Air marshals ousted over job injuries

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The size of the federal air marshal force has been cut in half by on-the-job injuries that have sidelined nearly 2,100 marshals, while squabbling prevents health and safety policies from being implemented, government officials say.

Marshals say medical staffers are quitting the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) out of frustration as hundreds develop illnesses related to their heavy flying schedules such as barotrauma, decompression sickness that causes ruptured eardrums and sinus conditions often requiring surgery.

They are also developing deep vein thrombosis, a disease attributed to long periods of sitting that causes blood clots, usually in the legs, that could lead to cardiac arrest.

A July 21, 2005, memo from the Charlotte, N.C., field office obtained by The Washington Times says it was "experiencing a large amount of missed missions due to federal air marshals calling in sick and medical groundings by physicians."

"Five percent nationwide are affected by sinus and ear problems daily. These groundings all have a commonality of being directly related to our current flight schedules," said the memo, citing 17 documented cases of barotrauma in its office.

"Our health is being eroded at an alarming rate," it said.

Policies to prevent such injuries or to determine sick leave and light duty for injured marshals are being held up by fights over wording and punctuation, said one air marshal. Others say they were fired for their disability then denied workers' compensation.

"They have a track record of that," said Frank Terreri, director of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for the Federal Air Marshal Service. "As soon as you're hurt, you're done. Every other law-enforcement agency offers you another position if you're hurt in the line of duty. If I got hurt tomorrow, I would be done, and you just can't treat employees like that."

Conan Bruce, spokesman for the air marshal service, did not return several calls for comment.

The Federal Aviation Administration does not regulate the number of takeoffs and landings for commercial air pilots but limits them to eight hours of flight in a 24-hour period, said spokeswoman Alison Duquette.