Originally Posted by FlyingHoustonian

There is a certain subset of people who were always picked last at sports, never were part of a club as a child or teenager, never got to be part of the "cool" group in school, and/or their parents didn't buy them enough toys.

There is another subset that is angry at successful people, angry at those deemed "luckier" in life, and there are some that just want to get back at "the man".

There is the final subset of person, who wants to be "hero", wear a uniform, be a cop or military officer, and just couldn't make it or didn't want to actually try. There is a reason parents tell their kids to do their homework and study hard-but some folks took the lazier option and now they want to try and seem like they are part of the team, and making a difference and that their "authority" matters. There is a reason the TSA gave TSOs real “badges”. This adds to the façade.


These are the main (not all of mind you, but main) types of people that seek TSA employment. I have had a first hand look at a couple of TSA training classes recently and this confirmed my suspicions.

You should not be surprised by the actions of said individuals in these situations. Call it a power trip or whatever you like, but it is basic sociology and psychology. Not that surprising.

Now before someone like TSOron responds (though he normally does not respond to actual direct questions as he will come up with some excuse to divert the discussion away from something he cannot answer or does not like the answer of, and his PMs that go straight into yelling and profanity like hissy fits prove this to be true) that everything is conjecture (that means speculation Ron) there are actual studies on peoples’ actions in these situations. And I have, in fact, seen and met 100s of the TSA members in these groups first hand. Now one can choose to “poo-poo” such a discussion as too selective or too broad, but in reality, as some TSO’s own posts show, these subsets are correct.

Ciao,
FH