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military question


Alpo

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You are stationed at Fort Bragg. You have a Fort Bragg sticker on your car. One day you drive over to Rucker to see a friend of yours.

 

Well they wave you through the gate, because you have a military sticker on your car, or will they stop you at the gate because it is not a Fort Rucker sticker?

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Used to be that if you had a sticker, you could get on almost any military installation.

 

No more waving anyone on, 100% ID checks at gates.

 

Because of that, no more stickers, you have a CAC card (Common Access Card), show that and you can get on almost any installation.

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1 hour ago, Howlin Mad Murdock SASS #4037 said:

No more waving anyone on, 100% ID checks at gates

Shows how long it's been since I've been on a base. B)

 

 

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They removed car stickers a long time ago due to security concerns and people possibly being targeted away from bases. A stolen car with a base sticker might just get right in during a busy period at the gates. 

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Times have changed.

When stationed at NAS Norfolk during the early 70's, I was given permission to

go on and off the base with my handgun as long as it was in the trunk.

 

The base Security Officer knew I travelled to TN about every other weekend and therefore,

allowed me a permit to keep it in my car trunk.

It helped that I had one of them classified clearances and things weren't bad in the 70's.

 

..........Widder

 

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Since 9-11, all military posts have required 100% ID check to get access.  You can no longer simply drive on or be waved in because you have a vehicle registration.  Secondly, those vehicle registration stickers stopped being used a few years ago for that very reason.  Thirdly, the exact post was never an issue when we used them.

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In ‘69 when I was on orders for Vietnam, I removed the post stickers from our 442 as soon as I went home on leave. It wasn’t a good time to have military stuff on your car. If my wife needed anything at the nearest post she had her ID card.

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1 hour ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

Thirdly, the exact post was never an issue when we used them.

Thank you.

 

Knowing all this other stuff is interesting, but that was the question.

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4 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

Since 9-11, all military posts have required 100% ID check to get access.  You can no longer simply drive on or be waved in because you have a vehicle registration.  Secondly, those vehicle registration stickers stopped being used a few years ago for that very reason.  Thirdly, the exact post was never an issue when we used them.

Yup.  I had one for McConnell AFB that was good at Whiteman AFB. As I recall, the main thing it did was prove your car had approved insurance, a requirement for driving on base. I remember in the aftermath of 9-11 they not only checked IDs, but had installed those temporary concrete highway construction barriers as a choke point to the gate. Haven't been on a military installation since the early 2000s,  so I don't know what things look like these days.

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Back when I was in the USCG we had to use the USAF base for our medical needs. The enlisted USCG uniform looked very much like a USAF officer's uniform when sitting in a car. Not only did I get waved through the gate, I also was saluted!

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18 hours ago, Alpo said:

Thank you.

 

Knowing all this other stuff is interesting, but that was the question.

The stickers were in three parts (from the Navy side, I suppose most other branches were similar. Except maybe the Air Force):

 

The main body of the sticker was numbered and generic.

On the left and the right of the main body were decals that indicated the month and year the sticker expired.

Under the sticker was a decal that named the base the sticker was issued.

 

IIRC, officer and enlisted were distinguished by color of the sticker with the base name -- red for enlisted, blue for officer.

 

Senior officers also had a little rank sticker so they could park in special parking spots on base.

 

Here's an example.

 

Say farewell to Navy windshield decals - The San Diego Union-Tribune

 

If you went from one base to another, you'd get waved through -- the gate guards were generally looking at the sticker and the expiration dates, not the name of the base.

 

If you didn't have a sticker, you'd have to stop at the main gate, go in and get a temporary pass by showing military ID, registration, proof of insurance, and driver's license.

 

As has been pointed out, that's all a relic of the past now -- 100% ID checks are the norm. Gate security has been upgraded to include (depending on the location) pop-up barriers, hardened gatehouses, etc. Random vehicle inspections -- sometimes going in, sometimes leaving, sometimes with underbody mirrors, sometimes with dogs-- are conducted. It's a far cry from the mid-70's, when I was in training in NAS Memphis, and got waved through the gate with three people in the front and eight drunk sailors and marines in the back of my '59 Ranchero.

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On 3/24/2021 at 4:37 PM, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Times have changed.

When stationed at NAS Norfolk during the early 70's, I was given permission to

go on and off the base with my handgun as long as it was in the trunk.

 

The base Security Officer knew I travelled to TN about every other weekend and therefore,

allowed me a permit to keep it in my car trunk.

It helped that I had one of them classified clearances and things weren't bad in the 70's.

 

..........Widder

 

 

At NAS Jax in the 70's the base pistol range allowed open shooting around mid-day one day out of the week. Base security issued permits for people to bring their handguns on base.

 

Not long ago I came across my old permit and noticed it does not have an expiration date, and that I still own the gun that is listed on the permit. 

 

Hmm . . . 

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3 hours ago, Ozark Huckleberry said:

The stickers were in three parts (from the Navy side, I suppose most other branches were similar. Except maybe the Air Force):

 

The main body of the sticker was numbered and generic.

On the left and the right of the main body were decals that indicated the month and year the sticker expired.

Under the sticker was a decal that named the base the sticker was issued.

 

IIRC, officer and enlisted were distinguished by color of the sticker with the base name -- red for enlisted, blue for officer.

 

Senior officers also had a little rank sticker so they could park in special parking spots on base.

 

Here's an example.

 

Say farewell to Navy windshield decals - The San Diego Union-Tribune

 

If you went from one base to another, you'd get waved through -- the gate guards were generally looking at the sticker and the expiration dates, not the name of the base.

 

If you didn't have a sticker, you'd have to stop at the main gate, go in and get a temporary pass by showing military ID, registration, proof of insurance, and driver's license.

 

As has been pointed out, that's all a relic of the past now -- 100% ID checks are the norm. Gate security has been upgraded to include (depending on the location) pop-up barriers, hardened gatehouses, etc. Random vehicle inspections -- sometimes going in, sometimes leaving, sometimes with underbody mirrors, sometimes with dogs-- are conducted. It's a far cry from the mid-70's, when I was in training in NAS Memphis, and got waved through the gate with three people in the front and eight drunk sailors and marines in the back of my '59 Ranchero.

 

 

Pard, that was all of DoD for a time.  The funny thing is, there were two other colors, too.  One was for contractors, and the other was for anyone who had gotten a DUI.  I don't remember what the colors were but I knew it at the time, and any time I saw the DUI sticker I laughed at the idiocy.

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2 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

 

 

Pard, that was all of DoD for a time.  The funny thing is, there were two other colors, too.  One was for contractors, and the other was for anyone who had gotten a DUI.  I don't remember what the colors were but I knew it at the time, and any time I saw the DUI sticker I laughed at the idiocy.

Contractors were green. Didn’t know there was a DUI code. 
 

ETA: Come to think of it, I recall yellow base stickers, too — was that the DUI?

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On 3/24/2021 at 2:37 PM, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Times have changed...

 

NAS Whidbey Island, about 1975. I had an axe and broke the handle camping one time. I went to the Exchange over at the Seaplane Base, a separate part of the base about three miles away where the Exchange and Commissary were, and bought a new hickory handle. Returning to the barracks to put it on, the marine guard at the gate saw the handle on my back seat and wouldn't let me on base because "it could be used as a weapon". :mellow: 

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On 3/26/2021 at 9:47 AM, Ozark Huckleberry said:

Contractors were green. Didn’t know there was a DUI code. 
 

ETA: Come to think of it, I recall yellow base stickers, too — was that the DUI?

They were pink. With an elephant logo. :D

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