Here's another reason.
I travel. I don't like being told what to do. I hate waiting in line. I hate silly regulations.
But I don't hate the TSA.
They have a rough job.
They have to look for an ever evolving type of threat, from underwear to shoes to bottles in over 3 ounces of liquid. They have to try and find every danger they can, and people get mad when they have to open a bag.
They are told that they cannot profile, and then people get mad when they search a 13-year old girl from Topeka, because they have to legally assume she is as much of a threat as the 3 guys from Pakistan who bought one-way tickets with cash.
They are told they can't have frequent flier security checks where people are pre-cleared, and then people get mad when lines are long.
They have a rough job and if a plane ever hits the Golden Gate Bridge, people will ask, "How come you didn't increase security.
They have a job that is thankless, except for me. I thank postal clerks and the lady in the booth at the gas station. And I thank TSA people. And I smile. Guess what. People smile back. The gas station lady likes me, and it didn't cost me anything.
It has been 10 years, and people wonder, "Why do you have to search my purse or pat down my body?"
As R. Kip said,
"O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play."
Makes me feel safer, even though they are "fighting the last war." But! Releasing a guys urine bag? This is necessary? For the second time? After they did it to him once before, appologized and were supposed to refine their rules on this? C'mon, phil! How about expecting people to find a happy medium instead of basically saying, "it's OK to cover an innocent man in his own pee." Gawd! I'm beginning to think you are just knee-jerk argumentative.
PS: I thank TSA people, too. And I've never had an experience like the one I cite. But that doesn't excuse it. It takes phil to find a way to do that. And then you do the heart-tugging Tommy Atkins bit? Nice warped parallel. Now TSA people are unsung heros like the slaughtered British Tommies. Give me a break.
Of course I can't defend everything that a lot of people do. But look at the numbers.
YOu have tens of thousands of people searching millions of passengers and millions of bags in tousands of locations every day in a mind-numbingly boring job.
In a month you are getting pretty close to a hundred million searches. (Rough estimate, but do your own calculation.)
Are some people and some searches going to be stupid. Hell yes. Damn stupid.
Yes, Tommy Atkins was a slight exaggeration. But it is the front line of a thankless battle. My point is is is easy to knock those who serve. During WW II there was a view, "They also serve......."
Some soldiers never see the font line. They translate code from an office in Montana. They were trained as translators, and it was pretty clear they would never be on the troop ship when the tide begins to roll.
PS: I thank TSA people, too. And I've never had an experience like the one I cite. But that doesn't excuse it. It takes phil to find a way to do that. And then you do the heart-tugging Tommy Atkins bit? Nice warped parallel. Now TSA people are unsung heros like the slaughtered British Tommies. Give me a break.
Glad you agree the TSA's action in this case was "damn stupid." But the Atkins ref was more than a slight exaggeration. I mean, really, do you think it's an apt comparison to equate a code-breaker in Montana with a TSA pat-down "expert?" I agree they are important, but...
PS: "They also serve who only stand and wait" is by British poet John Milton, who died a few hundred years before WWII. His greatest opus was "Paradise Lost." It's worth a read.
First, the dams stupid actions of damn stupid individuals is no reason to hate the organization, which was the starting point of this thread.
Yes. There are lots of insignificant people in any struggle. If you don't like the code breaker in the safety of an officer's club in Montana, who spent his entire basic training in language courses in Monterey, here are some you can sink you teeth into.
A cook at Ft Dix, or an auto mechnic at Ft. Hood. They proudly wear the uniform, and they may not be up for the next Congressional Medal of Honor. Yes, the civilian volunteer who spends 8 hrs a week at the police department answering phones, so a cop can be on the street.
Of course I respect the guy who just got out of the trenches more. That should go without saying. But all those people are necessary.
PS: "They also serve who only stand and wait" is by British poet John Milton, who died a few hundred years before WWII. His greatest opus was "Paradise Lost." It's worth a read.
Yes, I started out by saying "one more reason to hate the TSA" but I quickly pointed out I actually do value their work, except when it veers into this kind of mis-behavior. So please stop trying to distort or ignore what I said subsequent to that. And where did I disrespect people who "proudly wear the uniform" but don't fight on the front lines? You are now making up thoughts and attributing them falsely to me. Seems like you haven't really read what I actually wrote.
I am sorry, but you started out with "one more reason to hate..." and you didn't "quickly" point out that you value their work. In the OP there was nothing along those lines.
Then in your second post, it was in a PS that you recognized their value.
I didn't say "YOU" disrespect peole who aren't on the front lines. I said (or I meant to say) that many people do not recognize those contributions as important.