Originally Posted by JackInThePlane (Post 20450194)

WillCad, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? The TSA have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for at airport screening, and you curse the TSA. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That the body screening, while invasive, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Originally Posted by JackInThePlane (Post 20450194)

WillCad, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? The TSA have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for at airport screening, and you curse the TSA. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That the body screening, while invasive, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Originally Posted by Carl Johnson (Post 20450671)

Did you order the code red?

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 20449829)

TSA says the tape doesn't back up the vet's story, but they have declined to release the footage of the incident. Of course, this may be because the cameras don't cover the entire incident, meaning it is the word of TSA vs. the word of the vets.

Originally Posted by Wally Bird (Post 20451025)

I believe the TSA statement was "the video doesn't show prostheses being removed". This is TSAspeak; look carefully at the wording and read what it actually says, not what it implies.

I assume this was a group of support Marines, I can't imagine combat troops would have stood back and let this happen to a fellow warrior.

Originally Posted by GrjApp (Post 20448894)

I witnessed a wheelchair passenger being screened at HNL at the HA inter-island terminal back in Nov. The pax was an older gentleman, very very frail. They made him get up out of his chair and he had to literally hang off of a table to stay upright while they checked his chair.

They weren't loud or rude, but really, there surely was another way. I kept thinking this poor man was going to keel over. His family couldn't help much either. I don't remember why one of them weren't helping him while he was hanging on for dear life, but this was one case where point 2 above would have been the way better thing to do.

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 20449290)

If they had taken this common sense approach, more than one video of a crying child in a wheelchair unnecessarily separated from her parents would never have existed.

Better for the pax, and although TSA doesn't care about the pax, it would have been better from a PR standpoint.

Originally Posted by Wally Bird (Post 20451025)

I believe the TSA statement was "the video doesn't show prostheses being removed". This is TSAspeak; look carefully at the wording and read what it actually says, not what it implies.

I assume this was a group of support Marines, I can't imagine combat troops would have stood back and let this happen to a fellow warrior.

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 20452087)

You made my point better than I did. Yes, I was suggesting that TSA was engaging in the usual double-talk. The video doesn't show it because it was off-camera, the video has been edited, the camera mal-functioned, bla-bla. That is the current official TSA line, not necessarily the truth.

IIRC, wasn't this a group of disabled vets? Nothing like two former military (including one Marine) TSOs to know how to treat one of their own, right?

BTW, why would someone with 18 years in get out (not medical) to go work at TSA? Is there a way to do it and still get full retirement?

Originally Posted by Boggie Dog (Post 20452318)

It's been a number of years since I retired and I know there have been some changes to the retirement system but I believe it takes 20 years of creditable military service to retire with an annuity. There have been reductions of force with offers of separation (termination) pay usually aimed at people with performance issues or in overstaffed specialities over the years.

Going out of the military with 18 years and then into other government service still allows a person to build towards a government retirement but I don't know the details of time or age requirements.

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 20452087)

You made my point better than I did. Yes, I was suggesting that TSA was engaging in the usual double-talk. The video doesn't show it because it was off-camera, the video has been edited, the camera mal-functioned, bla-bla. That is the current official TSA line, not necessarily the truth.

IIRC, wasn't this a group of disabled vets? Nothing like two former military (including one Marine) TSOs to know how to treat one of their own, right?

BTW, why would someone with 18 years in get out (not medical) to go work at TSA? Is there a way to do it and still get full retirement?

Originally Posted by petaluma1 (Post 20452495)

If this is the same Marine who was subjected to abuse at the hands of the TSA, then it looks to me as if he has removed one of his protheses and is struggling to either get the other one off or back on.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...heckpoint.html

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 20452414)

Water cooler chat at work is based on somewhat dated (like yours) info. Lots of eye rolls and questions: 'why would a guy get out at 18? and then go to TSA? Give me a break, no one gets out at 18, non-medical, unless there's some kind of back story, not when you're only 2 years away from full benefits for life, nothing in federal service will compare'.

Of course, one of our resident TSA posters said he worked for a former highly regarded federal judge who voluntarily quit her post to take up a new career working for TSA....Still, going from one federal job to another is not the same thing as trading off military benefits for federal benefits.