AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – U.S. Air Force passenger service agents with the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron partnered with the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight on June 14 to ensure that everything and everyone on a military or commercial-contract aircraft are safe.
Inspecting eligible hand-carried items before a passenger boards an aircraft is an important job and the last step in keeping everyone safe when traveling out of Al Udeid Air Base. Keeping passenger service agents’ skills up to date on the latest prohibited items is a critical first step.
“We screen passengers under the Transportation Security Administration rules,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Courtnee Hummel, a passenger service agent with 8 EAMS. “In my civilian job, I have received additional training on x-ray screening procedures. Since we do not see these items every day, it’s important to add these images to our visual libraries and keep prohibited items off of the aircraft.”
Military personnel are not your average travelers when moving through the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility. They have daily access to items in their normal work environment that are on the prohibited items list and can potentially be packed with their personal luggage.
8 EAMS partnered with EODF personnel to create an enhancement initiative that current and future rotations will be able to benefit from.
The quality of the experience increased when EODF brought in tangible examples of suspicious items to test the working knowledge of passenger service agents.
“Improvised explosive devices are tough, in general,” said Staff Sgt. Brent Points, a journeyman with the 379th ECES, EODF. “So seeing everyday items combined [in luggage] helps to give a picture of what to look for.”