When Idiots Drive

2004-08-03

This morning I was watching CNN Headline News. (yea, yea, shut up) I was surprised to see one story in particular. It seems a driver for a defense contractor left a little air defense artillery sitting around unattended behind a bar in Houston, Texas.

The fellow was supposed to drive a flatbed trailer from Fort Bliss in El Paso to another base in Louisiana. Fort Bliss is the Army's primary air defense base. The cargo on the truck was a military Hummer with rocket launchers mounted on. There was also an accessory trailer attached to the back of the Hummer. Note that military HumVees don't need keys to be started.

The driver apparently left the flatbed behind the bar while he went in for a few drinks and then went for a snooze in a nearby house. The artillery sitting in the neighborhood alarmed the locals and they called law enforcement.

Though the military pointed out that there was no munitions or rockets with the vehicle, it was still unnerving for everybody. The driver was taken into custody where, hopefully, he will be sodomized.

My sister and here husband are a truck driving team. They have proper clearance to transport defense materials. They have more personal alarms and protective devices than you can imagine. While carrying defense materials, their truck communicates by radio to the home base to give their location. If they sit for too long with out a good reason, the cavalry swoops in. Why would a truck carrying a device used to shoot airplanes out of the air not be similarly equipped?

It bothers me that our federal security is adequate to keep fingernail clippers off airplanes but we will gladly let some mouth-breather drive off with rocket launchers. This is a serious issue. Even without rockets, the theft of this particular vehicle could cause plenty of terror. If someone left a thank you note saying they had the missiles already but needed a launcher, we would have to take it seriously. That can cost us plenty in resources. Should they actually have the missiles, it would cost us even more.

Given the number of thefts from federal installations lately, it's obvious that we have a serious problem. Please write your Congress Person and gripe immediately. Tell them they're stupid. Tell them to fix this. Tell them to stop taking our nail files and start locking their doors. Tell them to get a clue.