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Government Protection in a Terrorist World
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Government Protection in a Terrorist World
Or
What not to take With You on Your Next Flight
by
Mac Saylor
CalNRA.org Contributing Editor
17 June, 2002 - Before I start my story, let me inform the reader that I have worked as a guard using all the security devices that one sees at an airport - and more.
After my last (and I mean my last!) airline ride, I felt fully field-stripped. I have seen other articles on the same topic by others who have experienced the embarrassment, the humiliation that some have come to accept as part of being safe. If that is how you feel, feel free to fly the Friendly Skies - along with the F16's at your wing tips who are ready to blow your so-safe aircraft from the friendly skies, in case some deranged terrorist takes over the aircraft with a sharpened ????? (No, I am not going to give anyone any ideas).
This is what happened to my wife and I as we were returning to the sunny beaches of California, from the sunny, windswept plains of a tornado infested West Texas town, which I shall leave un-named for purely sympathetic reasons.
My wife and I arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the now long process of boarding a plane. We check our baggage at the counter and asked for our tickets. They then looked at us rather strange and stated they would need to check our baggage. They performed a physical search that would make any US Customs Agent proud. I kept checking to see if my turban was showing.
Proceeding to the metal detector protected by an armed National Guardsman, I emptied what little change I had out of my pockets, removed my watch, wedding ring, belt buckle, and my jacket which had a metal zipper and grommets. I stepped through the detector. No bells, whistles or alarms. After having stepped through, I was informed by the security attendant (female) that she would have to search me. Now I don't consider myself hard to look at, but a female magnet I am not. Doing as I was told, she "wand'ed" me. That is to say she took what looks like some kind of hand-held paddle, which in reality is a hand-held metal detector. She ran this, just inches from my person, all over my person. I think she was miffed that she didn't find anything. I did my research. My shoes don't even have metal shanks in the arch support areas. A rare find these days.
Well, finally we made it to the boarding gate. So far, I have had 2 metal searches for me along with x-rayed personal effects and hand - searched baggage. Well, I guess my anti-American sticker was showing because the gate attendant informed me that I had been selected to be searched prior to getting on the plane.
Now, you gotta remember that every time we are searched, the passenger must produce an identification card (government issue type). Well, what the hay. I had been showing my drivers license. So when they asked again for some (government issued ID), this time I flashed `em my military ID. They were impressed! It took them a minute to realize that I was somebody. "Sergeant, please step over here and remove your shoes and your belt." I was stymied. This some kind of variation on a doctor's visit? I didn't like my last doctor's visit and this was headed down the same pathetic path. After a thorough metal search and pat-down (if they don't find it - search harder), I was reluctantly given a boarding pass.
After arriving at my seat aboard the aircraft, the thirty-something lady, upon hearing about my near strip-search, remarked "now, don't you feel safer?"
Yea, right lady. I was not able to sit by my less lethal looking bride of 25+ years. Instead, I got to sit next to a rather portly woman, sitting next to the emergency exit. You know the exit. The one the airline attendants always remind you that you must be willing and able to open the door should there be and emergency. The woman sitting there, should there be an emergency, would not have fit through the door. I'm not really sure she would be able to extricate herself from her seat. Matter of fact, this un-friendly hen party (6 seats - 4 women) would have probably been complaining of several factors should any be asked to do anything for any reason. Only the two middle seats were vacant. I took one, my wife took to a row behind me. Later on, I found out from my wife just how un-friendly these fellow passengers were.
You ever find yourself in a situation where you don't want to talk to anyone around you? I was feeling very uncomfortable with 4 strange women who looked like they would rather deal with the scum-of-the-earth than me. With that, and the feeling rapidly becoming mutual, I decided to do some reading.
It really helps being in a Texas airport. The newsstand carried some gun magazines. I had picked one up with an AR rifle prominently on the cover with "GUNS & MORE GUNS" in big bold white lettering. Not really, but I am not advertising and you get the picture. When I broke out that magazine and poked my nose into it, I noted a deafening silence come over the whispering ladies. On my end of the plane, one would be able to hear a pin drop on the carpet! Ahh - peace and solitude at last! One last look over the top of my magazine, revealed the women's eyes were riveted to the cover of my rag.
Now, believe it or not, and this is strange, some how I felt safer. I don't think the women did. But I sure did. The woman who had asked me if I didn't feel safer now after having all but strip-searched, now looked as if she were reevaluating that question on a more personal level. At some level, I now commanded the respect of distance. If not physical then at least I was not to be approached by anything trivial. Only, in the most dire situation would any of these women want to broach that distance by conversation.
