Blue Collar Muse

Karl at Leaning Straight Up has an infuriating post up yesterday morning. What’s infuriating is not what Karl said - it’s what he reported on.

Titled ‘San Francisco’s Military Disease Spreads to Oakland’ it chronicles the shabby, disrespectful and outright insulting treatment accorded our troops passing through Oakland’s airport on the way from Iraq to their base in Hawaii. Most disturbing is that this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened to troops in this airport.

Karl’s report contains an excerpt from an email making the rounds.

The first stop for fuel/food and crew change was in Leipzig Germany. Troops exited the aircraft and took a bus to a reception area in the terminal, where there was a convenience store, phones, Internet and restrooms. As we exited the bus we were given a re-boarding pass. Three troops remained on the plane with the rifles and pistols. There was no ammunition on the plane and the bolts of the rifles had been removed. After about 2 hours troops re-boarded the plane and flew to JFK in NY.

At JFK the procedure was similar to Germany, 3 troops stayed on the plane to guard weapons while the rest deplaned. At the gate we were each given a re-boarding pass and spent about 1.5 hours in the terminal, at which time we re-boarded and flew to Oakland.

As we came in for the final approach to Oakland a Lieutenant who served in Afghanistan with the same unit in 2006 mentioned how when they landed in Oakland they were not allowed in the terminal. He said, “they made us get out by the FED EX building and we had to sit out there for 3 hours”. He also indicated he was almost arrested by the TSA for getting belligerent about them not letting the Marines into the terminal.

Well, the same thing happened again. This time we did not park by the FED EX building, instead we were offloaded near the grass that separates the active runway from the taxi ramp, about 400 yards from the terminal. When we inquired why they wouldn’t allow us in the airport they gave us some lame excuse that we hadn’t been screened by TSA. While true, the screening which we did have was much more thorough than any TSA search and was done by US Customs. Additionally, JFK didn’t seem to have a problem with our entering their terminal, nor did security in Germany.

But y’know, dissent is the highest form of patriotism and the Left is all about supporting the troops. You’d think it would be safe to trust the Left at least on something so basic as respect for the troops protecting them. But you’d be wrong …

Wondering if I have mentioned recently that Oakland is also a Sanctuary City …

Blue Collar Muse

SEE ALSO:

Oakland Airport to US Marines: You’re Not Worthy at OC Blog
What Happened to Our Troops in Oakland at Michelle Malkin
Spitting on the Marines at National Review
Fake [?] Anti-Troop Email Making RW Rounds at Daily Kos
Official TSA Statement on the Matter at TSA.gov
Can We Question Their Patriotism Yet? at Wake Up Americans

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