TSA Agents Humiliate Wounded Marine
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 9 months ago
Transportation Security Administration inspectors forced a wounded Marine who lost both of his legs in an IED blast and who was in a wheelchair to remove his prosthetic legs at one point, and at another point to stand painfully on his legs while his wheelchair was examined, according to a complaint a congressman has registered with the TSA.
Rep. Duncan Hunter said in his letter Monday that the Marine, who is still on active duty and showed TSA agents his military identification, was still forced to undergo that scrutiny.
“A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficult, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Mr. Hunter said.
He also said TSA officers initially directed the Marine to the wrong line, then made him move lines but made no effort to help him. The incident occurred at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport last week, as a group of Marines was returning to San Diego.
Mr. Hunter included two photos of the inspection in his letter that appear to show a TSA agent patting down the Marine’s arm and examining the prosthetic leg.
The congressman asked TSA to detail its procedures to inspecting wounded U.S. troops at airports, and to consider whether agents should show “situational awareness.”
Situational awareness? Mr. Hunter’s sentiments are well placed and appropriate, but here is the point being missed in all of this. The TSA is now and always has been a jobs program for morons who couldn’t find work doing anything else. On top of that, the conceptual framework upon which the organization and its procedures were built doesn’t lend itself to situational awareness. It is a statist, totalitarian concept from the outset, crafted to give morons a paycheck and something to do.
I’m sorry for the Marine, but who’s stupid enough to have expected anything else from all of this bureaucratic apoplexia?
On March 19, 2013 at 3:48 pm, Bill said:
Herschel, you’re right. And it still should never have happened.
I can’t wait to see the total CF that will result from these idiots being deployed around the country to a hostile and reasonably suspicious populace that is armed and pissed off.
On March 19, 2013 at 5:24 pm, jdkchem said:
Hollyweird rarely gets anything right but in the film “Taking Chance” they nailed the tsa. Now that my unsolicited plug is out of the way I’ll just say that I hate those f’ers.
On March 24, 2013 at 10:23 am, Darkwater said:
What else do you expect?
http://plbirnamwood.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-airport-security-reductio-ad.html