Arming a pilot, you know, the guy who not only flies the plane but is actually in charge of it, appears to make a lot of sense. Ship's captains are basically the fall guy on a ship. Being in charge, as they are, has some bennies as the military would say. Benefits is what is meant by "bennies." If there is a Marine detachment, the ship's captain commands that as well as a Master-At-Arms (MAA) force (ship's police) . Should no marines exist aboard ship, the captain still has the MAA force. In both cases, both can be armed in a moments notice. From what I have seen, the Marines are much quicker in picking up their hardware.
Arming the Pilot and aircrew makes a whole bunch of sense. If, a terrorist manages to get on armed with a plastic knife, then the aircrew can subdue them or dispatch them. True, some innocent bystander could get hurt. Maybe even more than one. I would rather that happen than see one of our own (or anyone else's) fight shoot down a commercial airliner full of innocent passengers to save - what? Do we kill a hundred or so of our own people to save more lives on the ground? If we are truly concerned about saving lives, then our job is to save as many lives as we can. We should contain the threat and confine it to the smallest area to reduce damage and loss of life.
Don't think it can happen to you? Think again.
A friend of mine in a medium size hospital was working when commercial security company brought in a convict serving time at a contract prison. The prisoner was in for the longest time - life. This was a bad case. His escort were two guards. When the doctor and nurse came into the room to treat him, the guards left the room to provide the prisoner and medical staff some privacy. When the doctor left the room, our dear felon, sized the moment - locked the door and sized the two nurses as hostages. He ended up tying one up, beat the heck out of the other and ended up tying her up.
What ensued was comic book tragedy. The guards, reluctant to take action fearing the safety of the nurses, called the police but never entered the treatment room. The SWAT team arrived with police in tow. Armed with Infrared Night vision and some pretty sophisticated equipment, our boys in blue were stymied. Not wanting to endanger the lives of the nurses, they were prompted to try and negotiate with the convict and not much else.
Over a period of about 4 hours, the rest of the hospital staff were treated to the screams, cries and wails as the two female nurses were repeatedly beaten and raped. A lull in the noise behind the door finally indicated some point at which they could enter by force. Satisfied, but concerned his life could be in serious jeopardy, our convict gave himself up.
End result: Security, police and SWAT basically did nothing while two nurses were repeatedly raped. The unarmed felon was safe with two innocent nurses, behind double doors locked with nothing more than duct tape.
My point: Don't rely on others for your safety. Safety starts with you. If you can pass a background check, there should be no reason why you can't pack heat anywhere in the US of A via whatever transportation you use either open or concealed. Safety should be about protecting you not disarming you.
Just my own thoughts.
http://www.calnra.org/ms52.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Or
What not to take With You on Your Next Flight
by
Mac Saylor
CalNRA.org Contributing Editor
17 June, 2002 - Before I start my story, let me inform the reader that I have worked as a guard using all the security devices that one sees at an airport - and more.
After my last (and I mean my last!) airline ride, I felt fully field-stripped. I have seen other articles on the same topic by others who have experienced the embarrassment, the humiliation that some have come to accept as part of being safe. If that is how you feel, feel free to fly the Friendly Skies - along with the F16's at your wing tips who are ready to blow your so-safe aircraft from the friendly skies, in case some deranged terrorist takes over the aircraft with a sharpened ????? (No, I am not going to give anyone any ideas).
This is what happened to my wife and I as we were returning to the sunny beaches of California, from the sunny, windswept plains of a tornado infested West Texas town, which I shall leave un-named for purely sympathetic reasons.
My wife and I arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the now long process of boarding a plane. We check our baggage at the counter and asked for our tickets. They then looked at us rather strange and stated they would need to check our baggage. They performed a physical search that would make any US Customs Agent proud. I kept checking to see if my turban was showing.
Proceeding to the metal detector protected by an armed National Guardsman, I emptied what little change I had out of my pockets, removed my watch, wedding ring, belt buckle, and my jacket which had a metal zipper and grommets. I stepped through the detector. No bells, whistles or alarms. After having stepped through, I was informed by the security attendant (female) that she would have to search me. Now I don't consider myself hard to look at, but a female magnet I am not. Doing as I was told, she "wand'ed" me. That is to say she took what looks like some kind of hand-held paddle, which in reality is a hand-held metal detector. She ran this, just inches from my person, all over my person. I think she was miffed that she didn't find anything. I did my research. My shoes don't even have metal shanks in the arch support areas. A rare find these days.
Well, finally we made it to the boarding gate. So far, I have had 2 metal searches for me along with x-rayed personal effects and hand - searched baggage. Well, I guess my anti-American sticker was showing because the gate attendant informed me that I had been selected to be searched prior to getting on the plane.
Now, you gotta remember that every time we are searched, the passenger must produce an identification card (government issue type). Well, what the hay. I had been showing my drivers license. So when they asked again for some (government issued ID), this time I flashed `em my military ID. They were impressed! It took them a minute to realize that I was somebody. "Sergeant, please step over here and remove your shoes and your belt." I was stymied. This some kind of variation on a doctor's visit? I didn't like my last doctor's visit and this was headed down the same pathetic path. After a thorough metal search and pat-down (if they don't find it - search harder), I was reluctantly given a boarding pass.
