Wives of this post are in an uproar because some of the restaurants and the movie theater in the new shopping center on post will be open to the public. Mind you, anyone without a military ID who wants to come on post will have to get a pass at the gate, same as any other post on the face of the earth. Then they'll be able to go to a few of the businesses on post when they get there.
In reality, this is not a huge change from present. Contrary to the belief of a lot of military wives, ever since shortly after 9/11/01, anyone with proper license, registration, and insurance could get a gate pass and go on post. Before that, you didn't even need a gate pass. Anyone could go on post without any consideration. I'm talking about Army posts in general, too, not just this one. Every post I've ever set foot on, and that's more than a few in the past ten years, has been this way. Additionally, civilians have always been able to get food on post, not at the commissary, not at the PX, but at the tenant businesses that are inside the PX "mall" area. Have you ever had your ID checked when you bought pizza by the slice, or Taco John's, or subs? No, and the reason why is because those businesses are open to the public, and have always been.
Taking this into account, the only thing that's changed is that now there are more restaurants added to that list, and a movie theater. Oh, and this whole thing is getting a ton of press. Other than that, nothing has changed.
No matter how many time people who know this, tell these Chicken Little types ("the sky is falling!" "the sky is falling!") that nothing has really changed beyond the number of businesses, they just keep going about how awful it is for the on post community, and how it's the downfall of every single thing good and right in the world of Army, and all this other crap. It doesn't matter who the person is either. It could be me, a Sergeant Major's wife, a Captain, or even the Garrison Commander, and they react the same. No matter how many times they are told that they are absolutely wrong that they have never been to a post that would let anyone on with valid license, registration, and insurance (and some of them are full of crap. Some of them, I was at Ft. Stewart with semi-recently, and it was that way there, too.), they insist that this is the most lackadaisical post security ever, and how it's putting their families at risk of theft, vandalism, violent crime, and probably the bubonic plague.
Here's why this is bad. For one, talk about a false sense of security. Sure, the process one must go through in order to come through the gates of a post will deter some people who want to do bad things, but really, the MP's patrolling everywhere will do more for you in that way whether there's a gate or not, and no matter who's allowed to come through it. For another, wow. What do you think is on the outside of the gates? It's not that bad out here. I mean, yeah, if you live in the ghetto, it's going to be bad. That's anywhere, especially a city this size. This fear of the civilian population is just kind of gross. I hate the way some people feel so justified in it, too. They say things like, "I moved on post to get away from the general population, and now they're allowing them to come on post whenever they want! What are we supposed to do??" Gee, I don't know... grow up and realize that civilians are not awful people, maybe? Hey, dependent wives, unless you're prior service, and therefore a veteran, you're just a plain old civilian yourself. You're no better than the people coming through the gates on one-day passes.
For another thing, people seem to think this stuff is going to be mobbed. Dude, I don't know one non-military-affiliated person in this city who's counting down the days until the new restaurants on post open. I don't know one person without a military ID who's even planning on going to them. OK, so Buffalo Wild Wings is open on post. That's nice. There's also one in East-Central that doesn't require standing in a line at the pass office to get through a gate, just to get within three miles of. Who would even want to go to all this stuff on post when it requires so much just to get in there, and every single thing that's there is also available somewhere out in town. OK, so we don't have Smash Burger out in town, but we do have Five Guys which is better, and we're getting In-N-Out, which is like 1000 times better than any of them. Again, why would any of these people even want to go on post to this stuff?
OK, so I get that there will be some level of curiosity about it. "Hey, what's it like on an Army post? Let's go eat at Freedom Crossing tonight and find out what it's like inside the gates." but that's the type of thing that the novelty wears off of real fast. I just don't see some massive influx of people mobbing main post coming to maliciously take parking spaces and seats in restaurants away from the torch-and-pitchfork-wielding mob of military dependents emanating from the housing areas. These people have the seriously wrong idea if they think the people of this city are just chomping at the bit to get whatever's on post. The influx will be a lot more like a trickle.
And what's up with people thinking there are no civilians on post? Dude, since the late 90's, every post on the planet has employed dozens to thousands of civilians to help run the place. This is a fact. Do you really think they extensively background check the cashiers at AAFES, or the people handing out gear at CIF, or the people who mow the grass in housing (at posts where there is grass. Well, I guess we do have some here, too, but only on Colonel Row.)? The answer is unquestionably no. These are just random civilians who got jobs on post. They don't have a security clearance. (Hey military wife, I'll bet you don't either! Yet still, they allow you on post...) Somehow, the Army has functioned with this setup for decades now, and nothing bad has come of it. Yes, we've had tons of shootings at this post in the past two years, but every shooter was either a soldier, a retired soldier, or a dependent. They were all ID Card holders. What can the civilians bring that's any worse than what we already have in our ranks?
I had to laugh at them today, though, which really pissed them off. It's just funny, though. They're all flipping out about non-ID card holders having access to post, when they have had that all along, and have had that at every post these fools have ever been stationed at. How ridiculous is that, really? Plus, it's like they're so scared of the local population for some reason, and I seriously wonder why. Our General is local to this area. He is from this city. Obviously not everyone from here is a gang banging drug dealer. In fact, if you actually get out and see the city, you will find that a lot of it is really not disgusting, and there are normal people everywhere. You have to get out of post housing in order to do that, though, because the majority of our post housing is seriously about the most disgusting this city has, and it is almost all in a completely awful neighborhood. If you think that's what this city is, you simply do not know what you are talking about. Just get out a little bit rather than trying to talk about things you don't know about.
Just for that, I think after Thak gets out of the Army, I'm going to take the kids to play in the parks on post once a week just so these stupid military wives will have to look at nasty civilians invading their post. OK, no, I'm not going to do that. I don't like standing in line at the pass office... plus, I don't go on post now. Why would I then? I think that's the thing that really pisses me off. It's like they think they've got something SO awesome that everyone wants it, when in reality, nobody gives a crap. People who don't go on post already will very rarely find themselves compelled to do so in light of this.
Even if they do, though, what are these people so scared of? They're civilians, not ax murderers. They just didn't enlist (or in some cases, maybe they're veterans who served a few years and got out, so they don't have a retiree ID!) Since when does that make someone a threat to security? I'll answer that. Since never.
Military wives who act like this, pull your heads out of your asses. You're making the lot of us look like crap to the community.
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