Time for a rant or story...guess it depends on perspective:
A few years ago I was coming home from a deployment. I can't begin to tell you what goes through your mind on that ride home. Thinking about my old lady, my little boy that I had to leave which was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, buddies still down in the shit, buddies that didn't make it back from the shit and so on. I had a shit ton of connecting flights to make it back home and the sad truth is that I was treated WAY better in the airports in Europe than how I was treated in states...pathetic.
I get to O'hare airport and had to scramble through that huge airport to make a connecting flight. Of course I get screened a total of four different times...the whole package search...bags, shoes, scanner, etc. My great grandparents came off the boat from Ireland and the first thing they did was change around our last name so now nobody can figure out where it is from. Irish, British, German, Japanese, Arabic...the list goes on. In other words, me and my family always get nailed on these "random" searches each and every time we head to an airport. Anyways, I get to the final gate where I am about to get on the final flight to make it back home and I get tagged one more time
I had kept my cool the other three times in just that airport but now I hit my saturation point because this was the last flight on my agenda to get back to my family and I only had minutes to spare before they locked the doors. So I tried to play the military card which is the first time I have ever done that. I told him who I was and that I was a non commissioned officer in the US military, showed him my military ID, and told him that I was coming home from a hard deployment and this was the final stop until I got home. Renta-cop couldn't give a shit and pointed to the side and told me where to put my bags down so they could be inspected and for me to take my shoes and coat off yet again so I could be searched. At this point, I really was struggling to contain my anger as I threw my bag onto the table and was telling marshmallow ass and his supervisor how fucked up this was. Some of the people in the loooooooong line were even yelling forward 'let him through', 'this is bullshit.'
At this point it got personal with me because in my mind, it was this fat ass that was holding everything up...everything I went through and now just wanted to get back and make up the time with my family was going to be delayed because of him...it got personal. He made the comment to me that how I was behaving wasn't necessary or appreciated and that I was just making things worse. Then he made the crack that all I was doing was trying to get special treatment and that he didn't give a shit where I came from. I told him that his fat ass didn't know the first thing about security unless he was going to chase down a fucking krispy kreme. I made that comment and it obviously triggered something in him because he reached up and grabbed my shoulder to "guide" me over to the table where I was to be searched. All the stress of everything that I went from the pre-deployment all the way to getting back home downloaded in the nano second that he touched me. I turned around, knocked his hand up towards the ceiling with my left hand and latched right onto his fat throat latch with my right hand and just squeezed. I looked up to see security screaming down towards me and all I could think was 'keep squeezing until they pry you off him.'
Needless to say, I missed my flight. I was arrested, brought back to one of the special rooms to be questioned. First Sergeant was called, people called in to verify for me. It was a VERY fun and eventful five hours. Of course by this time the airport had its last flight departed and I was stuck overnight and had to wait another day to get back home. I finally did get back and there was Mrs B06Tang holding my boy with tears in her eyes. What she told me was priceless: 'damn you! You pulled that and made us wait another day to see you but I wouldn't have you any other way. Welcome back love.' I have been blessed with a good woman...a real good woman. So I guess put my vote into the column for the explosion booth...it will save me time to get home after my next deployment.
