Yeah, TSA word games at their best.

Just like the elderly woman who wasn't told she didn't have to remove her soiled adult diaper (she had no spare - it was a short flight). She was just told that she couldn't be screened and cleared to fly with it on. :rolleyes:

I considered High Year Tenure as a possible factor but that would be a real stretch.

I can see a few bailing out before retirement. Family needs, total dissatisfaction with life, or some other reason but that person would be few and far between.

Yeah, that's my point. There can be voluntary reasons, but they have to be pretty compelling at 18 years. Or somebody screwed up.

For TSA to imply that the disabled vet is lying because he was screened by two other vets, one of them an 18-year-vet - well, the reaction of the ex-military I know is to say '18 years and he left to go to TSA? Strong possibility the dude was a screw-up. Nobody does that'.

There isn't an automatic assumption that an 18-year vet was the kind of hero who will be happy to continue to serve his country on the frontlines as a TSO, a TSO who would be respectful of all pax, especially vets.

TSA agents are buffoons. Requirements to be hired as a TSA agent:
US citizen, 18 years of age, Can speak English, customer service skills (ha), Can lift heavy loads.

This could be a job advertisement for a trash collector or a dish washer or a fast food worker. In general, we're not dealing with highly educated, deep thinkers. Its just a job for people not qualified for any other job. These people are not TSA workers due to their passion and love for the united states and their lifelong calling to protect it and its citizens. It was just a job application, probably in a long list of other unrelated job applications. Its just a paycheck.

I do hope there is justice for that marine and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of the TSA, but I don't have any expectation that it will actually happen.

Actually, that isn't required.
http://www.cntraveler.com/travel-tip...rport-Screener

Oh boy do I have a lot of issues with some of the quoted comments. FYI my job is to screen people for disability claims and also to screen prospective employees for risk of injury. The latter is TBH a waste of time in my opinion and I typically counsel against it.

There is quite a lot of pretty convincing evidence that the incidence of work injuries is less related to the risks of the job than it is to employee job satisfaction. Whenever I see a quote such as "screeners have one of the federal government's highest rates of job-related injuries, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,"my spidey senses go on high alert.

What is actually been said here is that screeners have one of the highest rates of claims made. The two are not the same thing at all. It is the same argument offered by Canada Post unions who claim that because of the number of injuries reported, letter carrying is an inherently dangerous job.The evidence is pretty stong that people who enjoy their jobs are far less likely to make a claim than someone who hates their job with the same injury. When they do have an injury those who are happy at work will experience less pain and disability and will be statistically more likely to return to work, with a shorter duration of disability.

Whenever I see information about high rates of injury my first job as a consultant is to tell employers that they need to look at what part of their management style or policies are making your workforce so disatisfied. That is by far the most effective way to reduce injury costs. Far more than pre employment screening, which for the most part is ineffective.Now if the TSA Management applied this philosophy. It is now apparent to me that the reason some agents are so crabby is that they hate their jobs.

Best post I have read in some time - thanks!

The veterans of my acquaintance wouldn't even consider it a possibility - they'd consider it a reality.

We were talking about the TSA over a few beers several weeks ago, and five veterans of three services (Navy, Army, Marines) all agreed that the only veteran who goes to the TSA is the one they would rather not have as a "teammate" in the first place, since they're invariably screw-ups.

Going into further detail about their opinions of "veterans" who accept TSA paychecks would likely get me suspended here.

I'm assuming he was an enlisted guy. HYT is one reason. Orders for another tour in Afghanistan that close to retirement might be another reason. He might have been medically retired for some reason. He might have been discharged for being in the Fat Boy program.

Through a complicated formula, you can sell back your military time and have it count towards a civil service retirement. That only ever makes sense with no more than 10 years on active duty.

But, I don't think I read any confirmation that the guy was on active duty for 18 years. He might have been guard or reserve.

Regardless, joining the TSA Clerk Corps was irresponsible.

Very interesting.

I am an industrial consultant as well. Machinery maintenance specifically. In my 30+ years doing this I have noticed an empirical correlation in maintenance issues and facilities that have high employee dissatisfaction. I have not done or seen any studies though. In general, plants that run fast and have few quality issues have happy and satisfied employees. The opposite is also true.

Now, what was the deal with the puffers again?

I see Blogger Bob has posted his response: "We did nothing wrong...I am a vet myself." He claims all the other reports are being "misreported"

http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/03/wounded-...oenix-was.html

Interesting. Bob also claims that 25% of TSA employees are ex-military. That, to me, explains much: the inability to think, the aggressive and mindless following of whatever they think 'the rules' are, the systematic denial of responsibility and avoidance of responsibility for action or inaction, and the generally poor overall performance.[1] It also explains why TSA can't conceive of "security" in anything other than process and military terms, as opposed to "security" terms. As anyone that understands security knows, military /= security.








1. Yes, I know that view won't be popular on a US-dominated board where US culture kneejerks to unthinking deference for all things US military, but that's my professional opinion of the US military overall after 20+ years interacting with it at all levels all over the world. If you don't like that opinion then tough luck. It is, after all, just another opinion. Feel free to ignore it. :)

Duplicate post

I think the Conde Naste article linked by exbayern above is a great read. I read it when originally published and again today.It made me think again about some of my preconceptions. In all fairness to the individual TSA screeners it's not the people but the institutional culture that produces these behaviours.







As ex military ( British not US) I think that this stereotype, while commonly held, is actually far from the truth.

I think of the Royal Navy Polaris submarine commander on being questioned about his training to release nuclear mayhem. When asked what he'd feelif he actually had to launch his answer was "Immense sadness. It means my whole life's work has been for nothing". Hardly a warmonger.

Or Dr Gwynn Dyer ,The Canadian military historian, UK military lecturer and TV documentary maker. When responding to accusations that what makes young military men different identified that it is not that they are trained to kill ,but rather that they have actually given a committment to die for others if necessary. Not many of us can make that sort of statement about our career choices.

Pissy knows he has this Marine over a barrel because he's still on active duty. He can't take legal action against another department of the federal government. He can do it as a private citizen, but he doesn't nearly have the resources. He will have to rely on a proxy, perhaps Duncan Hunter, The Marine Corps League, military Order of The Purple Heart, etc.

It looks like the TSA has already blown off Duncan Hunter and I see no indication that he is interested in staying in Pissy's face.