You can't bring that in here! That's a WEAPON!!!

[dewittdj]

I've driven on to Hill AFB, through the front gate, more times than I care to think about, but I never had a situation like the one I encountered this morning.

It was during the normal morning onslaught of vehicular traffic entering the gate, most of whom were probably running late. I normally have my ID in hand, the window rolled down and by arm extended out as I approach the gate guards / civilian officers, and, as a result zip right on through.

This morning I wasn't in the groove, so I had to stop while I fumbled with wallet to extract the ID. It allowed the two officers standing there, sufficient time to give my hooptie the "once-over."

Suddenly, one of the guards exclaims, "HEY!!! You CAN'T bring THAT in here!!! THAT'S a WEAPON!!!". I was stunned! What the heck?!?!?! Did I forget to disarm off base and now I'm sitting here with my CC showing!?!?!?! I turned my gaze away and looked down at region where the seatbelt would normally cover any CC that I have and... nothing!!! I then looked at the officer with a stunned, deer-in-the-headlights look!?!?! "Excuse me?!?!?!", I said. "THAT'S a WEAPON!!!" he repeated. By this time, the officer closest to the car had stepped back.

My first thought was, "Darn! I'm going to get shot and I don't even have a gun to defend myself with... all I have are these couple of..." and then it hit me. He was referring the the knife that I had jammed between the passenger and driver seats. The large wooden handle on an "Old Timer's" knife.

OldTimersKnive.JPG (204.85 KiB) Viewed 5247 times

Without thinking, I grabbed the handle and pulled the handle, along with the sheathed knife out from between the seats and held it up, while, at the same time the officer farthest away is stepping back and saying "DON'T PULL IT OUT!!!" and out of the corner of my eye I see the closest officer is now crouching down in a more defensive posture, "pre-at-the-ready" would be the best way to describe the stance.

I set the knive down on the passenger seat and pull out the UCC logo knife that is tucked in the visor. "I've got this one too!", I say, thinking that I might as well save them the trouble of locating the 8 knives staged throughout the cabin. I set that one down on the seat as well and look over at the officers.

THOSE ARE WEAPONS!!!", the now easily apparent junior officer states, somewhat taken aback. I was about to launch into my "Weapon implies intent, these are simply tools..." speech but thought better of it, as traffic was now building up behind me.

I said, "I didn't know that you couldn't bring knives on base. The only sign I saw stated that personal firearms are not allowed. Heck, I bought the larger knife here on base at the BX." The first officer said that it was obvious by my demeanor that I wasn't intentionally trying to violate any regulations. I asked if he wanted me to pull over and lock them in trunk where they won't be able to jump out and cut anyone while I got a haircut at the barber shop.

The rookie said, "You can't bring those on base!"

The first officer laughed and said, "Just drive up the road, pull over, and place them in the trunk without attracting any attention." I said that I would do so as discreetly as possible.

I realize now, looking back that I should have froze, with my hands on the wheel and not move without instructions from the officers. It could have turned out very ugly if I had been dealing with 2 rookies.

[David Nelson]

...The first officer laughed and said, "Just drive up the road, pull over, and place them in the trunk without attracting any attention." I said that I would do so as discreetly as possible....

Clearly, you and the first officer are terrorists. You both know too much about evil constitutiony things and stuff.

[SSgtCB]

Good thing you left your toe nail clippers at home, base would have been put in lockdown... Nothing but love for our fearless defenders.

Sent from my C6606 using Tapatalk

[TheRewster]

I drive on all the time with a whole van load of very deadly weapons. I am a carpenter. All my stuff is sharp:)

[dewittdj]

I drive on all the time with a whole van load of very deadly weapons. I am a carpenter. All my stuff is sharp:)

OOOooohhh!!! The humanity!!!

[DaKnife]

And of course, even though they be only wing wipers I dare say a large number of the service men and women have multiple knives on them at most times. I know I do. Between my normal pocket knife and which ever multi-tool I have on me it is at least two at any time.

Tapatalking via my Galaxy S4

[sarahbn]

Geez. There are actually people in the world who haven't been brought up to understand these things. And they're put as security guards. I guess it shouldn't astonish me, since I've been to college. The world is full of people who have been trained to be condom jockeys but know nothing about the other realities of life.

[glock fan]

Had one of the gate guards flip out on me when he saw the empty holster on my belt. Got all bent and demanded "Where's your weapon?" I told him "It's locked up in my home on post." Dude got more bent and said "You can't have that there!" I told him "OK, I'll move it." He then said "OK, go ahead".

Sometimes I wonder what they're doing over there.

[gcburt]

AH HAH!! You were the cause of the "Active Shooter" warning we all got on our computers!! Which was later called a "False Alarm"

Actually last Friday was my RDO - the false Active Shooter" was the previous Friday.

AND most everyone I work with carries a knife on them - "ON BASE"

[divegeek]

Keep in mind that the SPs on gate duty are almost always the ones who are young, dumb, or both. Nobody wants to do gate duty, heck most guys would rather walk circles around alert aircraft counting rivets (not that HAFB has any alert aircraft any more), so mostly you'll meet 18, 19 year-old kids there, or if they're much older it's because they're too dumb to be trusted elsewhere.

(I say this as someone who spent my share of hours on gate duty when I was an 18 year-old SP!)

[dewittdj]

Keep in mind that the SPs on gate duty are almost always the ones who are young, dumb, or both. Nobody wants to do gate duty, heck most guys would rather walk circles around alert aircraft counting rivets (not that HAFB has any alert aircraft any more), so mostly you'll meet 18, 19 year-old kids there, or if they're much older it's because they're too dumb to be trusted elsewhere.

(I say this as someone who spent my share of hours on gate duty when I was an 18 year-old SP!)

Yes... of course... that's before you became the wise-cracker that you now are...

[DaKnife]

Unless things have changed (and I admit I haven't been on base for a while) they don't waste SP's on gate guard, they are even worse. Rent-a-cops are usually the primary gate guards anymore on most bases.

[quychang]

Unless things have changed (and I admit I haven't been on base for a while) they don't waste SP's on gate guard, they are even worse. Rent-a-cops are usually the primary gate guards anymore on most bases.

A couple years back a female coworker of mine was hired by Hill for gate duty. She had served one term active duty in the AF and was in the reserves, so I suppose that's better than straight rent a cop, But she had been out for a couple of years, so maybe not all that much better.

Mel

[glock fan]

When I went to Hill about a month ago the gates were manned by DOD Guards. (Dark Blue uniforms, kind of look like the former "DOD Police" uniforms, but now their shoulder patches say "DOD Guard"). Didn't give me any hassles. Pretty uneventful process to enter.

I usually see the SP running traffic and doing other law enforcement tasks inside the gates. Once in a great while I will observe them working the gates.

[dewittdj]

I'm up there on average, at least once a week. It has been a mix for the past 5 years, with the gates being manned by both active, reserve, and "Police". On drill weekends, the gates are usually heavily manned by reservists pulling duty.

The level of professionalism varies between the extremes, which is why I normally try to get through with as little interaction as possible. ID extended out of the open window at arms length, approaching at a slow steady speed, radio off, sunglasses off, RADAR detector stowed away, [and now any KNIVES stowed away as well], and a short, courteous, "Good morning/afternoon/evening." Usually, the exchange is less than 5 seconds and then I'm on my way.