17 January 2010
(Names have been changed to protect the unsuspecting)
We just got here today after three connecting flights, and to our great surprise, Air Canada and United Airlines managed not to lose or break any of our luggage. Although, at Dulles, as we sat in our flying cigar tube waiting to depart, because we were all waiting for the Canucks on board to get their luggage loaded from the last flight, Luscious Doug {luscious because we have two Dougs on our crew, and he picked that nickname using a twisted humour fostered during his years in the Navy, to be able to differentiate between the two during discussions and orders (0) groups} looks out his window and says, “Hey, there’s somebody’s luggage out on the ramp that fell off the baggage wagon, and it looks suspiciously like ours, being that one of them is a green duffle bag.”
As we and some other passengers kept watch for 15 minutes as the luggage soaked up some extra pounds of water until finally, the handlers discovered the errant gear, figured out which plane it belonged to, and loaded it. A woman whose husband was sitting next to me recovering from wiping out down the steepest, narrowest wet stairs I’ve ever seen placed at the end of a jet way to commute us to our plane on the wet tarmac, told us about various horror stories of lost luggage in her dealings with UA. I mentioned the United Breaks Guitars songs and she knew of them, but my fellow Chinook training buddies knew nothing of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg
After which, the pilot announced an apology for the departure delay due to waiting for some luggage to be consigned. The mood in the plane was instantly lightened as our group comprising almost ¼ of the aircraft passengers laughed at the pilot’s comment, even though someone in the group was bound to experience a soggy unpacking. And although my luggage was not part of the ramp misadventure, my kit was still soaked on the outside at my final destination.
There is a lesson here which I recall from Mario, someone I worked with in a Tactical Helicopter Squadron (TacHel Sqn), who I ended up working with again at our training school until he recently retired. He’d invested in some killer Samsonite luggage, and when queried about the expense, he said he’d never have to invest in another set of suitcases. They ain’t the “Joe Vs the Volcano” giant box baggage, but Mario’s luggage would have kept anything safe and dry, in spite of the UA luggage handlers at Dulles.
In the CF, we now have these humungous Multi-Operations Boxes (MOB) made by Pelican. They’re great. Fold down handles on three sides, built in wheels and with pull out handle to drag like regular luggage, and you can even seal them in vacuum or with an inert gas should you choose to. Problem is, Civilian Airlines, which the military is dependent upon to move our troops domestically in this ever increasingly globalized Western world of interdependent military interaction and training, won’t take them aboard because they’re just a tad too big.
http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/816043
I used to use a smaller version to transport computer equipment we use for aircraft maintenance purposes, and combined with the foam padding, nothing matched it for protection and portability.
But you’d think an industry, whose fair skies they are allowed to use by the very existence of western military forces, would work something out and allow our MOBs to be used, as we hasten throughout the Western World to meet our obligations. Somehow, they’ll take skis, golf clubs, and other large cumbersome objects of diversionary amusement and frolic, but not the chosen, better than Samsonite, gear of the protectors of their way of living. As a result, we must palletize and ship this luggage overseas on our C-177 Globemater III, weeks in advance if we wish to have it when we get on the ground flying civie air, or even on our very own CC-150 Polaris (the A-310 Airbus for the rest of the planet).
http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/v2/equip/index-eng.asp
As we kept our levity about the absurdities of air travel, I couldn’t stop thinking about Richard Reed. Y’all remember him, or has his name already slipped into anonymity as the e-book, I-pod, Wi-Fi connecterd (no, it isn’t a type-o) land where most of our fellow Canadian masses have become disconnect from their history, and their most recent history, and quickly adapt to changes and forget to be outraged why these changes exist.
Richard Colvin Reed, the Shoe Bomber, who embraced Islam, the Religion of Peace (forever known from now on as ROPTM) and became Abdul Raheem aka Tariq Raja, was a British citizen. Long story short, he was Islamistized by Muslims in British prisons, indoctrinated in British Mosques and trained in Afghanistan by Al-Queda. He is now currently serving consecutive life sentences in the comparatively, that is to what they provide in Dar al-Islam, cushy prison system of the USA .
For Al-Dicky’s efforts, I stood at Dulles, for the ump-teem time, taking off my belt, dog-tags with my wedding ring through the chain, loose change, coat, laptop, and SHOES off, to go through security, again. God forbid I’d been at the range the day prior, I might have come up positive for gunshot residue (GSR) as they swiped my hands with their detector swab wand. I looked over at my Sargeant in line next to me and commented, “It used to be such a nice planet.” And then loudly said, “We can all thank Richard Reed for this!” The Sarge seemed to know who I was talking about, so I complimented the comment by relating the shoe bomber story, and I could see he got it, but as usual, throughout, we never lost the humour to be found in it.
