I carry a badge, Federal Air Marshal edition

I have to admit that I've never given a single moment of thought to what it must be like to be an air marshal. Even when I was frequent flying after 9/11, I don't remember wondering whether there was an air marshal on the plane.

Many years ago, I was on a flight on which a prisoner, in handcuffs, was being transported. But from what I gather, the escort wouldn't have been an air marshal. More likely a local police officer or statie escorting someone apprehended out of state home. And those sorts of situations are rare. They may not even happen any more. (My spotting the guy in cuffs was decades ago.) 

Instead, prisoners - at least those in federal custody - are transported by something called the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, "the only government-operated regularly-scheduled passenger airline in the nation." This service is run by the US Marshals Service, which is under the Department of Justice. This crew protects judges and the courts, executes federal arrest warrants, and runs the witness protection program. 

Despite their running their own airlines, the US Marshals have nothing to do the US Air Marshals, who do their thing within TSA. 

I have given just about as much thought to the US Marshals as I have to the US Air Marshals, which would be nothing. But it seems that this is somewhat by the service's intent:

If you don’t know much about air marshals, mission accomplished.

The service has been an anonymous layer of public security since the concept was created in response to a spate of plane hijackings in the 1960s and expanded in the 1970s. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, air marshals moved under the newly created Department of Homeland Security and TSA. The number of air marshals grew from 33 to thousands.

...Today, the exact number is secret. They travel among us, armed and undercover, on planes, subways and ferries and monitor airports, train and bus stations. It’s a lot of pressure, they say, particularly on a plane. Source: Washington Post)

They could be on trains and boats and planes? Even the subway? Who knew?

That's the point: we're not supposed to know. Air marshals operate with a zipped-lip omerta requirement. They can't talk about what they see or do.

What they can disclose is that FAMs always travel in “squads,” never alone. They’re not on every flight as there are simply too many to cover (the Federal Aviation Administration handles more than 45,000 each day). They’re allowed to watch in-flight movies, read books, take breaks to nap and eat. They are not allowed to drink alcohol on board. Sometimes they tell flight attendants they’re on board; sometimes they don’t. They fight jet lag with regular exercise.A

And they're given cover stories to tell the chatty passenger in the next seat.

The job only pays $60K for starters, and that's with a bachelor's degree or "three years of relevant work experience." Many recruits are ex-military or worked somewhere in law enforcement. The pay may not be all that great, but you get government benefits, which are. And you get to fly. A lot. (Unfortunately, air marshals aren't allowed to accumulate frequent flyer miles.)

Their initial training is referred to as "Police 101," and trainees learn the ropes alongside potential Secret Service agents and Amtrak Police, among others. Then it's off to specific officer-on-an-airplane training, which includes "learning to handcuff in an airplane aisle." And presumably, how to fire a weapon on an airplane so it doesn't blow the plane out of the sky. 

Students carry out high-pressure drills designed to mimic a crisis, like an active-shooter and terrorist attacks, as well as lower-stakes scenarios like disruptive travelers. Although the air marshal program is rooted in counterterrorism, dealing with unruly or intoxicated passengers has always been part of the job.

Flight attendants are the first line of defense against those "unruly and intoxicated passengers." Which is a good thing, given that it's not all that likely that there'll be an air marshal on your flight when someone stars acting up. 

Air marshals train "in warehouses with replica airplane cabins, jet bridges and terminals." Actors, complete with suitcases, play travelers. (What an acting gig...It reminds me of a long ago trip with my sister Trish. We were having lunch in a restaurant in Carmel, California, and one of the woman sitting at the next table was talking about her latest acting job, which was in a Delta Airlines training film.  Air marshaling may be tough, but acting isn't for the faint of heart, either.)

Since they're not allowed to talk about what they do on the job, and they travel with cover stories ('heading to Uncle Joe's funeral'), the air marshals are something of actors, too.

I'm still not going to spend much if any time thinking about air marshals. But I'm guessing that, on my next flight, I'll be sussing out whether there are any of them on the plane. 

And those badges that they carry, guess those are hidden on the inside of their jacket lapels.