Returning troops faced the airport screening from hell

After 15 months in Iraq, servicemembers face an arduous process of returning to ‘normal’
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, November 3, 2008

ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait — It was midnight and home was within grasp, but after 15 months of grueling battle and fleeting sleep, the soldiers of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment now faced the airport screening from hell.

After carefully packing their bulging bags with clothes, body armor and trinkets picked up in Iraq, 305 soldiers had to empty everything for security officials who picked through shirts, underwear and socks looking for contraband. The check came between two X-ray scans and two metal detectors, a process that took about three hours.

Graffiti on the wall of the screening room summed up the grumbling of many of the bleary-eyed troops.

"The government treats me like I’m the terrorist," it read.

Staff Sgt. Douglas Reynolds mulled over what he saw as a contradiction.

"People coming from India to the United States can get into the country easier than this," he said with a resigned smile.
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