Exactly... I don't know what airlines you were all flying, but I never got the extra-screening proctoscope.
Displaying ID and orders promptly put a stop to that nonsense every time I traveled... then again, we were a bunch of surly field-grade officers, mostly physicians and surgeons. On our way back from OEF, we were tired, dirty, and not going to put up with that sh*t. When the ranking officer of our little group (a colonel, and orthopedic surgeon) started growling at the TSA person, they apologized and backed down.
You just have to know the regs, and the rules... quote them chapter and verse, and the person you're dealing with will usually back off.
TheGrayman,
It does help, I’m an AD USMC field grade officer. It also helps to know the actual rules and regulations then stand up for what is right.
2002 coming back from the Philippines via San Francisco for a meeting and had an encounter with a liberal TSA individual that was sure of her position and authority. Basically she decided to have and attitude and assert her authority making up the rules stating in a very condescending manner “well I’m on the front of the fight on terrorism”. I refused her requests and those of her immediate superior and demanded to see the boss. The boss showed and tried the same BS with the excuse that they were on the front line of terrorism. After about ten minutes of public spectacle they decided to let me continue with my trip. I gave them my return trip information ten days later and offered them a chance to be on the front lines of the war on terror as I had Marines in Basilan and the Stans and I could help out. My offer wasn’t well received.
I’ve had other instances of TSA issues but they always end up backing down when it is proven they are in the wrong.
S/F, FOG