pittmatj

Do you think the Airforce will let me ride through their base so I can get to my work place without having to triple my commute time? I feel if I explained my situation I could get some kind of low level clearance or something.

sjauch

Do you work for the government? Otherwise I'm going to say NO.

Doohickie

Meh. You never know; it doesn't hurt to ask. If it has active runways, though, I bet the answer will be no.

markhr

Elsworth AFB might let you BUT you'll have a vehicular escort and you may have to wait a long time for the escort. (Got stuck in a car on the AFB entry way with road works making a u-turn impossible)

uke

I recommend growing a beard and asking for flying lessons while you're at it.

BBnet3000

my guess is that its not going to happen, lol.

if you cant beat em, join em. once youre trained you could live off base where you do currently and have a really fast commute

i hear the bike commute from the green zone to baghdad international airport isnt as pleasant though, and its generally recommended that you drive.

SouthFLpix

Write a nice letter to the commanding officer of the base. Military bases are not democracies, the CO has complete authority to do whatever he wants. It might depend on his mood that particular day. Even if he says no, continue writing, commanders are really impressed by people who don't give up.

Military bases are not that hard to get into, contrary to popular belief. Civilians are allowed access all the time.

uke

...I heard those IEDs leave pretty impressive potholes. Better take something with full suspension.

slloth

Call up the police station on base and see if there is something you could do.

alanthealan

Not going to happen, unless you head on down to the recruiting station....

BBnet3000

having come back to this thread, this sounds like the best idea if you really want to make this work.

knobster

Some will, some won't. There are some bases that are open and traffic can go through it. Some are locked up like fort knox. If there is a guard shack then it's probably a closed base. Can't hurt to stop by and ask though. Not like they'll shoot you. You're not Osama are you?

zephyr

It may depend on which AF base you want to enter. Have you used Google Maps or other map program to scope out your proposed route? If you write a short, polite letter to the base commander's office that includes a map of your proposed route, it would take some of the guess work out of what you are asking for.

You may be asked to visit a security office which is usually near the entrance to the installation to show them your valid identification. You may need also need to prove you are a U.S. citizen and they will run your name into a computer system to do a criminal background check or to verify you are not on a terrorist watch list.

Most military base or post commanders try to maintain good relations with surrounding communities, and you never know, they might be a bicycle rider also.

I occasionally pedal through Marine Corps Camp Pendelton in southern cal because it is the only way (besides pedaling along the shoulder of I-5) to follow the pacific coast bike route from Orange County to northern San Diego county. It requires a stop at the guard gate and showing ID, nothing more. Hundreds of cyclists on a typical weekend pedal through the base, but you are supposed to follow only the main north south road and not take any sidetrips.

TrekJapan

I've been either in the military or working on military bases since 1982. While some bases are open to the public (believe it or not) most are not. If you are granted permission one day you may not be granted permission the next depending on the security personnel.

I'd ask but in general I'm going to guess that your answer is going to be no unless you hold some kind of government ID or are retired military.

One example I can think of off the top of my head is a Marine Base in Bridgeport CA. It's open to the public especially for hunters. So not only do we let civilians on the base but we let them in with guns.

Like some other guys said it just depends on the base.

Heck I have multiple ID's and I have trouble getting to work sometimes when they break out their top secret Barney Fife security force idiots and put them on the gate.

There are some angles you can work. Contact the environmental division and tell them your story. Maybe the "green effect" could have some kind of impact.

John

lil brown bat

I've done some driving on an AFB, working as a vendor doing installations (Robins AFB, Georgia, if anyone cares). Before being able to go on the base at all, I had to spend some time having them take down all my info, show ID, etc. Then I got a vehicle pass, which (in theory) allowed me to drive between either of the two closest entrance gates and the building where I was working. The MPs at the gate checked vehicle passes and sometimes IDs every morning. This was during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, so pre 9/11 but leading up to/in a shooting war.

I doubt that an MP will be able to let you go on base since you have no business there. The CO would probably be able to override this, not sure why he/she would but it's possible. However, assuming that happens, it might not be the time-saver you think. You WILL wait your turn in line at the entrance AND the exit (no lane-splitting), and you WILL ride within the absurdly low speed limit, and you WILL obey all traffic regs to the letter.

pittmatj

That sounds like an excellent plan of attack.

/The AFB is Langley btw.

Hydrated

Forget it.

Last I knew, Langley has an active fighter wing operating out of there. Plus many of the high mucky-muck aircraft that haul our politicians and dignitaries around are often parked or maintained there.

Without a valid reason to be on that base... forget it. Never happen.

Danre

Pack extra food and drink. And enjoy the triple long ride.

thdave

You'd need to get a badge to get through.

I work at a government lab--you have to be an employee to get such a badge. There's no reason the security force would have to let you get a badge--you'd have to go way over their heads. I can't see them doing this unless there's been a strong precedent and that the area you are going through is not critical.

I know in Hawaii, you have to go through an AFB to get to a public beach. My wife and I did it on our honeymoon in '86. Not sure if they still let you.

MrCjolsen

Just hop the fence. No one will care.

Find the really really wide road that has a really big two-digit number painted on it and follow it. If you see an olive green or blue vehicle coming toward you, it's just a very unfriendly "get off the road" cager type. Give him the finger and keep going.

avmanansala

Can't hurt to ask.

Don't know if anyone is familiar with CDR. Richard (NMN) Marcinko, USN (Ret.), convicted felon (wrongly in my opinion), former Navy SEAL, fromer CO of SEAL Team 2; creator, founding officer and plank owner of SEAL TEAM 6 (MARSEFAC) now, I believe called DevGroup) and the now defunct RED CELL. In the 1980s he and his merry band of marauding SEALs in RED CELL over Labor Day Weekend mounted a security exercise at a US Naval base in California while the president was at his ranch. During the exercise, they created all sorts of havoc. In the end, they had loaded a pallet of "dummy" 500 lb. bombs and using one of those airport tractors parked it under Air Force One. They were not stopped by base security nor by the Secret Service. They "rigged" the "bombs" to explode with "IEDs" - smoke and noise - but they also rigged the tractor. The base defused the IEDs on the bombs, but did not detect the IEDs on the tractor. When the tractor was mounted to remove the pallet, the IED went off ... umpires ruled that the resulting explosion would have been enough to set off the pallet and destroy AFO.

Viva.Viagra

Thanks for the non-sequitar

surveyor

That would be the USMC Mountain Warfare Center. As I recall, the base and all the surrounding area is U.S. National Forest - the USMC essentially leases the land. (Hence the signs warning hunters not to shoot the Marines, as they tend to shoot back.) Also, most of the stuff that goes on there isn't exactly top secret. Beautiful country, but a lot of hills if you are cycling around there...

genec

Miramar Naval base used to have a very nice bike path on it some 25 years ago... they have since closed the access and forced the cyclists out to the adjacent road, which was signed at 45MPH, but since has been changed to 65MPH. That road is now Kearny Villa Road, which used to be hiway 15, but they rebuilt the freeway about a 1/2 mile to the east. 2 cyclists have been killed on KVR... which was enough to get the bike lanes moved about 5 feet to the right, but not enough to lower the speeds on this road... even though the freeway is only about a 1/2 mile away and quite visible from KVR...

Camp Pendelton used to allow cyclists regular transit through the base, but now controls their access... although they do still allow cyclists most of the time to transit through, the schedule of closings is irregular... so cyclists use Interstate 5.

I doubt you will gain access to Langley, based on the limited accesses mentioned above.

EvanWCbus

they probably wouldn't let you do this in that base in Dayton, Ohio, what with the aliens in Hanger 18 and such.