Welcome Home Boys - Well Done
Do not know if this is true or not - a friend, whom I trust, sent it to me - fun read anyhow.
"
> As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the
> following:
>
> When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram
> Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no
> groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.
> Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to
> stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the
> Indiana National Guard. That's where the stupid started.
>
> First, everyone was forced to get off the plane-even though the plane
> wasn't refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than
> let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to
> a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a
> male/female latrine.
>
> It's probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons.
> Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also
> carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of
> course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo
> well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.
>
> The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload
> all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected.
> Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by
> U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a
> one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area,
> the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again:
> Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected,
> re-inspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever.
> So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.
>
> This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were
> carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying
> pistols.
>
> So we're in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had
> his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it
> gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a
> pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that
> they're going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went
> something like this:
>
> TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.
>
> Soldier: What? I've had them since we left country.
>
> TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.
>
> Soldier: Why?
>
> TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.
>
> Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a
> weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.
>
> TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the plane. You don't
> have bullets.
>
> Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?
>
> TSA Guy: [awkward silence]
>
> Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get
> out of here. I'll buy you a new set.
>
> Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]
>
> To top it off, the TSA demanded we all be swabbed for "explosive
> residue" detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from
> a war zone], because we tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who
> is hiring these people?
>
> This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233
> people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine
> guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.
>
> Can someone please tell me What happened to OUR country while
> we were gone?
>
> Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy
>
>
> This is my personal note to add: It should be kept in mind that although
> these men carried weapons with no ammo, they are trained to use those
> weapons in hand to hand combat so it would have been real easy to take
> over that plane, or at least beat the lovingcrap out of anyone that tried
> to do it with a pair of nail clippers."