Keith Duffner saving the day
Jerry sends us a link from a local news station in Las Vegas about Keith Duffner who came to the rescue of Taylor Morris who had left his legs in Afghanistan.
After going through security, he fell and twisted one of his prosthetic legs, making it hard for him to get around. Morris couldn’t fix the leg himself because the wrench he needed was in his checked luggage. That’s when Duffner came to the rescue with the right tool.
“I had to loosen four or five screws and then remove the lower leg and put it back together with the foot aligned,” Duffner said.
The photo has gained so much attention, Duffner, along with his supervisor, appeared on the national show Fox and Friends with the wounded warrior himself.
“It’s been a little bit strange, and to me it’s welcomed news to see something good in the press once in a while,” Duffner said.
Aside from all the attention, Duffner said he was honored to help someone who’s sacrificed so much for him.
Category: Support the troops
Well done, Mr. Duffner. You have my thanks – and my respect.
Thank you Mr. Duffner. May we all move closer to the day that his actions are the rule and not the exception.
Hear! Hear! May we all move closer to the day when the TSA is irrelevant and we don’t have to put our necessary small wrenches in our checked baggage.
Except that it isn’t true. His small wrenches are allowed in carry on bags. In fact anything that you claim as “medically neccessary” is allowed. On top of that TSA has a program specifically for wounded warriors to ensure that they have everything they need, including expedited screening, and all they have to do is call ahead and arrange it.
I don’t know what has changed. I used to work at LAX in a supervisory capacity. I had an airfield badge with a Customs endorsement. One of the guys who worked for me was a good kid, from the ghetto, and he was enrolled in a trade school to become an A&P Mechanic. When he reported for work one day and went through TSA screening, they took his 9/16 combination wrench away from him. He told me about it, so I went down to the checkpoint and asked if they would give me the wrench. They refused and as far as I know it got destroyed. I felt sorry for the kid, so the next day I brought him a 9/16 wrench from my personal collection and gave it to him. To clarify, he had an airfield badge but it required him to go through TSA checkpoint screening, mine did not.
I also used to be the guy that would collect the stuff from the ticket counter that the passengers were not allowed to take through the checkpoint. The ammo I would give to the LAX PD. The cigarette lighters I would take to the maint. breakroom and leave on a table, etc. One time I picked up a plastic baggy that was labeled “LZ Razorback, LZ Rockpile, and VC Ammo Dump”. It contained inert copper jacketed slugs, presumably from bullets. Yep, the TSA would not allow them through the checkpoint, so they got left at the ticket counter for disposal. The cop that came by to pick up the non-inert ammo was a Vietnam Vet and it did not make any sense to him either. I still have them and one of these days I plan on leaving them in DC at the wall. No offense to anyone in the TSA but I have never witnessed much in the way of critical thinking skills coming from their direction. I have heard a good radio show though.
TSA is the same bunch of yahoos who tried to confiscate Joe Foss’ Medal of Honor because it was “pointy”. He was en route to address the graduating class at West Point at the time.
Umm nope. The first TSA federal employee to screen a passenger at any airport was in April of 2002 at BWI. This even occured in January of 2002 at PHX. The screeners who tried to confiscate General Foss’ MOH are the same private screeners that many in the tea party movement want back in the airport instead of TSA.
It has been a couple years at least that wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers less than 7 inches in length have been allowed.
Ammunition (inert or not)is actually the air carriers call. If the air carrier allows it onboard and it is packaged correctly, then it can fly. Inerts are not prohibited because of a TSA security concern. They are prohibited because Congress lists them as hazardous material in 49 CFR 172. Of course it is non-sense, mostly, and TSA screeners that I know are just as baffled by the rule as the rest of us, but there it is.
I’d rethink the idea of taking even inert ammo to Washington D.C. They have some very screwed up laws there, and are activily looking for infractions.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/warning-d.c.-cops-under-orders-to-arrest-tourists-with-empty-bullet-casings/article/2535216
“Washington police are operating under orders to arrest tourists and other non-residents traveling with spent bullet or shotgun casings, a crime that carries a $1,000 fine, a year in jail and a criminal record, according to a new book about the city’s confusing gun laws.”
The intent of their “spent casing” ban is to stop drive-by shootings.
