and get patted down. On a plan holding fewer than 100 passengers, the 11 sailors were the only ones subjected to this treatment. Granted, this was right at the initiation of hostilities in Iraq, and we were warned on our way back that European sentiment was not exactly favorable, and to expect this as others had gone through the same treatment.
So, with this in mind, my take on the article is – Searching passengers is ok, and expected. However, singling out a specific group has been deemed inappropriate by the courts. Never mind that these are trusted military members, despite what Owen says above.
As for soldiers being notorious for their souvenirs, Owen, do you have any facts to back up that statement? Do soldiers try and sneak on dangerous items more often than regular people? Because I know the “Confiscated” bins in airports that I have seen, containing such jems as chainsaws and limb trimmers, were carried by non-soldiers. Or are you suggesting we start profiling? If so, might I suggest that it would be more appropriate to profile a group that most terrorists involved in airline violence have been associated with, rather than the military. Of course, CAIR and the ACLU would scream about that proposal…
8/16/2006, 5:00 pmJan says:
I’m in.
8/16/2006, 5:36 pmI forgot what else I was going to write.
Steve says:
As usual, not all the facts come out in the emotionalism.
Fact – there’s been some problems with military personnel attempting to bring contraband items (such as foreign fruits, vegetables and such, weapons and ammunition) back to the US and also items not permitted in theater (such as pork products, alcohol and pornography). The TSA screening MAY be a requirement to help offset that – especially with weapons. However, since military personnel are subjected to customs searches before leaving, I question the need for other than random searches for folks coming both in and out of the USA.
Fact – the airlines randomly select by computer those for secondary searches. There are certain triggers that are built into the computer that will initiate a secondary search and I will not go into them here. However, the airlines routinely blame screening personnel when confronted for the rationale. Secondary screening can also be triggered by repeated failures for regular screening methods, necessitating a wand search or a personal search.
However, the personal searches are a joke – even among the screeners (who are now called Transportation Security Officers by the way). The procedures were so emasculated by folks who wanted to be politically correct that they are virtually useless.
Terrorists continue to look for the big kill – which can come from two venues. The first is at a mass gathering such as a sporting event or maybe a mall. The second is mass transportation – air, rail, etc. For all the complaining, the procedures aren’t really that restrictive and neither are they meant to be disrespectful or demeaning to ANY group. Most who complain do so because of delays – and they’re usually late already due to their OWN fault (look – youc an’t just get on a plane anymore, ok? Deal with it) or in this case, a little distraught.
So how come I can comment on this? Well – I’ve been a Soldier for 29 years plus, I am an Iraq Veteran (2003-2004) AND I worked for TSA for 2 years. I’ve NEVER been singled out while in uniform (although I’ve had two wand screenings because I kept setting off an alarm) and I’ve never been treated with any disrespect while in uniform. Also – I have nothing but respect for our TSOs – the TSA leadership is pretty sorry – but not those folks. And if you want to know what the regulations are, then hit the TSA website to check the prohibited items list AND read the regulations, or write to the airport TSA PA or Customer Relations rep for an explanation – rather than blowing off steam in a blog.
Steve Patarcity
8/16/2006, 10:28 pmCOL, US Army
MsFreud says:
There is no rile saying that these guys have to come home in BDUs or salad suits- and as far as I know there are NO direct flights from downrange into the states- they all must bounce… usually out of Ramstein. Some out of England…
8/17/2006, 6:33 pmEveryday I get to watch commercials on AFN about contraband and prohibition of “war trophies” A lot of the guys try to get away with it- I think it’s a great way to catch them.
I am quite sure that this guy is making mountains out of mole hills… and that the guys being searched feel safer knowing that they are scrutinizing everyone in case some unit got infiltrated or someone is playing dress up so they can blow up the plane.
These men come home in packs- usually units together, on commercial flights- quite a tasty target for a terrorist.
Joe Camel says:
Regarding Steve:
FACT:
1/17/2007, 2:28 pmHe is not in the army. He is an army reservist. He has only about 2 weeks of army active duty time in 25 years-actually hard to do so little unless you try hard to avoid service.
FACT: He was so fat that when he was sent to KUWAIT-not Iraq-he had to be returned after 2 weeks to the US because he couldn’t handle the temperature.
FACT: He travels around with a professional brown-noser who sets up people in various units to take a fall and make himself look good.
FACT: he has been faking physical fitness tests for at least 20 years.
FACT:
He has never attended any military police schools.
FACT: No one respects him. Maybe it is because he keeps sexually harassing females subordinate to him.
Laura says:
Joe Camel, unless you state exactly which Steve you are writing about (the one in the post or the one who left a comment) and where you get your “FACTs” I can’t give your comment any validity. Personally, your comment reads like some nut who is trying to discredit someone by bashing them with more and more silly “FACTs.” The fact that you don’t state which Steve you are bashing and don’t provide a link to support your comment only adds to the image you being a nut.