Did TSA Pre-check allow an Army officer IMPOSTER through to fly out of BWI?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Did TSA Pre-check allow an Army officer IMPOSTER through to fly out of BWI?
#2
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
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Valid boarding pass, valid driver's license, but a fake uniform. That's tough. Should they have caught that? Hard to say. ACUs are so basic that buying a set at a surplus store and with a minimum of knowledge would make a fake hard to spot. Of course this all begs the question about TSA being "fashion police" even if in this case it was a potentially fake uniform.
#3
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Valid boarding pass, valid driver's license, but a fake uniform. That's tough. Should they have caught that? Hard to say. ACUs are so basic that buying a set at a surplus store and with a minimum of knowledge would make a fake hard to spot. Of course this all begs the question about TSA being "fashion police" even if in this case it was a potentially fake uniform.
No, and they should not be worried about it if they did the rest of their job correctly.
How is dressing in costume, however convincing, a threat to aviation safety?
#4
Join Date: May 2011
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That was kind of my point. They hopefully did their basic job, checking for the proper wear or use of uniform is not. Have to add that while not 100% forbidden, and maybe discouraged is a better word, the Army has guidance out that soldiers should not travel in ACUs. Kind of a switch in policy after encouraging the wear of ACUs in public during the height of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict. Actually sat next to a colonel in ACUs on a flight a couple of weeks ago and mentioned the new policy, in a polite way as part of our conversation. He was a reservist and hadn't heard about the change but thanked me. He actually seemed slightly embarrassed.
#5
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That was kind of my point. They hopefully did their basic job, checking for the proper wear or use of uniform is not. Have to add that while not 100% forbidden, and maybe discouraged is a better word, the Army has guidance out that soldiers should not travel in ACUs. Kind of a switch in policy after encouraging the wear of ACUs in public during the height of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict. Actually sat next to a colonel in ACUs on a flight a couple of weeks ago and mentioned the new policy, in a polite way as part of our conversation. He was a reservist and hadn't heard about the change but thanked me. He actually seemed slightly embarrassed.
Imagine if your seatmate had been turned away at the checkpoint because he didn't know the new rules. Would anyone have been any safer if he had been denied access to the sterile area?
#6
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Kind of like wearing white before Memorial Day. None of TSA's business.
#7
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NY State
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My son is in the Army and has been told not to wear his ACU's while traveling. In fact, unless he is "working", he is not to be wearing them. I am on an Army support group, and some are told not to wear and them others are told they can wear them.
Seems like if they want to police it, they need to start with giving out the same information to all. I am not surprised at all that the reservist had not heard of this policy. I hope he wasn't too embarrassed...............
Seems like if they want to police it, they need to start with giving out the same information to all. I am not surprised at all that the reservist had not heard of this policy. I hope he wasn't too embarrassed...............
#8
Join Date: May 2008
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Valid boarding pass, valid driver's license, but a fake uniform. That's tough. Should they have caught that? Hard to say. ACUs are so basic that buying a set at a surplus store and with a minimum of knowledge would make a fake hard to spot. Of course this all begs the question about TSA being "fashion police" even if in this case it was a potentially fake uniform.
- Not our job.
- It's not illegal anyways except under UCMJ Article 134, so it doesn't apply, unless he's military.
Hence so the reason impostors get away with acts of "stolen valor."
#9
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I hope I didn't come off as even slightly amblivalent about the potential of it being a case of "stolen valor", I find the behavior reprehensible.
#10
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If he was by chance not in the military, and not eligible for Pre Check, then was Pre Check level screening adequate and if it was then why is it not adequate across the board?
#11
Join Date: Nov 2010
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As a retired military member, my question is this: Where is his military ID card or CAC in contemporary terms? All active duty military members are required to have that card on their person at all times, perhaps not in the bathtub. But what I am trying to say is that if one is traveling in a military uniform you have to have the "card". Now, if this guy is not in the military but "enjoys" wearing military attire fine but I would strongly suggest that he wear his uniforms in the bedroom instead of a public venue. Uniform fetish/fantasy? Good for you! But wearing a "fake" military uniform out in public could cause problem. I say keep it in the bedroom/dungeon/fetish/uniform club scene. Furthermore, military members traveling with military ID are typically allowed to pass through Pre Check? That would look pretty bad trying to explain to a TSA agent why the military member lacked that "card". Years ago, I lost my military ID card and can tell you the humiliation I had to endure having that replaced. For those in the USAF even worse, losing a line badge.
Last edited by usafwso; Mar 2, 2015 at 11:35 pm
#13
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Did the guy have a weapn? No? Then why are we discussing this in a checkpoints/security frum?!
#14
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This only serves to highlight the silliness of providing PreCheck automatically to members of the military. The odds of any individual committing a terrorist attack are vanishingly small (hence why PreCheck should be the standard for everybody), but there's ZERO evidence that the military are LESS likely to commit these attacks. In fact, active duty military are statistically more likely to commit a terrorist attack than the population at large. Two of the three largest (in terms of fatalities) terrorist attacks in the US in the last twenty years were committed by active duty or military veterans.
Again, I'm not saying that members of the military are somehow dangerous, but rather that there is zero justification for treating them as somehow LESS dangerous.
Again, I'm not saying that members of the military are somehow dangerous, but rather that there is zero justification for treating them as somehow LESS dangerous.
#15
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Last edited by LoganTSO; Mar 4, 2015 at 7:18 am Reason: missing bracket on quote tag