And of course, I got pulled aside to get checked because I had “something” in my jacket. Apparently, two lighters in an airport provided Ziploc baggy is one more than is allowed. To bad I had to throw out three bottles of water before each plane ride that I could use to put out somebody’s explosive underwear fire. But after this final, but not final, check, I had to stop and get my carry on checked again, and another GSR swab of my hands done.
Being in the Air Force, I’ve been lucky to have been flown around in CF aircraft. If only civilians could experience the joy of walking off an aircraft with your own luggage strait to your car. That fantasy come true only exists on our tactical aircraft. Therefore, it’s been a while since I’ve flown commercial. The last time was around ’97. Considering all the security changes already done due to the hijacking rage of the 70’s, by then, we’d already taken the hassles of flight travel as the cost of getting to our destination quickly. And even the ridiculous need for service personnel to store their multi-tools and nail clippers in their baggage on service flights was taken in jest post 9/11.
As each un-pre-boarding-thwarted self emulating attempt by a Muslim terrorist makes the headlines, these cheap attempts at terror end up costing the free world far more than our IED preventive measures. Think of the man hours of extra security, the cost of the delays incurred, and the panic as the Western PC MC afflicted Governments try to come to grips with a situation without calling a Spade “a Spade” when the Spade (named the followers of ROPTM) is the one changing the industry, but we can’t just deal with “the Spade,” we need to deal with all, just in case all the other cards in the deck might start acting like “the Spade,” when they’ve shown no such inkling until you started to let “the Spades” ride with the rest of the deck.
And speaking of cards, don’t nobody pull the “racist” card on that last little rant ‘cause, please, just what race is Islam?
We have enough rights and common sense in our democracies and republics to realize that if we were to segregate Muslims to their own flights, it would certainly force some kind of reformation of their cult so that they could finally be allowed into the safe zones we’re creating, because that is what they are: Safe Zones. The “Creep” is already here, awakened by the Spade, and embraced by the Left. Yes, the “Left,” the purveyors of big Government and more taxes to bring the citizenry into their abject destiny of the proletariat. But, in the end, the Safe Zones that we have come to accept in Government controlled areas of travel are only a short step away from Government involvement in all other forms of transport. Are we but a generation away from full biometric scanning requirements to appease the misplaced relativistic PC MC mindset of the sleeping masses fueled HRC indoctrinated public servants of the Creep? I think we’re closer than that.
99.9% of travelers are not a security threat. And I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure 100% of NATO and European military personnel flying commercial are definitely not a threat (Major Hassan never got on a flight). But like every elder westerner who’s suddenly discovered the reward of 72 virgins, the nun who is hiding explosives in her crucifix to hasten her reward in paradise, or the Yamaka wearing passenger who will suddenly renounce his religion and embrace Islam detonating his Torah, we’re all the possible threat. We’re all relativisticly grouped together as terror threats because the management can’t differentiate between one portion of the planet that follows an ideology bent on world domination at any cost, and the rest of the planet, who for the most part, just want to get along (not so fast Kim Jong-Il and President Chavez, you guys get to ride in the short bus).
I’ll guess the air industry has spent far more on security improvements and didn’t even think twice about adding some anti-slip strips to the steep punched metal steps. Not only was it my seatmate who took a header, but I also saved the man behind me from a swine dive as I descended those wet slippery six inch wide steep steps of doom. Being of the flight line, I am automatically aware of safety issues, and how to safely navigate such unsuspecting hurdles; not so for the common traveler lulled into a sense of false security after being poked, prodded and examined in various states of undress.
The traveler of today, distracted by the terror immunity scam imposed on all is too distracted to notice that once you’re out of the Safety Zone, all bets are off, regardless if you’ve forgotten to turn on your common sense ‘cause the people that work at airports can’t afford to have any – and point out that the nun in line doesn’t need a strip search – let the Jew keep his shoes on because he’d rather be flying El Al – and realize that maybe a moistened metal egress gradation in temperatures hovering around 0 C is more of a health threat.
Me, the traveler, I’m just another security threat, not a valued customer, and not a welcomed passenger requiring journey on my own dime, well, in my case, the taxpayers, but you get the idea. If you want a glimpse into what living in our future police state is going to be like, go take a commercial flight and enjoy the experience of being processed in the air transit hubs which keep the modern globalization of our western interconnectivity alive. Considering how far we’ve come in accommodating and paying for the additional security, all for an ideology which does not reciprocate anything we give it, it’s time we realize we’ve got our heads up our ass, and have managed to do it by bending backwards far too much, rather than in the traditional position:
http://www.goofigure.com/images/library/heads_up_ass.jpg
Update: Welcome BCF readers!
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