In case you were wondering, the Transportation Security Administration has issued a reminder to US military members that explosives are not allowed on commercial flights.

TSA spokesman Lauren Gaches said agency workers occasionally encounter servicemembers who have packed inert grenades or other prohibited items in their luggage, often as a keepsake from the battlefield.

While this may seem intuitive on some level, the situation is understandably complex for military members.  Unlike past conflicts with mass, dedicated-military transportation, many servicmembers travel to and from the combat zone on commercial aircraft (or they transfer from a military theatre flight to a commercial flight), and they bring their weapons, combat gear, etc, with them.

It is not unheard of for a representative of a chartered commercial flight to brief a planeload of Soldiers about what’s not allowed onboard — only to have all of them start asking what they’re supposed to do with the Gerbers on their belts and the knives in their boots.

At least the TSA is confiscating the contraband, rather than arresting the military member as might happen if a civilian tried to board a flight with a similar item.