TSA or T&A ???

[Ken_gone_flying]

Most of the ones in Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, and New Orleans have been.
This was the first polite one I came across in my last 5 flights, but I guess it is in your best intrest to be polite to a person prior to grabbing their junk.

There is a awesome TSA employee that works at the JAX airport. I went through there on a couple occasions and both times after seeing my military ID he gave the same spiel, he said, "Thank you for all you do for our country. I want you to know that my family and I appreciate it."

 

[Clux4]

Yes some of it is public knowledge. However, it's must like they teach most of us during our military training, even if it is open source you do not talk about it becuase your position lends crediability and allows your opponents higher confidence in the validity of the information.

Don't you have some toilet paper to issue to a fighting Marine somewhere? Some Marine who is not a know-it-all REMF?

I am not sure I can answer that question. Definitely want to be OPSEC conscious!

Most of the ones in Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, and New Orleans have been.
This was the first polite one I came across in my last 5 flights, but I guess it is in your best intrest to be polite to a person prior to grabbing their junk.

If you just smile at the guy before he grabs your junk, he might just loosen up a little. I think I am just fine with the xray.

 

[m26]

If you just smile at the guy before he grabs your junk, he might just loosen up a little.

Or he might think you're into it

 

[phrogdriver]

I think there are some upsides to this whole nudity thing.

 

[HeloBubba]

"Incredible" health risk? You're getting more radiation exposure from the cosmic rays hitting you at altitude in the airliner than you are in one of the scanners. The health risk angle is a smokescreen put up by the anti-scanner folks.

The radiation exposure at altitude in the aluminum tube has been well-documented and many years' worth of data (60+ at this point) has been collected, pored over, conclusions drawn, and knowledge gained. Compare/contrast that to the use of back-scatter x-ray at the airport. While some say it is OK and some say it is bad, we truly don't know. And probably won't for a while.

So I'll admit my phrase "incredible health risk" was hyperbole, but at the same time, I think it best to avoid the back-scatter until we really know the long-term health risk of its use.

 

[Clux4]

So I'll admit my phrase "incredible health risk" was hyperbole, but at the same time, I think it best to avoid the back-scatter until we really know the long-term health risk of its use.

We used backscatter x-ray's in Iraq before we started using it at home. Don't know if there is any difference with the ones we used then and the ones here in the states.I doubt there are any significant health risk associated but then, you never know. I guess we have a test-bed going. Watch out for low-birth rate or something that disastrous in a few years.

 

[BACONATOR]

Simple answer: Profile. It works. It's not PC, it offends some people, but damn if it's not the truth, and works.

I'm completely willing to risk being blown up or taken hostage on a plane than to have to sacrifice my dignity and 2 hours of my time waiting in a security line to be "screened" by a knuckle-dragging, borderline retarded, drooling, high-school educated idiot. Do they have some sort of federal status and/or protection if one was to assault them? I wonder....

 

[phrogdriver]

The radiation exposure at altitude in the aluminum tube has been well-documented and many years' worth of data (60+ at this point) has been collected, pored over, conclusions drawn, and knowledge gained. Compare/contrast that to the use of back-scatter x-ray at the airport. While some say it is OK and some say it is bad, we truly don't know. And probably won't for a while.

So I'll admit my phrase "incredible health risk" was hyperbole, but at the same time, I think it best to avoid the back-scatter until we really know the long-term health risk of its use.

You won't have that data for 60 years, either, then. Guess you won't be getting an MRI anytime soon, then, either. The back-scatter isn't black magic. It's just a more advanced version of already existing imaging technology.

 

[eas7888]

by a knuckle-dragging, borderline retarded, drooling, high-school educated idiot.

I think you're giving the average TSA 'Agent' too much credit.

 

[A4sForever]

... Do they have some sort of federal status and/or protection if one was to assault them? I wonder....

Probably a BAD idea, no matter how much it might satisfy ones frustrations ... as they are Federal "officers" (they're 'officers', now ), on duty and in the performance of their assigned duties ... :sleep_125

The good news: the TSA 'officers' are likely to be unionized in the near future unless sanity prevails. Yes ... UNIONIZED into the AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) and affiliated w/ the AFL-CIO as a result ... Trumpka and the AFL-CIO are pressing hard towards the hoop on this one. If if happens, it will result in 45,000 more government bureaucrat non-trade union members, resulting in more of your tax dollars flowing down the government drain-hole as a result of negotiated work rules, pay, benefits, and assignments for bureaucrats -- all in the name of "security" -- and, of course -- less accountability from an organization that is already not accountable to the traveling public.

It makes one wish the SS LURLINE still made the run to Honolulu ... *sigh*

SS LURLINE Arriving in Hawaii on her 1940s Maiden Voyage following WW 2.

 

[C420sailor]

I went through Jackson, MS and New York JFK this week and neither security checkpoint was doing body scans or pat downs. It was the old school x-ray/metal detector combo.

 

[Swanee]

Apparently Adam Savage (the guy from Mythbusters) got through the screener with 2 twelve inch blades on him, TSA didn't see it. Did the imaging machine not detect it or did the TSA agent fail to do their job?

 

[C420sailor]

Did the imaging machine not detect it or did the TSA agent fail to do their job?

You forgot option number three: he's full of shit.

 

[HeloBubba]

You won't have that data for 60 years, either, then.

So by that logic, we are just finding out now about the health risks of flying at altitude.

Guess you won't be getting an MRI anytime soon, then, either.

Sooner than you might think. MRI systems don’t use ionizing radiation, like other imaging devices do (you know, x-ray machines) and have been in use for over 30 years with no documented adverse affects. Whereas the adverse affects of extended x-ray exposure IS well documented.

The back-scatter isn't black magic. It's just a more advanced version of already existing imaging technology.

You are correct that it isn't black magic and it indeed may be a more advanced version of already existing (x-ray) imaging technology, but its long-term affects are still unknown. Unless you want to admit that it just uses run-of-the-mill x-rays to do its job, then we know exactly what the long-term affects are.

 

[A4sForever]

So by that logic, we are just finding out now about the health risks of flying at altitude...

That's one of the dirty little 'secrets' that the FEDs and the airlines have been hiding for at least a decade + ... that a disproportionate number of (especially international) airline flight crews -- cockpit and cabin -- have been contracting and dying of cancers of various kinds -- all out of proportion to their number(s) in the general population. The Feds & airlines want it 'kept quiet' because of the astronomical potential liability. I've had many of my former flying mates die or contract cancer ... by their middle '60s.

Remember ... the long-haul jet stuff at altitude just started @ 45 +/- years ago with any great numbers of crew members involved ...