Be Patient with Base Gatekeepers

Commuters going onto Naval Air Station Patuxent River are asked to have patience and empathy for the installation’s gate sentries and understand the challenges these sentries encounter, says the Tester in dcmilitary.com.

On duty 24 hours a day every day, Department of Navy police officers, military masters-at-arms and the Auxiliary Security Forces (ASF) from tenant commands constitute the naval air station’s security for the base. And they must deal with rain, freezing weather, and recently blanketing fog.

What most don’t know, the Tester says, is there’s a lot more going on than a simple check of a person’s ID. “Many drivers may not notice, but our security team is also visually scanning each vehicle for signs of hidden dangers, inside and out,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Bernardo Escalet, the installation’s security officer.