A decorated United States Marine who almost died from injuries suffered during the Iraq War says he’s being treated as a terrorist when he tries to clear security checkpoints in the US.
Retired Marine Cpl. Nathan Kemnitz, 29, has begun to speak
publically after a recent encounter with Transportation Security
Administration agents at California’s Sacramento International
Airport left him with yet another bad taste in his mouth thanks
to TSA screeners.
Kemnitz, a Purple Heart medal-recipient, said a recent stop at
the airport in California’s capital ended with a humiliating
experience that was only made worse when he tried to attend to
attend a ceremony in town honoring him as veteran of the year.
Both recent incidents, he said, has left him feeling like a
terrorist.
When Kemnitz was asked by TSA agents at Sacramento International
to raise his arms up during a security screening, the decorated
vet said he could not comply because a war injury rendered one of
his appendages almost immobile.
“My right arm doesn’t work. It’s a lot of hassle for me to do
that,” Kemnitz told Military Times.
Then when Kemnitz went to attend the ceremony in his honor at the
California Capitol Building, screeners yet again hassled him at a
security checkpoint. In that instance he was asked to remove his
Marine uniform adorned with numerous awards “because he was
wearing too much metal.”
“At some places I’m treated like royalty and at some like a
terrorist. There’s got to be something in the middle,” he
told Military Times.
“He kind of looked around on me and said, ‘Whoa. There’s
a lot of metal on you,’” he recalled to an ABC
affiliate.
Kemnitz said it wasn’t an easy task to accomplish given the
roadside explosive injury that has left him partially paralyzed
since 2005, and added, “Even getting into that uniform, somebody
had to help me.”
Patricia Martin, a friend of Kemnitz who accompanied him to the
award ceremony, wrote a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric
Shinseki asking him to investigate the incidents.
“What does a uniform and heroism represent if our own citizens
– in this case employees of the TSA and security personnel – have
no regard for them?” she wrote.
“I feel so strongly that you need to know just how shamefully
even a Purple Heart recipient/disabled veteran can be treated by
some TSA and security employees,” she said.
Ross Feinstein, a federal spokesperson with the TSA, issued a
response on Monday apologizing for the conduct but standing by
his agency’s actions.
“Our intent is to treat all injured service members and
veterans with the dignity they deserve,” he wrote. “As
always, all passengers with disabilities and medical conditions
are eligible for screening procedures sensitive to their
particular disability, medical condition or other unique medical
circumstance.”
“Transportation Security Officers have to resolve any anomaly
detected at the checkpoint,” Feinstein continued. “As is
standard procedure for all passengers, if travelers alarm when
passing through a metal detector or an advanced imaging
technology (AIT) unit, additional screening is required in order
to resolve that anomaly.”
Mark Hedlund, a spokesperson for the California Capitol Building,
also dismissed the notion that the screening before the award
ceremony was anything out of the ordinary.
“We have the utmost respect for our veterans,” Hedlund
told the ABC station. “But people who come to the Capitol,
just like when you go the courts or get on an airplane, we have
to go through the screening.”
To Kemnitz, that treatment doesn’t sit well given all he’s done
to defend his nation.
“You could almost say the terrorists won because now we’re
searching our own men and women in uniform,” he said.
Republished with permission from: RT