So, here I am, hurtling through the air at a significant fraction of the speed of sound, 29,400 feet above the ground according to the Plane Finder app on my iPad, and I'm feeling a little whiny because of the elbow room here in redneck first class. Paging Louis CK.
Turbulence ahead someplace. Captain says anybody who needs to go potty should do it now, although not in so many words.
Handy travel tip for the armed traveler.
More later. I'm going to look down on Illinoisans for a bit.
"I'm going to look down on Illinoisans for a bit."
ReplyDeleteI used to do that bit, too ..... but they have accomplished so much lately that I find I have to look up to them!
-jimbob86
For those who aren't internationally travelled military contractors (most of us), I just maintain it's cheaper and easier to keep two separate sets of bags. One set is for range and other gun use. The other is for actual travel.
ReplyDeleteI don't need high quality travel bags for the range. A good bag for airline use isn't what I want to use for the range. And a set of actual quality luggage (partial to the Victorinox Werks line) costs less than the legal fees ones might involve if you end up needing the TSA to remind you that the loose handful of .22 in that bag cannot go on that airplane with you.
I always look down on Illinoisans. Have a good trip. Looking for AAR's soon.
ReplyDeleteI don't take my range bag on flights, but my purses have been to gun school and fun shows.
ReplyDeleteI don't travel enough to warrant a special airplane purse.
We came back from an Eastern Europe NATO dog and pony show by way of Paris. My boss at the time was dressed in operator -lite fashion, 5-11, SWAT boots and a pack with enough Molle loops to lash down a Hummmer. Fun and game ensued with French customs officers as I watched from 30 yards away. He was released minus his carabineers which were determined to be weapons.
ReplyDeleteHe then failed the attitude test on some additional screening and went into a full O-6 melt down when they did a full bag dump and strip search.
Great fun that still makes me smile.
Gerry
When I lived in Wisconsin they were called Illannoyances.
ReplyDeleteanon@12:10
ReplyDeleteit was probably all the molle on the pack that gave him away more than anything else.
I wear the blackhawk TNT pants everyday around cube dwellers with dress boots and no one has ever batted an eye.
they freak out about the leatherman on the belt though :-/
I have a gigantic black Maxpedition bag I use for work and the range. I traveled with it - once. I dumped it clean, but the residue wipe made the TSA drone go pale and take a few steps back before she could find the breath to call for help. I barely made my flight, but only because I was three hours early and I could explain it. The CPD guys at O'Hare saved me, but I wouldn't try it again.
ReplyDeleteI fly with a MOLLE-covered Maxpedition Fliegerduffel and Gearslinger. I must look harmless.
ReplyDeleteMe and my buddy went to LAS right after Gunsite and the powder on is shoes set off the alarms. He was detained and I continued on my merry way and was smugly through my first beer at the gate when the TSA and 50 showed up. Boy, were they grouchy.
ReplyDeleteN5
Whilst in the Land of Port you should see if your hosts can take you to visit the Grilled Cheese Grill or Pacific Pie Company.
ReplyDeleteAnd a visit to Belmont Station might make you think we like beer, here. As of Tuesday, they have 1327 different beers...
Raise your hand if you've ever told the TSA guy while he was breaking out the residue swabs, "Um, yeah, you're gonna get a hit on the bags."
ReplyDelete{grin}
Of course, flying out of a major airport in a major military area, reasonably fit, with short hair, a farmer's tan, with OD aviator bags with my name stenciled on or an old BDU nametape sewn to them was the only explanation he really needed. He still had to do the bag dump, apologizing the whole time. No problem.
The Maxpedition Fliegerduffel is my clean travel bag. That thing rocks, and I don't get a second look. It was the residue the wipe picked up that freaked the TSA drone out, not the molle. I've never gotten a comment on the actual construction of the bag. I'm sure you appear as clean as the driven snow. :)
ReplyDeleteMy ex's bag reacted to the wipe once when flying out of a medium'ish size town in the Rockies. Truly had no idea how it could have been "infected", she was just visiting. I was standing there when it happened. She was totally clueless why it reacted. To the question from the screener I said "Uh, what? um....we went shooting a couple days ago,...and I reload ammo, could that be it?"
ReplyDeleteThey did a dump, and no scary stuff was discovered, they let her get on the plane back to Alaska. Nobody had a cow though. It went pretty smoothly.
@Tam: Two sets of bags should not be trusted, either. Not unless you do the same tedious dump and load every time.
ReplyDeleteI used to travel cross country every other week (for years). Kept two sets, but shit moves on its own (I swear). TSA found a 40 S&W round at Balt-Wash in my bag. They made a (polite) big deal out of it by having the staties check me out and then holding the round high in the air and in no small number of words called me a dipshit in public. Yep...TSA did the public shame thing on me before the trooper told me to "dump it every damn time."
But that was my "clean" bag. It was segregated from anything that would even touch powder, because post-9/11 they were doing the scratch and sniff on everything and trace powder was a PIA. Problem is my clean bag got something stuck in it that maybe fell out of a pocket of some pants. Who knows. All I can say is that the brand they found I ran out of two years earlier. So that thing was probably wedged deep for a long time before getting picked up on that one X-Ray.
Anyway, separate bags won't save you from the dump. TSA might be your best friend if you are leaving CONUS, though. Hope they find what you might miss.
PS: TSA at BWI is generally used to duty personnel with gun parts. We are heavy mil in this area. Not so sure they would be so cool with the same situation in West Palm Beach, for instance. Or New Jersey, etc.