I was wondering if any other OIF vets had bad experiences with the TSA. It seems to me they single us out.

On our way back to the States, they cut open all our duffel bags (despite the fact that we emptied them for the Air Force inspectors in Kuwait) and took bayonets and other items the inspectors said we could have.

A few weeks after being back I was traveling to Utah to meet my girlfriend (we met in Iraq), and at the airport in NY the TSA said "everyone with a military ID go to the right". We figured we'd be expedited. Far from it. We all had our bags ransacked and we were patted down.

I recently was traveling to Indiana to see my girlfriend before she left for Kosovo. At the TSA screening in Norfolk (ORF), one of the sweater-vest crowd asked me what I did in the Army. I said I was a Military Policeman and he yelled to the rest of them "hey, we got an MP!" I then got the special treatment. On the way back I was grilled for having a physics textbook in my knapsack, and they confiscated my HP-48 calculator. It had a lot of buttons, so it was obviously a threat. More likely, they figured they could sell it for crack/crystal meth money.

...? Is this what they do to all military personnel? I tried filing a complaint, but that yielded nothing. Has anyone else run into this?

I know many people in the military who travel the same way. They've never had any problems and always get expedited through.

Welcome to FT & thanks for your service. No excuse for you being treated this way. What a bunch of stupid a(you know what)

Probably referring to customs / immigration.

OP: I'm active duty and have never had any of the problems you are describing, especially when returning from deployments. I've never seen or heard of anyone calling military out of line and sending them for further screening. I can't imagine any TSA screeners being extra rude to service members, as quite a few are ex-military themselves. Maybe they have dealt with servicemembers coming through their checkpoints with arrogant attitudes and have developed negative stereotypes.

I'm not sure what you mean by "calling troll". All our stuff was inspected in Kuwait. We got on the plane to come home, stopping in Germany, Ireland, Newfoundland, New York, and finally Norfolk. When our duffels came down the baggage conveyor they all had a zip-tie and a note that the TSA had been in them. We hadn't seen or touched them since the Air Force guys cleared them. I am assuming the TSA did their thing in New York.

We all thought we were going to be expedited too. We all complied and I don't remember anyone being rude. The only good thing about the experience was that I got a coin from a colonel I was chatting with while we were waiting.

based on these sentences im going to call troll.

Folks....let's refrain from "calling troll" or whatever in an open forum. I've had to delete/edit several posts as a result.

If you have an issue with what a member posts, you have at least three other options:

1. Ignore the post and get on to another post or thread.

2. Question or debate the poster in a manner that isn't argumentative, accusatory or inflammatory.

3. Hit the RBP button and a moderator will look into the situation.


We don't want to see the word "troll" used in this forum in the future. If we do, the person making the public accusation will be heading for a timeout.

Thanks for you cooperation.


__________________
Cholula
Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator

O.K. so "calling troll" is bad. I'm still not sure what it means exactly. I am quite frustrated by the way the TSA has treated ME. If others out there have had wonderful experiences with them, great. It just seems to me they take an inordinate interest in military travelers.

Troll in the internet sense. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Just looked it up on the link you provided. Let me apologize for the inflammatory part of my initial post. I was typing out of frustration at losing a $200 calculator that I had for 15 years. It was confiscated because the TSA screener couldn't figure it out (it's an RPN calculator after all).

Ostensibly their motives are to protect the flying public. I suspect, though I can't prove, that they are also motivated to take potentially valuable items for themselves. My attempts to retrieve my HP-48 were futile. Despite the fact that it was taken for being suspicious, no record of it could be found. I know I'm just a dumb, combat veteran MP, but if I took a (possibly) dangerous device, I'd document it. I mean, do the TSA screeners find what they think might be bombs and just consign them to limbo in some back room at the airport? What really happens to the "judgement call" items that are taken?

I've never had stuff disappear, but usually most personal effects have been pre-inspected and palletized, so they generally don't get messed with coming back into country. I never tried to hand carry bayonets back. All of my flight have usually been pretty direct, only stopping in Germany. What were you flying that you had to stop in Germany, Ireland, Canada and New York? I hope you didn't have to ride a C130 back from the desert.

Coming back from Bosnia in '96, we had to stop in Ireland to refuel, and then again in Bangor, ME to clear customs and immigrations. That meant offloading all of our bags and walking through customs (they spot checked a few) and then putting them back on the plane and flying on. My last two trips we've flown directly into our adjacent AFB and an immigrations officer has been waiting for us. Even in these last two cases, customs has only spot checked a small percentage.

We flew back on a civilian airliner. It was just our company until Newfoundland, then we were mixed in with civilians. None of us hand carried bayonets, they were all in our duffels. We couldn't go anywhere in Germany, and we were restricted to the terminal in Shannon, Ireland. We at least got to drink a few in Gander. Nevertheless, what was TSA thinking? Maybe we were going to blow ourselves up on the last leg home?

Millitary sometimes go to secondary automaticaly because they will set of equipment looking for expolsives.

You mention someone taking you bayonet, was this in checked luggage or was this in a carryon with your calculator.

TSA should treat service members with respect.

However experience tells them that soldiers, mp's etc may have souveniers in bags that are not allowed in checkpoints. knifes, ammo, etc.

Those aren't necessarily prohibited items in checked luggage though. Carryons, sure.