TSA's policies
After three tiring days of travel, I recently arrived back in Afghanistan, where I’m serving a 15-month deployment with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. I had just completed my midtour R&R leave, which I spent with family in my wonderful hometown of York, PA.
Saying goodbye to family and friends is always difficult, but it is considerably harder when you’re leaving your loved ones to travel to a war zone, where your life is in constant peril. Thus, you can imagine my dismay and despondency at the disgraceful treatment I received from the Harrisburg International Airport’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners.
After saying a tearful goodbye to my parents and grandmother, I entered the security screening line with my fellow civilian passengers. I was traveling in my Army Combat Uniform under military orders, with airfare paid by the U.S. Government. I dutifully presented my military ID card, removed my combat boots, took off my dogtags and belt, emptied my pockets, and walked through the metal detector.
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Much to my chagrin, the detector beeped upon my entry. Now, a rational person would recognize that a white, female, U.S. military officer (especially one headed to a combat zone, to defend her country in support of the Global War on Terror) does not fit the profile of a terrorist. However, our friends at the TSA thought otherwise.
After I set off the metal detector, the screener actually saw the need to call for additional security. They then pulled me into a segregated area, where they proceeded to wand and physically pat me down. The process was absolutely humiliating.
The TSA treated me, an American Soldier returning to combat, like a common criminal. Moreover, the screeners actually mentioned that I’m not the first Trooper to undergo this ignominious treatment. Apparently, frisking our Service Members is a rather common occurrence for the TSA.
To make matters worse, my mother and grandmother were there to witness the entire disgraceful spectacle. Thanks to the TSA’s absurd policies, our already stressful farewell was made all the more agonizing. Heaven forbid something should happen to me while on this deployment, as I am loath to think this debacle could be my family’s last image of me.
By now, you’re probably wondering what dangerous object spurred the TSA’s hands-on search. Well, it turns out I left a pen in my sleeve pocket. Yes, that’s right – nothing more than a metallic ink pen. You can sleep well knowing the TSA is on guard – vigilantly preventing U.S. Army officers from carrying concealed pens onto aircraft.
First, the TSA said no “hazardous” liquids like water or coffee; no “dangerous” items like gel shoe inserts or cigarette lighters; remove your shoes to enter security; take your laptop out of its bag for screening; place all toiletries in a quart-sized ziplock bag (and make sure your items don’t exceed three ounces!). Now, they’re disrespectfully frisking redeploying Service Members – all in the name of security.
When contemplating the TSA’s increasingly draconian policies, I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s oft-quoted statement, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” I’m serving my country because I believe in defending Americans’ freedoms. The TSA’s ridiculous policies do not make us safer; they simply provide a facade of security while curtailing our inalienable right to liberty.
Nicole L. Gross
Bagram, Afghanistan
Nicole, thanks a million for what you're doing in Afghanistan!!!!! My son is in Warrior in the 82nd (John Cook) and I am so proud of him too - he comes home for his mid-deployment leave in Sept. I know you are all doing your very best there and you don't deserve this disrespect from the TSA. My deepest apologies for their deplorable behavior.
You are all loved and deeply appreciated in this home in Colorado!!! You can pass that on too!
Blessings and thanks, Dee