Marine Says Incident "Felt Like Being Spit On"

The Department of Transportation says personnel at Oakland International Airport did not act illegally when they denied 200 Marines and soldiers returning from Iraq access to the passenger terminal last September. Instead, according to DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovell III, a breakdown in communications between the Department of Defense and Homeland Security officials resulted in the screw-up.

The incident occurred September 27, as the troops' flight landed at OAK for the last stop before heading across the Pacific, en route to their home base on Hawaii, reports The Washington Times. Airport officials denied them access to the terminal during the layover, citing concerns the flight's ground staff couldn't provide  "an adequate level of escort and control of such a large group of military personnel in or around the terminal area," according to Scovell's report.

One Marine reported the incident to Florida Congressman John L. Mica, ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the whole mess "felt like being spit on." Mica and other lawmakers pushed for an investigation into the mess.

In his report to lawmakers, released Wednesday, Scovell noted the contract allowing military layovers at OAK "did not require that military personnel have access to the airport terminal; it only required that military personnel be allowed to deplane and stretch their legs on stops lasting over one hour." It also determined neither DHS or DoD had a coordinated policy in place to screen military personnel, or allow soldiers in passenger terminals.

Moreover, the review found "miscommunication about the proper storage and safeguarding of weapons carried on board aircraft during the layover" and that the airport "could not confirm that weapons [on the plane] would be secured and safeguarded in accordance with Department of Defense regulations and that the Marines and soldiers would leave their weapons on board."

If that sounds as though airport personnel feared the Marines couldn't be trusted to conduct themselves in a proper manner... well, you're not alone. Mica slammed the report, stating lack of proper protocols "no excuse for the poor treatment these brave men and women received in exchange for defending our freedoms.

"The shocking thing is that there is no protocol for handling our returning troops, and at Oakland they got a very rude welcome," Mica added. "We just need to get some regular order of the process so we don't have a recurrence of what we saw happen here."

A spokeswoman for Oakland said officials received the reports, but were not ready to comment on it until they had the chance to review it. Ditto a spokesman for DoD; calls by the Times to TSA weren't returned.

FMI: www.defenselink.mil, www.dhs.gov, www.flyoakland.com