Unit:
It's fine to talk about how tough you would be if you were on a hijacked plane and the hijackers had nothing more than small knives and box cutters. I'm sure you would do exactly as you say you would. Good.
The problem is that you are only one guy and I get the feeling that many of the passengers on those flights were middle-aged businessmen and women. They were not as tough or as brave as you are. They obviously were not going to attack two or three (probably) young, nasty-looking, screaming arabs waving knives in their face. They were not going to risk watching some young flight attendant have her throat slashed open and watch her life blood pour out on the floor because they made a move toward a hijacker. Ain't gonna happen - in most cases. Many were making cell-phone calls to loved ones, according to relatives. Shows you the mindset...no hope.
Understand that 99% of non-military men and women have never had an encounter with a real physical threat in their entire lives.
They have no idea how to react, they freeze or just wet their pants and very few people are black belts or as fearless as you are.
Under the circumstances we face now armed guards on all flights is probably a good idea and I never said otherwise, except to mention that it's expensive and that's why the airlines quietly stopped doing it many years ago.
Look, if you want to have a bullet-proof, inpenetrable cockpit door on every plane, fine. However, if you do that and the pilot is unavailable - no matter what, you must - must - have armed 'Sky Marshals' on every single airline flight in the United States every hour of every day. No easy, not cheap.
If you don't do that, passengers being 'on their own' should trouble occur is absurd.
Very few men - much less women - are going to board a plane knowing that if a terrorist pulls any kind of weapon you're probably dead because there is no one to help you and the pilot can't be reached behind his bullet-proof cockpit door and he ain't comin' out. That might deter 'serious' hijackers but not crazies who just want to kill someone.
Now, all that may very well happen (impenetrable cockpit doors/Sky Marshals on every single flight 24/7) and that's fine with me. I just believe that all this macho talk about 'taking out' any terrorists that would dare to show up on any plane you are on is natural, understandable, possibly true but basically just that; talk. No practical application for most people in the real world.
Mach I:
My remarks on the military are not based on personal knowledge, just casual observation via the media during past skirmishes and wars and comments I've read made by active duty military men on other (political) messageboards I visit. They are not as confident as you seem to be, but then, that may depend on where you serve, what branch and what type of work you do in the service.
As you must know, the military has been somewhat feminized and certainly downsized over the past decade. This is not good.
I trust our military will rise to the occasion if the need arises (and it will) but I'm a bit skeptical about overall capability, However, I defer to your personal knowledge of the military readiness and morale. Of course, I also pray that you are correct.
|