Posted by Lew Rockwell on February 11, 2010 04:08 PM Writes Todd Fuller:
While returning from a work trip in Reno yesterday, I happened to be on the same flight as 3 young amputees that were without a doubt military “veterans.” I have a difficult time using that term since these were just kids. I’d guess their ages to be around 22 to 25. I must mention that I’m fully anti-war and do not subscribe to the “support the troops” mantra. However, I did serve in the Navy and therefore realize that choices made at a young age don’t always have to define who you are for the rest of your life. I looked at these young kids and couldn’t help but well up a little. Not because of some ridiculous notion that they had made this “sacrifice” for my freedoms but because for the first time I was seeing a little bit of the horror that this war has brought up-close and in person. Sure I’ve seen plenty of WWII and Vietnam vets with missing limbs but that was different in that they were old men (at least from my perspective). These kids were half my age and as a parent of a son of about the same age, the sight of these poor boys just got to me a little.
Now to the gist of my story: As I made my way through the line to the security checkpoint, the 3 “vets” and the gentleman that was escorting them were heading to the front of the line. I motioned for them to go ahead as it was my turn. The lady checking IDs didn’t see them standing there and she motioned to me to step forward. I pointed to my right and said that they can go ahead of me. It was at this time I became curious to see how this situation would be handled. Obviously, since they were essentially ½ metal, they couldn’t pass through the metal detector without setting off the alarm, but I naively thought to myself that surely they’ll let these boys on their way since they had been injured on the front lines of the same “War on Terror” that these TSA a**holes are supposedly fighting. But as you’ve likely guessed, all 3 of them were herded to the side to be further searched in full view of roughly 40 people in line at the time. To see this happen made me sick to my stomach and I wondered how these kids felt about this. I doubt they even thought much about it as they’ve probably reasoned that it’s just one relatively minor inconvenience compared to what they’re already dealing with.
The sad irony of the situation will be something that I’ll remember the rest of my life and is something I felt worth sharing with you and your readers.