Quote :

"Minnesota Marine on terror watch list MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota reservist who spent the past eight months in Iraq was told he couldn't board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist. Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown, who was in uniform and returning from the war with 26 other Marine military police reservists, was delayed briefly in Los Angeles until the issue was cleared up. The other reservists arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as scheduled, but instead of immediately meeting their families, they waited on a bus for Brown. "We don't leave anybody behind," said Marine 1st Sgt. Drew Benson. "We start together, and we finish together." Brown arrived more than an hour later. "A guy goes over and serves his country fighting for eight or nine months, and then we come home and put up with this crap?" Brown said. Brown, 32, of Coon Rapids, was returning from service in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq, known as the dangerous Sunni Triangle. He ran into problems at the Los Angeles airport on Tuesday morning. "I was told it was going to take some time because they informed me I was on a government watch list," Brown said. "People at the Northwest counter said they had to call somebody to get me cleared." Brown also had airport trouble when he was trying to go to Iraq - and he missed his plane then as well. He was trying to board a plane last June for training in California before heading to Iraq in September. But Transportation Security Administration screeners found gunpowder residue on his boots - he had been back from a previous tour in Iraq for two months and sometimes, Marines in Iraq get gunpowder on their boots. "I tried to explain what was going on, that I'd just got home and was going back again," Brown said. "They made a big stink about it, and I ended up missing my flight to California." A spokeswoman with the TSA told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Tuesday she was unfamiliar with Brown's case and not comment on it. A TSA spokeswoman did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press on Wednesday."

via BoingBoing

definitely worth the short read

i can see all sides of the story except the government's. i see the flight agent's, the marine's, etc. just can't figure out how the fuck this dude got on the no-fly list.

4/14/2006 4:03:52 PM

daniel brown

theres only 109039 of them in this country.
might as well put john smith on the fucking no fly list.

4/14/2006 4:10:24 PM

You'd think they would realize you were on the no-fly list before you walk in the door to the airport.

I guess a little foresight is too much to ask.

And it's easier to screw up your customer's itinerary than to investigate these things when they first make their reservation.

In any other industry a business that runs like that would be filing bankruptcy.

Oh wait.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-09-18-our-view_x.htm

4/14/2006 4:38:53 PM

I'm on the no-fly list as well and I have no idea why. It was pretty all-of-a-sudden as well. I fly nearly every week for work these days and one day the self-check kiosk printed out some stub and said to see the Ticket Agent.

I did and they informed me that I was on the no-fly list due to "having a common name of suspected terrorists." (I guess a similar name theoretically *could* be on the IRAs member roster, but even *that* would be a stretch). I summarily laughed at the comment and asked how to have myself removed from said list. They told me that it was the TSA and not American Airlines that kept the list and that I would have to go to their web site and check it out.

I did that once I reached my destination and even there, after you give them all of the requested information (which I didn't) they inform you that even this step will not get you off of their list.

What's curious to note is that the no-fly list has, in my case anyway, only affected the outbound leg of the flight. With all returning flights to RDU, the kiosk works just fine. When questioned about this, the TSA and American Airlines admitted that they presume that the outbound leg is the "dangerous" one. WTF?

Anyhow... I just print the boarding pass at home and no worries anymore.

TSA - Thousands Standing Around

4/14/2006 5:19:09 PM

Quote :

"Coon Rapids"

4/14/2006 6:01:52 PM

Quote :

"Brown also had airport trouble when he was trying to go to Iraq - and he missed his plane then as well. He was trying to board a plane last June for training in California before heading to Iraq in September. But Transportation Security Administration screeners found gunpowder residue on his boots - he had been back from a previous tour in Iraq for two months and sometimes, Marines in Iraq get gunpowder on their boots. "

Gotta love it when journalists interject smart-ass comments

4/14/2006 8:09:54 PM

obviously they got him mixed up with that terrorist who wrote The Davinci Code.

4/22/2006 10:43:19 PM

Does anyone feel safer with these clowns on watch?

4/22/2006 11:01:07 PM

well, i had a good experience once. a cigarette lighter had apparently fallen through a hole in my jacket pocket, and into the lining at the bottom of my jacket. I didnt know it was there til it went through the x-ray.

two TSA dudes were on my jacket, trying to get it out for about five long minutes, and then they had to get their supervisor. i was really getting nervous that tehy were gonna take me in a back room and apply battery charger clamps to my nipples or something. my wife was about to shit her pants. and shes already pissed that i havent quit smoking yet.

but the supervisor found the hole in the pocket and fished the lighter out through it.

i was like "wow, i thought i lost that one two months ago. thanks!" of course then i had to throw it away.

but i was relieved and happy. and my faith in the competence of our nations airport security screeners had been greatly increased.

so I cant say anything bad about them now.

4/22/2006 11:44:49 PM

ha, applause because they didn't act like fucking retards!

4/23/2006 12:28:39 AM