I'm sorry General, your Medal of Honor looks like a weapon

[Niteshift]

Did anyone else see this?

On 11 January 2002, retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph J. Foss of Scottsdale, Arizona, was attempting to board an America West flight bound for Arlington, Virginia, when airport security held him for 45 minutes while they debated what to do with a variety of suspect items he had about his person.

This 86-year-old former governor of South Dakota was on his way to attend a National Rifle Association meeting and to speak to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and he carried with him his Medal of Honor, as well as a Medal of Honor commemorative nail file and a dummy bullet which had been made into a key fob.

Each of these items was regarded as a potential security risk by airport personnel: the bullet for being a bullet, the nail file for being a nail file (metal nail files are now banned on flights in the USA), and the Medal of Honor for being a suspicious five-pointed metal object that might have been a weapon (similar to the Japanese throwing stars).

After being repeatedly searched, Foss was allowed to board the plane with his Medal of Honor, but he had to mail the bullet and nail file home to himself.

Granted: The bullet should have caused concern and I think it was maybe a little lack of common sense to try to take it on. Likewise, the nail file is banned for everyone else, so this man should be no exception.......... but the Medal of Freaking Honor????? Not one of these knuckleheads realized what it was???

Oh, have we raised a generation that uneducated in the ways of the military?? Pretty ironic if you ask me.

[occiferdave]

To us, a MoH is the apex of service.

To the airport security guy, it's a piece of metal that's shiny.

Sad....

[klar]

I think it is sad that a medal of honor winner was subjected to this type of treatment. I think that airports around the USA needs to have their people be able to reconize a military medal and the fact that they have military officers there they should have been able to identify this medal as being the medal of honor and let the person continue his travels. I highly doubt that a medal of honor winner is going to overtake any plane. NExt thing you know they will be stopping police officers from carring weapons into the secured areas.

Klar

[jarhead6073]

"The bullet should have caused concern and I think it was maybe a little lack of common sense to try to take it on."

If this was the same as the kind that I've seen before. I probably had and eye bolt screwed into where the primer should be and any security person should know that it is nonoperational. Especially after it being inspected by supervisors and what not.

The nail file has gotten enough publicity that maybe he shouldn't have brought it. But that's a policy that I don't agree with anyway.

And as for the Medal of Honor. That's a no brainer. It's inexcusable. They should have seen it said have a nice day sir.

BTW, not only was Joe Foss a Marine fighter ace in WWII, govenor of South Dakota, he was also one of the founders of the NFL.

[Niteshift]

I'd go along with keeping the bullet off for one reason: People are skittish enough right now, so why not just avoid the "appearence of evil"? I mean we have people freaking out because a person of Arab descent is on the plane and guys trying to set off bombs in their shoes....... I can buy off on not allowing a bullet keychain.

Let's face it, even before 9/11, I posted a thread about how they would let you carry a pocket knife on the plane, but not one with a serrated blade......despite the fact that the flight I was on did in fact have steak knives aboard for passenger use.

[Mike Tx]

Yeah it's pathetic. I think the government is totally out of control. If they'd 'allow' the pilots to be armed....


Speaking of the "Arab Descent", Isn't that where they come down from 37000 feet and land in the side of a building?