What the hull is that about?
AW1Ed- Thanks for that advice. I have read Emily Miller a lot, but honestly, the thought of carrying pieces of lead and copper to DC never tripped the “on switch” in my brain. Yeah, I think I’ll see if the local VFW wants them….
Thanks Mr. Duffner for reminding a cynical old crank like me that we still have a lot of very good, helpful, and decent citizens among our ranks.
Best to you and your family for a successful future.
I like to forward these when I see them. We get so wrapped up in the things that go wrong it’s easy to lose site of big hearted people out there.
True story: The Army has never been good at setting up connecting flights, so I wound up stuck at Sea/Tac airport over night, waiting for my morning flight to Germany. I located the USO on the concourse. They let me sleep on a soft bed, woke me in time with free coffee and I made my flight the next morning feeling rested and refreshed. All manned by a volunteer whose name I can’t remember.
Now every time I am at an airport I locate the USO. I stop in and make a cash donation directly to them, visit with the transitioning troops and thank them again, for all they do. I have also taught my children to give the same way. My son does the Wreaths for Warriors at Arlington every year. It gives him a better perspective on giving and sacrifice.
All because of a simple act of charity by the USO some 30 years ago to a soldier on a long lay over.
Not just his legs, he’s a quadruple amputee.
Not sure is anyone knows the answer to this question, but what would he be required to do at the TSA checkpoint that mess his prosthetic up like that? Was he made to stand and walk through the scanner?
That is a good question. The reports simply say that he fell after passing through security, which would mean he was in the sterile area beyond the checkpoint itself. There is a lot of crap in the typical back half of a checkpoint. I have tripped over other passengers bags, clothes, shoes, children, etc. more times than I can count.
If it was something that happened during the screening process then it would be captured on CCtv and both the airport authority and TSA would have access to it. As soon as the sun comes up today I think I will give them a ring to find out if they reviewed it.
Good point, the photo shows him in what looks like your standard airport chair. I assumed he was in a wheel chair, but the photo implies he is fully ambulatory.
Sounds like TSA wasn’t particularly interested in doing much to help the guy. They really couldn’t spare one of their additional friskers to lend him a hand, or even take five seconds to call somebody? I wasn’t there, but it sounds like he was shit outta luck until Mr. Duffner acted on his own initiative.
If that’s the case, add it to the long list of “Fuck TSA and the horse they rode in on” complaints. I’m sure not all TSA employees are jerkoffs who get off on petty power, but the ones I have dealt with usually fit that mold.
In any case, God bless Mr. Morris for his sacrifice and Mr. Duffner for his kindness. Lord knows there should’ve been people lining up to offer assistance. Not just because Mr. Morris is a wounded vet (not all amputees are veterans, but in this day and age a multiple amputee his age almost certainly is), but because it should be a no-brainer to demonstrate compassion for someone who is unfortunate enough to have lost important parts of themselves. Compassion, being neighborly, Christian charity, hell, basic human decency! That Mr. Duffner was the only one who bothered speaks volumes about him, and about our society in general.
Indeed, God bless Mr. Morris and Mr. Duffner for assisting him.
The story does however state that he was waiting for his flight when he twisted the leg. But since we are assuming things here, why don’t we assume that since Mr. Duffner is lead mechanic for American/USAir that it happened in the concourse that they fly out of, D. Since you have to cross a very long sky bridge after passing through the screening checkpoint above Terminal 1 baggage claim (C/D checkpoint to be precise) to get to the D concourse, let us assume that there wasn’t a single “extra frisker” in sight. The final assumption is that nobody else tried to help. The story tells us that Mr. Morris and his girlfriend asked several airport employees for assistance but nobody had the right type tool. It wasn’t until shortly before his flight while he was on the phone asking for someone to come to the airport with the right tool that they were approached by Mr. Duffner, after word from other airport/airline employees reached him.
There are always turds in the apple barrel, but I will make one assumption of my own; treat them with respect and they will return it. Just a thought.
OSC – you’re fighting a tough battle, standing up for TSA! But thanks for reminding us that not everyone in that bureaucratic borg of policies and red tape is an irredeemable villain!
Thank you Mr. Duffner sir. Thank you indeed. Well done and you make me proud.