THE DAY OF TERROR - Chapter 2

Imagine my surprise when Congress was going to federalize the aviation security screeners. That would be at least 45,000 opportunities to again regain some of what I had before. On paper it sounded good......maybe too good. I applied anyway......and was notified to show up for testing in Los Angeles. The testing consisted of image testing......and a physical test for endurance. It was a very competitive operation.....and over 1.5 million people applied for those positions. As it was.....I was hired on November 11, 2002.....just 14 months to the day after the Twin Tower attacks. My assignment......Los Angeles International Airport, Bradley international terminal. My duties......aviation security baggage screener. After the required training......what little there was......I started to work in what turned out to be a "hell hole".
It was not long after that I found out that the TSA would not fall under regular civil service rules....but would be exempt. No job protections, unions or grievence rights. Not a good way to start a job. But the real killer was the pay banding scheme. The GS system was gone.....and the TSA would open the way for the government to disband the GS system for the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. We were told we were not competitive service...and would never be. Transfers would not be possible to other agencies. Not exactly the system that I thought it would be.

But I was determined to give it my best. I had done my work well....so well that I was appointed acting lead in my unit. The work was long, hard and thankless. Imagine.....if you can......plane after plane of passenegers arriving from foreign ports......all with at least 2 bags, boxes, or items each. According to TSA rules, we were limited to lifting 40 pounds each alone......and in the world of fantasy......that would have been fine. But in the real world.....we were chronically understaffed. It was not possible to get help.....so you would have to lift, carry, drag and throw most bags alone. Many were in excess of 100 pounds each. There was no way to know......as most were never marked. What started out as redemption for my sins of 10 years past......soon became nothing short of endentured servitude. Pack mules would have it easier. How many times did I hear Immigration, or Customs, Officers disparage TSA screeners.....thankful they got the big dollars without the back breaking work. We were the laughing stock of the federal force. Little more than glorified skycaps.....security guards at the most......manual labor to be had on the cheap.

To put it in perspective.....I clearly recall one incident which typified how TSA was viewed by the other federal agencies at LAX. One night several bags were left in our station by Mexicana Airlines. It was late and being lead.....I needed to find a Mexicana representative to get them. The only ones were downstairs......in the Immigration and Customs checkpoints. We were normally not allowed down there. I went down to see if I could locate a rep......and spoke with 2 customs officers. No more than 20 feet away was standing a Mexicana representative. Just as I was going to call her over......a customs supervisor appeared and asked me what I was doing. I explained and she became very rude.....saying I could not have their representatives and they were not going to help me. As I turned to go upstairs.......the customs supervisor turned to her 2 subordinates and pointed at the shoulderboard she had on.....wiping it with the back of her hand, as she bluntly proclaimed "they have none of these, they are not officer corp". I could feel the ice in her voice. I could see the hatred on her face. So much for the team work and cooperation that was supposed to exist. The DHS had a very long road ahead of it before integration would ever work. I was disillusioned by the status Congress allowed for the TSA screening force.....yet I continued to perform my duties as best I could. Sweating day in......and day out......lifting and carrying bags of unbelievable weight. Checking those bags....full of mystery compounds, sharp objects.....and possible bombs. Full of rotting food......strange insects.....and dirty underwear.

And so it was for the next 6 months.....day after day. It was then that I had seen some of the old Immigration Inspectors whom I had worked with 10 years past. They all remembered me with clarity......though it had been a decade since I had seen any of them. I remember one such person in particular. A supervisor.....Mr. Perez, who had been on a detail some years back to the same duty station "Anna" and her friend were stationed at in Arizona. He greeted me as would an old friend from school. With open arms and kind words. Little did he know, or suspect, that just 2 years earlier.....I had received an official statement of his, in which he made me out to be the most evil and vile man ever to walk these hollowed grounds. A statement full of half truths and deception......of which the empire used to again blacklist me from a job in the year 2000. He was unaware that I knew about his treachery and back stabbing.
His demeanor was most gracious.......now that I again wore the uniform of the empire.
He demanded I keep in contact with him.....and that he would take me downstairs for a tour of the old work area. I never told him that I knew of his deceptions and his 2 faced approach to my presence. That being said......I could not find that hate of him that I once had. It seemed so long ago......as time pressed on.....though in actuality, it was only 2years past. My grudge could not last......as I sought to mend the rifts of old. I still remember what he had told me after he returned from his detail to the station "Anna" and her friend worked at. He was told by her friend that it was not my fault for what happened at the academy.....and it was not their intention that I should have lost my career. Maybe this is why I could not hold a grudge against him......as he surely did his best to denegrate and disparage me. A lesson learned the hard way about friendship.......and trust.

And so it was.....until that fateful day on April 17, 2003. Again.....I was destined to suffer a blow to my being......and my revived career of the empire. It was that night that I suffered a back injury attempting to lift a bag unto a conveyer belt through a hole in wall. I guess my body just could not take the abuse any longer. I was no longer a spring chicken......as middle age had me in its' grip. I had suffered a severe lower back sprain......according to the doctors. As time went on, I realized I could no longer perform the heavy labor that the job required. My health suffered.......and physical therapy was not helping. As time passed.....discs started compressing......degenerative arthritis set in and bone spurs were produced. I could not stand for long......and walking far was a chore. I knew that my career as a baggage screener was over.
Because of this......I had to file for workers compensation.....and it was granted for a short time.
A whole 2 months did I receive compensation from the Department of Labor. This was just the beginning of a new war with the empire......as I tried to seek justice for the injury I had suffered. Deja Vu all over again. And trouble and woe did follow in my footsteps once again......courtesy of my old friend. As I had predicted......fate did not wait long to crush my nascent dreams once again. And so the new war began......for how long this time......months, years or decades?
That has yet to be written.......and it is not for this time to tell.

To be continued...............