04-12-2006, 08:22 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Junkie
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This just screams out that TSA/GOV has no common sense
http://kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=122933
Quote:
You'll hear a lot of mottos in the military. One key phrase is "hurry up and wait," which definitely applied to the friends and families of 29 Marines returning from Iraq Tuesday.
They spent a couple extra hours waiting at Fort Snelling because one Marine had to spend a couple extra hours at a Los Angeles airport.
"My surprise was when he told me he wasn't making the flight with the rest of his unit," says Terry Brown, mother of Staff Sergeant Dan Brown.
Brown, who has now served two tours of duty in Iraq, couldn't get through LAX security.
"They took him aside and said, you need to come with us, you're on the federal watch list, you're not gonna be able to fly," says First Sgt. Drew Benson, a family readiness officer.
When Brown left the Twin Cities for Iraq last June, airport security found traces of gun powder on his boots from his first tour of duty. Brown was briefly detained then but didn't know he was placed on a watch list.
The unit had no choice but to fly out of L.A. without Brown. But they refused to drive home without him.
"They left here together as a unit, they're coming back to this site as a unit," says Cary Brown, the Marine's father.
Brown's unit waited for him at the Twin Cities airport, so they could all arrive at Fort Snelling together. They were following another motto: Never leave anyone behind.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," Brown says.
He was allowed to catch the next flight home, but he's still baffled he was held back in the first place.
"You're in uniform, you're carrying orders, you're carrying an ID card," Brown says. "Let's use a little common sense here."
He now hopes to clear his name from the list.
"I've been fighting terrorism for the last 16 months in Iraq," he says. "I don't think I should have to come home and deal with this."
Brown's parents say they understand the airport security people needed to do their jobs, too.
The Browns will now work with local politicans to get his name off the list.
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__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."
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