I know the Marine in question. He is actually a Navy Chaplain. The Navy supplies Chaplains to both the SeaBees and the Marines. He has completed two tours in Iraq, the first was with the SeaBees. He was then stationed in Southern California with the Navy and was transferred to HI last year, where he completed this most recent tour in Iraq with the Marines based out of Kaneohe, Hawaii. He’s an honorable man. I have no doubts about the veracity of his claims. While some have sought to focus on the “spitting” aspect of his e-mail, what really should be focused on is the thoughtless treatment these brave men and women received at the hands of OAK airport officials. The charter flight was operating under “sterile” conditions according to my contacts at TSA and the Marines and soldiers should have been granted the same access to the terminal at OAK that they were given at JFK. The OAK airport official’s statement is nothing but bureaucratic song and dance. They know they were in the wrong, they’ve treated troops returning from theater this way before (during the current conflict) and should immediately ensure they grant US soldiers traveling on charter flights operating under sterile conditions the same treatment the US public receives. OAK is after all a publicly funded airport.
I know what you are saying. Since Friday, Sept. 21, my wife and I have traveled from Raleigh, NC to Tucson, AZ. We have been in RDU, Atlanta, Tucson, Minneapolis-St.Paul and back to RDU airports. Lay overs were long so I got to see a number of troops both male and female in the airports. ALL were treated with the respect, honor and dignity that these heroes deserve at each of these places. People were smiling to them, shaking there hands and just saying thanks for a job well done. It makes my blood boil when I see them treated as nothing more than common criminals by complete idiots who do not deserve any protection from those that wish us nothing but harm. Also, remember that two of these airports are in blue states.