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#41 |
Crotch Rocket Curmudgeon
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Here to integrity
Moto: Li'l red baby Ninja
Posts: 7,482
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Insert free thought here. |
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#42 |
This is not the sig line.
Join Date: Dec 2008
Moto: Be prepared. What? Oh, *moto*...
Posts: 1,279
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There are elements of Mad Dog's story that make me think that particular story is bullshit. One is that I just left Bagram* in July and there were no full body scanners there. Maybe they had them installed in the last few months, who knows.
That said, military members do fly back on chartered commercial flights with weapons in hand. Happens all the time. More pertinent, though, is a recount my team leader gave me of one of his fellow Customs and Border agent's encounter with TSA. CBP agents are allowed to fly with their government issued side arm if they agree to act as a "default" sky marshall for the flight. This particular agent was going through the security checkpoint with his loaded 9 mm handgun and was stopped by the TSA worker because he also had a collapsible baton. Long story short, the CBP agent boarded the plane with a loaded firearm and no collapsible baton. The TSA is not and has never been a worthwhile or effective organization and should be disbanded immediately. * There is no "h" in Bagram, that would give it the soft phlegm sound.
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This was no time for half measures. He was a captain, godsdammit. An officer. Things like this didn't present a problem for an officer. Officers had a tried and tested way of solving problems like this. It was called a sergeant. -Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards! |
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#43 |
Elitist
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Moto: Gix 750
Posts: 11,351
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I have no problem believing that troops carry weapons on chartered flights, seeing as how the definition of "chartered" means it's a private flight that isn't open to the public. But why do people going on what is essentially a private flight need to bother seeing the TSA, as the original story claims? Why can't they work out a system where the troops go directly to/from the hangar where that plane is going to be?
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#44 | |
Elitist
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Moto: Gix 750
Posts: 11,351
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Last edited by Homeslice; 12-10-2010 at 05:39 PM.. |
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#45 | |
This is not the sig line.
Join Date: Dec 2008
Moto: Be prepared. What? Oh, *moto*...
Posts: 1,279
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As far as why they couldn't work out a system to skip TSA, I couldn't say if anyone has tried. But I could very easily believe that TSA would resist that kind of move for the sole purpose of maintaining its authority and remaining "relevant."
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This was no time for half measures. He was a captain, godsdammit. An officer. Things like this didn't present a problem for an officer. Officers had a tried and tested way of solving problems like this. It was called a sergeant. -Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards! |
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#46 |
Virtual Machine
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: PA
Moto: 2010 Ducati Hypermotard
Posts: 1,698
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For the record I believe this story is bullshit, but I've dealt with far more bullshit than this that didn't make sense in the army.
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#47 |
Trip's Assistant
![]() Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Imported from Detroit
Moto: 2009 HD Street Classic
Posts: 12,149
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it's complete BS.
However, am I the only one that thought maybe she's worth bangin? |
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#48 | |
token jewboy
Join Date: Nov 2008
Moto: CBR 900, KLR ugly ass duckling, Gas Man
Posts: 10,799
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My personal experience coming and going both ways is that I only dealt with TSA because I choose to. We flew out of a military base where we were checked for stuff, mainly alcohol, ammo, drugs and other "prohibited in a combat zone" stuff. At each layover I got off the plane and walked out of the airport to smoke, and walked right back in. Each time I left the airport I had to deal with the TSA when I went back in. Although I dont remember having a ticket and I dont remember it being a problem.
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#49 |
Sham WOW
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: ATX
Moto: 2007 Ducati 1098
Posts: 2,741
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The only time I recall having to deal with TSA on either of my deployments was while on R&R... and on those trips we left our weapons in theater (locked up with the unit armor). On our trips as a whole unit to and from theater... the only places en route where we deplaned were Bangor, ME, Ireland, and Germany, and in all of those instances we were given boarding passes and kept in "secure" areas (I say "secure" because in Maine, the smoking area happened to be outside, and you could walk across the road to the Holiday Inn or whatever hotel it was... but they didn't make us go through security again on the way back in).
All of those three places are regular military stops, though, so I think they 1) know the drill already and 2) are more lenient with military folks anyway. That being said, however, as others have mentioned, ARNG or Reserve troops such as myself may stop in a civilian airport en route to home base... but typically, we are sent back to whatever base from which we were mobilized - i.e., Fort Hood, Fort Lewis, Fort Bliss, etc. - FIRST, before being demobilized and returned to our homes of record. As soon as you touch ground at the demob platform, you turn in your weapons before you go anywhere else. So, while this story raises some questions as to its validity, particularly since the author writes it in the sense that this was a routine stop, it could have been that where they landed was not a routine location for military stops. No way of telling for certain at this point. ETA: Oh yeah, another point: usually when we deplane at civilian airports for a refueling stop... we leave our weapons on the bird with weapon guards. Perhaps another point against the validity of the story? Unless this is just a practice that only certain flight commanders employ?
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Photography "The Vincent was like a bullet that went straight; the Ducati is like the magic bullet that went sideways and hit JFK and the Governor of Texas at the same time. It was impossible." - Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss Last edited by Archren; 12-13-2010 at 09:24 AM.. |
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#50 |
token jewboy
Join Date: Nov 2008
Moto: CBR 900, KLR ugly ass duckling, Gas Man
Posts: 10,799
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I left the weapons on the plane for my trip there, the way back we left them on the plane in europe, but in the US carried them (the weapon itself could not leave the airport, but you could leave it with someone else and walk out on your own
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