Update from Oakland Airport: Hill Top Aviation Official: "You Remember the Guy from My Lai?"

Later today, I was able to get a hold of an official at Hill Top Aviation, a tenant of Oakland Airport. He told me that his company stationed military passengers 400 yards away from the terminal at the directive of operations officials at the Oakland Airport. However, he also told me that it was his company who communicated to the Airport the inability to get a definitive answer from Airlift Command and the chartered Airline whether the personnel were properly screened per TSA regulations.  Now, it’s also important to note that he could have contacted TSA directly whether they had met these conditions, but from the conversations we had he indicated that he didn't.

He also said that earlier on that same day a smaller group of troops were able to enter a sterile area.

The following quote from the official is especially noteworthy:

I know everybody wants to be patriotic, but we wanted to err on the side of caution. Military personnel have to go through the same screening as any other passenger.

These are people with weapons. Some of them might be crazy. Do you remember the guy from My Lai?

The remark about the notorious Lt. Calley is offensive to those who wear the uniform and alludes to Hill Top's seemingly lethargic efforts to offer serious and special care for the troops, but it's important not to overlook the port of Oakland's authority to swiftly determine the status of these passengers as they have access to TSA in their facility.

Comments

[Milk Man]

Hey man, I think the airport officials know they screwed this one up.

Jonathan you need to proofread your posts and do spell check and grammar check before you submit.

[Billh]

Milk Man:

You are more worried about grammar and spelling than you are about what happened to our Marines? The bay area is so far our of touch with reality that it doesn't matter how bad it gets, they still want to bash our military. Gay marches are fine, but no military honor guards? You people are either very sick or very stupid. Maybe both.

[redperegrine]

Jeez maybe this whole thing was nothing but a bureaucratic SNAFU, you know, like what happens in the military all the time - in fact they invented the acronym.

All this handwringing and wailing is getting a little redundant. I'm wondering if the guys who were chasing around Al Qaeda and Taliban crazies trough the most god-awful terrain on the planet were really all that traumatized by their time on the tarmac.

[Patricia]

The quote about Calley shows how pervasive is the belief (due to literary and film and academic indoctrination) that all vets are savages. It's now the default position.

[brian]

For those who don't know Ron Dellums the Mayor of Oakland as far left as he is is a former Marine and is on this

[Military Mom]

Hilltop seems like a great company

http://www.cta-otc.gc.ca/rulings-decisions/decisions/2002/A/462-A-2002_e.html