Airline issues

**jumper** · 7th February 17, 06:40 PM

I may apologize in advance for a rant.

So I was traveling the other day to attend a training class in Virginia and my main bag was either lost by the airlines or someone stole it. The bag and the majority of its contents were provided by the military and they will replace the issued items. The part the kills me is in the bag was my Kilt I was given by a member of the Black watch in Afghanistan. Since I had it it turned out to be my favorite article of clothing. Now I have to find a appropriate replacement. The more I look at the US Army tartan the more I start to like it. This experience has for a lack of better words been frustrating.

**BThomHie** · 7th February 17, 11:07 PM

Hope they find your bag and your kilt. Some times people walk away with pieces of our lives without thinking.
Thx for serving.

**dcommini** · 7th February 17, 11:25 PM

I do hope your luggage will turn up.

I have a US Army tartan kilt. It's not my favorite one, but I do like the colors.

**Tarheel** · 8th February 17, 05:53 AM

I feel your pain at the lost of a favorite and important gift. The US Army tartan is great (my first kilt because of military service) but will seem a substitute for your Black Watch (unless you give the new kilt its own special place in your heart and status that you can stand behind).

Luggage gnomes may still find your bag and return it.

**Father Bill** · 8th February 17, 05:59 AM

Yup. I take my kilt & kit on carry-on for exactly that reason. Don't trust the airlines.

**jumper** · 8th February 17, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by Father Bill

Yup. I take my kilt & kit on carry-on for exactly that reason. Don't trust the airlines.

Originally Posted by Tarheel

I feel your pain at the lost of a favorite and important gift. Luggage gnomes may still find your bag and return it.

I have traveled via airlines hundreds of times, and this is the first time something like this happened to me. I do wish now that I had carried it on the plane and I will be changing what I carry on. I received a new issue of uniforms and a replacement duffel. Outside of that all "personal" items i.e. civilian clothes, hygiene items, running shoes, etc fall on me. Luckily the finance issued me a pay advance for some of the replacements needed immediately.

I did get a call from the airlines sating they had no luck finding it in the transport and it didn't arrive late. But they mentioned the Airport police did apprehend a someone that was stealing baggage from the terminal but two of the three got out of the area. It appears the chance of it being stolen has gone up. The airline did offer to comp me for the lost bag, and as of now I am waiting for a investigator to contact me from the police department.

**Taskr** · 8th February 17, 11:29 AM

Lots of undesirables want to get their hands on military gear. I got in the habit of packing a cheap suitcase with the duffle folded inside for use to tote gear about a training site. When needing ruck and such - special baggage. Really bad news on the kilt. Doubtful anything, even another BW, would fill the sentimental value.

**dcommini** · 8th February 17, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by Taskr

Really bad news on the kilt. Doubtful anything, even another BW, would fill the sentimental value.

Indeed! My wife bought me a pocket watch with the US Army emblem for our first Christmas together. I flew down to TN for a funeral with my pocket watch, and kilt stuff in a checked bag. When I got to Tennessee everything was still there, except my watch. Almost 10 years of sentiment embedded in that watch, and now it's gone.

My wife bought me another pocket watch for Christmas to replace my stolen one, but it's just not the same.

**ctbuchanan** · 8th February 17, 01:18 PM

You don't mention it but airlines are required to compensate for lost luggage up to $3,000 for domestic flights.
At least you can get your money back.

Sorry for the aggravation.

**Benning Boy** · 8th February 17, 06:03 PM

I don't fly often, and put my kilting stuff in a carry-on bag so no issues there.

As a veteran of more than 28 years of service I have developed issues with US Army tartan. It really doesn't represent the entire Army, and seems to represent the Army at a frozen point in time. I believe most of the colors chosen for the tartan probably represent the green gas station attendant uniform, and the kakai summer uniform worn during a set period. Also, there is a green to represent snipers. There has never been official sniper green. I suppose that it is connected to the uniforms worn by Ber Dan's Sharpshooter. Also there is a gold strip to represent the cavalry. As I read it, the tartan represents one man's service in the green army, between the brown army and the blue army, who served in a cavalry unit and was a sniper. He registered it as US Army out of a arrogant opinion that his particular service somehow represented the service of all.

When I started kilting a bought a Sport Kilt in army tartan. But quickly gave it up and haven't worn it in years. It's as good as new. It doesn't represent my service, the service of millions of other's, nor the Army across time.