WMDs

Of course, some people look at a person in a wheelchair and the first thing that comes to their minds is TERRORIST!

I am, of course, referring to the TSA.

This past summer, we had to go retrieve our granddaughter from RDU and although we received special treatment in the fact that all of us; Pat, our grandson Will, and myself; were able to go into the restricted gate area; Pat also got special treatment of another kind.

He had to go through a complete search that including standing so they could disassemble the chair, they took apart his telescoping cane and they made him expose his belly so that they could make sure he wasn't wired for bombs.  That last bit is completely understandable though, since he has a diaphragm pacer that does make him  look remarkably like a person wired for suicide.  The pacer unit consists of a little box with a cable that attaches to a USB port on his chest.  (more about this in a later post).

As Will and I stood watching them take apart the wheelchair storage bag and check out his insulated bag of BOOST, our grandson turned to me, arms outstretched  in dismayed disbelief. "Why do they think Pappy has a bomb?  He can't hardly do anything anymore."

I guess they were right to be vigilant though, because just a week later some guy in a Wheelchair of Mass Destruction DID show up at an airport in China.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/20/beijing-airport-china-explosive/2570855/