After arriving at my seat aboard the aircraft, the thirty-something lady, upon hearing about my near strip-search, remarked "now, don't you feel safer?"
Yea, right lady. I was not able to sit by my less lethal looking bride of 25+ years. Instead, I got to sit next to a rather portly woman, sitting next to the emergency exit. You know the exit. The one the airline attendants always remind you that you must be willing and able to open the door should there be and emergency. The woman sitting there, should there be an emergency, would not have fit through the door. I'm not really sure she would be able to extricate herself from her seat. Matter of fact, this un-friendly hen party (6 seats - 4 women) would have probably been complaining of several factors should any be asked to do anything for any reason. Only the two middle seats were vacant. I took one, my wife took to a row behind me. Later on, I found out from my wife just how un-friendly these fellow passengers were.
You ever find yourself in a situation where you don't want to talk to anyone around you? I was feeling very uncomfortable with 4 strange women who looked like they would rather deal with the scum-of-the-earth than me. With that, and the feeling rapidly becoming mutual, I decided to do some reading.
It really helps being in a Texas airport. The newsstand carried some gun magazines. I had picked one up with an AR rifle prominently on the cover with "GUNS & MORE GUNS" in big bold white lettering. Not really, but I am not advertising and you get the picture. When I broke out that magazine and poked my nose into it, I noted a deafening silence come over the whispering ladies. On my end of the plane, one would be able to hear a pin drop on the carpet! Ahh - peace and solitude at last! One last look over the top of my magazine, revealed the women's eyes were riveted to the cover of my rag.
Now, believe it or not, and this is strange, some how I felt safer. I don't think the women did. But I sure did. The woman who had asked me if I didn't feel safer now after having all but strip-searched, now looked as if she were reevaluating that question on a more personal level. At some level, I now commanded the respect of distance. If not physical then at least I was not to be approached by anything trivial. Only, in the most dire situation would any of these women want to broach that distance by conversation.
Arming a pilot, you know, the guy who not only flies the plane but is actually in charge of it, appears to make a lot of sense. Ship's captains are basically the fall guy on a ship. Being in charge, as they are, has some bennies as the military would say. Benefits is what is meant by "bennies." If there is a Marine detachment, the ship's captain commands that as well as a Master-At-Arms (MAA) force (ship's police) . Should no marines exist aboard ship, the captain still has the MAA force. In both cases, both can be armed in a moments notice. From what I have seen, the Marines are much quicker in picking up their hardware.
Arming the Pilot and aircrew makes a whole bunch of sense. If, a terrorist manages to get on armed with a plastic knife, then the aircrew can subdue them or dispatch them. True, some innocent bystander could get hurt. Maybe even more than one. I would rather that happen than see one of our own (or anyone else's) fight shoot down a commercial airliner full of innocent passengers to save - what? Do we kill a hundred or so of our own people to save more lives on the ground? If we are truly concerned about saving lives, then our job is to save as many lives as we can. We should contain the threat and confine it to the smallest area to reduce damage and loss of life.
Don't think it can happen to you? Think again.
A friend of mine in a medium size hospital was working when commercial security company brought in a convict serving time at a contract prison. The prisoner was in for the longest time - life. This was a bad case. His escort were two guards. When the doctor and nurse came into the room to treat him, the guards left the room to provide the prisoner and medical staff some privacy. When the doctor left the room, our dear felon, sized the moment - locked the door and sized the two nurses as hostages. He ended up tying one up, beat the heck out of the other and ended up tying her up.
What ensued was comic book tragedy. The guards, reluctant to take action fearing the safety of the nurses, called the police but never entered the treatment room. The SWAT team arrived with police in tow. Armed with Infrared Night vision and some pretty sophisticated equipment, our boys in blue were stymied. Not wanting to endanger the lives of the nurses, they were prompted to try and negotiate with the convict and not much else.
Over a period of about 4 hours, the rest of the hospital staff were treated to the screams, cries and wails as the two female nurses were repeatedly beaten and raped. A lull in the noise behind the door finally indicated some point at which they could enter by force. Satisfied, but concerned his life could be in serious jeopardy, our convict gave himself up.
End result: Security, police and SWAT basically did nothing while two nurses were repeatedly raped. The unarmed felon was safe with two innocent nurses, behind double doors locked with nothing more than duct tape.
My point: Don't rely on others for your safety. Safety starts with you. If you can pass a background check, there should be no reason why you can't pack heat anywhere in the US of A via whatever transportation you use either open or concealed. Safety should be about protecting you not disarming you.
Just my own thoughts.
http://www.calnra.org/ms52.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878