TSA’s Wounded Warrior Accomodations
ROS sends us this link to the TSA’s website in which they seem to want to take into account that wounded troops will be flying, and therefore passing through screening;
TSA wants to facilitate the screening of injured and wounded service members. To address these specific situations, TSA has established the Wounded Warrior/Military Severely Injured Joint Support Operations Center Program to support and facilitate the movement of severely injured service members and veterans through the security screening process at our nation’s airports.
Here is how the process works:
Once flight arrangements are made with the airline, the severely injured service member, or family member, or other representative can contact the Operations Centers with details of the itinerary. Contact points:
E-mail MSIJSOC@dhs.gov (preferred, to protect accuracy of flight information and other details)
Toll-free telephone number (888) 262-2396
The Operations Center will acknowledge the request by reply e-mail, or over the telephone
The Operations Center will then notify the Federal Security Directors or their designated representatives at the involved airports. Federal Security Directors are responsible for ensuring that necessary security screening is conducted with empathy and respect, in order to make the overall experience for the Wounded Warrior as simple and trouble-free as possible.
Yeah, well, that’s nice, but we shouldn’t have to call ahead and warn them of our departures and arrivals. Showing an ID card and riding a wheelchair should be enough. I mean, I appreciate the effort, and you folks should take advantage of it, but still.
All of my respect for TSA dissipated when I was flying to Panama on election day 2004 with my “Vets For Bush” shirt and was subjected to every kind of search short of a fisting.
Category: TSA sucks
You had respect for TSA “agents?” You’re a far better man than I, Jonn.
These are people who have a job there only because McDonald’s took one look at them and said, “Not only NO, but FUCK NO!”
TSA’s response is just another indication of yet another agency “doing anything for the sake of doing something” without giving the outcome much thought, while all of this could be avoided if TSA employees just used some common sense. While rules exist for a reason, I think to search a double-amputee and have him/her remove their legs and lay on the floor while their prosthetics or wheel chair are being searched is a bit ridiculous – particularly for someone who has DoD/military ID.
There seems to be a lot of such foolishness running around.
OK, that last paragraph is officially my Quote of the Day.
This information doesn’t excuse the actions of the TSA agents in the airports. They don’t use their brains or common sense; if anything, their actions appear targetted and deliberately aggressive. Reams of regs don’t mean any more than the actions of the enforcers give them.
@1 I swear that these assclowns were rejected from serving in a sub tender MAA force.
It’s been 6 years since I took a flight anywhere. I used to love flying, but not anymore. The Transportation Sexual Assault thugs have made my decision easy.
I’ll take a train or the bus, or rent a car rather than have to deal with any of those jack-booted fascists. If I had the power, I’d strip anyone who worked for TSA of their citizenship and toss their un-American asses over the Mexican border as fast as possible.
The end of the TSA (and the reduction and restructuring of the DHS) can’t come fast enough. As it is, it’s going to take generations to undo the damage that Obama and his goons have set in place, let alone the craptacular crap like the TSA which came in under Bush.
I was coming back on leave from my first time in Iraq in 2004. Was travelling with 2 other guys, all of us in DCUs, when we hit the checkpoint in Dallas. My two friends went through, but I was pulled aside for a screening. Was put in a cute little glass booth for 10 minutes, after taking off the boots, blouse, etc. before the guy shows up to wand me. I was irritated, but since I was on leave I let it slide. Guy apologized to me and said something about doing his job. I dressed and went on my way with visions of one of these yahoos coming through one of our TCPs going through my mind :). Thank God they’re letting the Saudis through easily…
October 2001 I was flying in full service alphas with orders and military ID. TSA assholes picked my ass to do additional search on and everybody else was looking at those retards like are they fucking serious? I wanted to pound that scumfuck’s face through the floor.
@5–true story coming. (Or if you prefer to use the old expression, “This is no shit!”)
Guam, 1992. Already done one SSN tour and doing a tender radcon tour. Had just crossdecked from Proteus to the Holland, where the perception by the Proteus folks about their new command was less than glowing.
The Christmas prior, my sister had given me a shirt with the Soviet hammer and sickle with the caption underneath saying, “The Party’s Over.” The implication of such should be pretty clear, one would think.
Unless you’re a dickhead MA2 with more time in grade than dirt, in which case the “2” in MA2 actually is his IQ. Needless to say, I was never impressed by skimmer fags, and I was less so after he tried to chastize me, and I had to explain the damned shirt to him, using small words and pictures straight out of Dick and Jane.
Makes me wonder what he would have done had he known CJ (Sonar Tech), who on SpecOp would tape razor blades to his wrists and sharpie a line on his wrists with the instruction, “In case of counterdetection, open along dotted line,” or Larry Shaffield, who on same ops would be phonetalker with the fur hat complete with a no-shit Russian Naval Infantry badge on it.
“ensuring that necessary security screening is conducted with empathy and respect”
Shouldn’t they treat everyone with “empathy and respect”? Just having a separate program for the wounded says that they’re doing it wrong in general.
SHSparky,
I have a similar TINS regarding an MA2.
My girlfriend at the time was a Pharmacy Major at a well-known college. She sent me a T-shirt emblazoned with the school’s coat of arms surrounded by the words “I’m Into Drugs!”
I was headed across base at Norfolk and got stopped by this weasel-dick MA2 and his TAD SP sidekick who demanded I remove the T-shirt, as it was offensive to “Core Navy Values”. I tried to explain it to him, but he got belligerent and hauled me up to the Duty Desk. It just so happened that our Chief Corspman was there when I and the two fugitives from Mayberry arrived.
After talking to the Chief, he looked at the T-shirt, asked where I got it, and said to the effect “That’s a nice shirt. Nice college too. Have a nice day”.
As I left, the two MA’s started to follow and the chief told them that he wanted to have a word with them. FWIW, I never saw those two on duty during the working day again.
V/R
Done this. It’s an excellent program. Met some really great folks who work for the TSA. One guy offered to buy me lunch while we waited for the flight to depart, another carried my luggage despite my insistence that I could do it myself. Yet another followed through and called after my flight had landed to make sure that I was okay on the other end. And was there anything I needed or if he needed to call someone at my destination airport. With I think one exception, I have the cell phone numbers of every TSA agent who assisted me travelling in my cell phone. Which reminds me, I think I’ve been remiss and those folks could probably use a ‘thank you’ card.
But with any program, your mileage may vary and probably will depending on the airport. The TSA folks in Sun Valley Idaho were a bit more laid back than the TSA folks in Las Vegas.