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| Home Front: WoT |
| Drop those nose hair clippers, soldier! |
| 2005-05-31 |
| By Dave Hirschman | Thursday, May 19, 2005, 11:01 AM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Airline flight attendants wouldn't be ignored during their pre-flight safety briefings if they could perform like Lt. Col. John King — or at least use his stage props. Speaking to 280 fellow soldiers before they boarded a chartered DC-10 at the start of their marathon flight from Savannah to Kuwait City earlier this week, King was thunderous, blunt and well armed with an M-16 rifle slung over his shoulder. "Interfering with a flight crew is a serious crime," he told them. "Don't be stupid. Don't be a moron. Don't even joke about going to Havana. That's not where we're headed today." King, who in civilian life is the Doraville police chief, rolled his eyes at the FAA regulation that requires soldiers — all of whom were armed with an arsenal of assault rifles, shotguns and pistols — to surrender pocket knives, nose hair scissors and cigarette lighters. "If you have any of those things," he said, almost apologetically, "put them in this box now." Nearly every seat on the all-coach Omni Air International plane was full. The few seats that weren't were crammed with backpacks, helmets and other bulky equipment that wouldn't fit in the already jam-packed overhead bins. A few dozen mostly low-ranking soldiers were promised first-class accommodations for volunteering to load the belly of the plane with a couple of truckloads of heavy equipment. When they got onboard, they saw they had been hoodwinked. There was no first class. If anything, their 10-abreast seats were even more confining because they were packed into an even narrower space. "I can't believe I volunteered for baggage detail," one sweaty soldier said. "You didn't volunteer," another told him. "Good." Never volunteer for ANYTHING. I don't know about the rest of you but I feel safer knowing that the TSA is ever vigilant. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #1 |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-05-31 17:09 |