Health issues for federal air marshalls perplexing

The Sept. 20, 2006 Washington Times has a story by Audrey Hudson, "Air marshalls ousted over job injuries."

We recall a flap some months ago about uniforms or dress codes for sky marshalls, as these could compromise anonymity and security when flying. The same furor came out of publishing the hotels they stayed at. (We won't.)

But now the media is wondering why air marshalls apparently are dismissed once they become medically unable to fly, where as other law enforcement people don't. And why are they having more problems than pilots? Are their hours longer and rest periods shorter? Is it a lack of union protection.

Severe problems have included barotits media (inner ear pressure differentials) and deep vein leg clots. Generally circulation problems in the legs occur with old age and problems like atherosclerosis, high cholesterol and smoking. They shouldn't occur in healthy young adults. This is actually embarrassing.

So many marshalls have been forced out, and apparently there is a shortage of people to fill these hard-to-qualify positions. A major component of the TSA's airline security programs then comes into question.

This story has some significance for ordinary Americans whose employment requires them to make many frequent long-distance flights. Similar serious health problems have been reported for such travelers.

This problem reminds one of other problems of aging or "tissue death" that occur in relatively normal life activities. For example, teenagers use special high frequency ringtones to receive cell phone calls without teachers' being able to hear them -- by adult age, extreme high frequency hearing in the cochlea has been lost (although on the rifle range in Army Basic in 1968 I lost hearing around 4000 cps but not higher in the right ear, from "coaching"). One story is by Melissa Block ("Teens turn "Repeller" into adult-proof ringtone") on NPR, at this link.