He got tagged for a random extra screening and then the swabbing showed a false positive for handling explosives. The whole calling for supervisors, bag searches, pat downs, rechecks and standing around waiting process took about 15 minutes, much of which included young Voljean crying. It was a ridiculous scene of mindless bureaucracy.

I do realize that these people were just trying to do their jobs, but when multiple security officers asked why this confused child being held up in security was crying I felt like saying that he was crying for an America he will never see that was the land of the free and home of the brave.

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When my Marine battalion was on the way to Iraq, we had  a layover at JFK. We weren't even allowed out of the secure area, but TSA felt the need to roll in a mobile metal detector, X-ray machine, and screeners at the gate.

So there I was, with 150 other Marines, taking off my combat boots to go through security screening. I asked the embarrassed young lady what the point of this was...what, with me having a RIFLE ON THE PLANE and all. It was just a tad ridiculous. TSA sucks.