Do not fuck around in a national security area.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Do not stand close to a man with a gun.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Never, ever walk quickly up to an armed officer and try to walk behind
\nhim on his gun side.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Is this self-evident ? Do these seem like stupid things to do? They
\nshould.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There are so many travelers in a self-centered oblivious rush that I
\nalmost knocked half a dozen on their butts today for doing just these
\nthings. But I should back up:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When you fly into the international terminals in San Francisco there’s
\na series of zones and processes you go through. Each one of these has
\nrules with very good reasons for each, even if they’re not immediately
\nevident. First, you exit the plane and walk down the jetway. You may not
\nwait in the jetway, because it will get congested if you do, and you may
\nnot return to the plane. If you forget something on the plane, ask an
\nairline representative to go get it for you. Next you walk down the
\nSterile Corridor. It is “sterile” because the only people in it are
\nemployees and people leaving flights that have recently arrived. Sweeps
\nare done by the Rovers to ensure nobody is hiding in the bathroom or any
\nof that nonsense. YOU may not see a reason to hid in a bathroom, but
\nthat’s because you’re not up to mischief. Those who up to no good think
\nit’s a great idea. The Rovers are also specially trained to recognize
\nmischief makers as they get off the plane. Don’t even ask.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Next you enter the Immigration Inspection Area. Choose your side (U.S.
\ncitizens & Residents or Other) and wait in line. Don’t get uppity when you
\nhave to wait 15 minutes to get inspected – you’re one of thousands
\npassengers off of dozens of flights. Get over it. There are five classes
\nof people who try to intimidate Inspectors: smugglers, illegal immigrants,
\nterrorists, felons and idiots. We’re not intimidated, so don’t behave like
\none. The Inspector will mark your Customs Declaration with a series of
\nmarks which tell others what should happen to you. Some mean the INS, US
\nCustoms Service or Agriculture Department want to take a closer look. Some
\nmean you’re free to go. Some tell how many people are in your party. Keep
\nthis form out: it’s your ticket out of the airport. No, we won’t let you
\nout if you don’t have one. And no, we don’t care if you’re an American
\nCitizen, just in transit or don’t speak English.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The next officer you meet is the Document Checker. He’s there to make
\nsure you didn’t leave anything at the inspection booth, that you have a
\nCustoms Declaration (without which you will be escorted back by armed
\nguard) and to make sure bad guys don’t escape (and they do try). Then you
\nget your baggage and go to Customs\/Agriculture who sniff you with beagles
\nand black labs, search your bags if you’re interesting and point you our
\nof the airport.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Today I was assigned the Doc Check, which I generally don’t mind.
\nExcept for the oblivious souls who think that whatever I’ve asked of the
\nlast 300 passengers on their flight doesn’t apply to them and try to push
\nright by. The Command gets them to stop in their tracks and back up
\napologetically. Then there are the idiots, who seeing a small crowd
\nwaiting think it’s a good idea to push behind<\/i> me. On my gun side.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I hate that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
No. I really, really hate<\/strong> that. I catch them moving quickly The first one had the curtesy of saying “Excuse me” as he tried to push NO!!<\/font><\/p>\n “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” he says.<\/p>\n “You should be,” I snarl. “NEVER walk behind me on my gun side.”<\/p>\n “Yes. yes.”<\/p>\n “It’s really<\/i> good way to get hurt.”<\/p>\n “Yes sir. I understand.” I wasn’t so civil with the next guy. P.S. I got this reply: You take your job way too seriously. Chill out, I do take my job seriously. I guess if I’m going to do it, I might as Though to put things in perspective, that’s what I had to write about Do not fuck around in a national security area. Do not stand close to a man with a gun. Never, ever walk quickly up to an armed officer and try to walk behind him on his gun side. Is this self-evident ? Do these seem like stupid things to do? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[20,21,23],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-the-line","tag-immigration","tag-national-security","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ntowards my gun out of the corner of my eye and I feel a needle of
\nadrenaline pierce my heart. There’s no thought, just reaction. I Command – I flash right with a block – I shield my gun – I am coiled to attack. The
\nfirst joker with too much momentum is going to get knocked on his ass. I’m
\nnot looking at their face for intention: I’m looking at their hands to
\ndefend and their center-of-mass to strike. The Power Voice freezes them,
\nat least it has so far. But that leave me with fight-or-flight juice
\nrunning through me and neither as appropriate responses. This causes
\nstress. Stress makes me angry. From pleasant to evil in 0.5 seconds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\npast.<\/p>\n
\n15 second later he and everyone else there was gone and my pulse was
\nreturning to normal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n——————<\/p>\n
\nit will all be okay in the end.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nwell do it right. I figure any day I make it home alive is a good day.
\nIt’s just those moments when it seems possible I won’t that… yeah. It’s
\none of the definite downsides to being armed. Statistically, I’m more
\nlikely to be shot with my own gun than someone else’s. So much for a gun
\nmaking you feel safe.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nthat day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"