From: Dave Brubaker (b52d@piace.com)
Date: Mon Sep 16 2002 - 20:28:09 PDT
I just thought I would share some of the experience our club had in getting
onto the McConnell Air Force Base for an air show this last weekend. We
were setting up a vehicle display and the base considered us vendors. This
was their way of handling issues of access and checking us out.
1. If your display is going to have weapons displayed be sure to tell
this to the show organizers as often as they will listen to you. Tell
anybody who you communicate with, superiors or subordinates of the show.
The more people who know the better. In retrospect a conversation with the
head of the security police would have been a real time saver. Do not even
think of bringing a live weapon on base!
2. For us, we were asked to provide names, drivers license numbers of any
vehicle operators and the vehicle types. Later we were asked to provide the
names of all persons involved regardless of whether they were operating a
motor vehicle. At the last minute we were asked to provide the social
security numbers of any and all club members attending over the age of 18,
for us this totaled 48. We went through a vetting process, mostly checking
us against list of bad guys on the loose such as Taliban as well as the
Department of Motor Vehicles. (spare me the argument of how they can not
ask for ssn's, it is their rules and their base and you do what they ask or
stay home)
3. Prepare in advance a spread sheet with all of the above information,
use a single point of contact from the club, this keeps things simple and
lessens the possibility of any messages from the base not getting to the
right person. Be sure the club has someone else in the loop,
informationally speaking, in case the clubs planner gets hit by a truck or
meteor or some such thing. Keep a copy of the spread sheet and take it with
you to the gate. Also take any paperwork or spread sheets that they might
give you. Our gate guards were working from an older copy of the spread
sheet than we had, issued by the same show planners and they did not match.
Our vendor badges were numbered and assigned by name and were expected to be
returned at the end of the event. Each vehicle had a vendors pass placed in
the front windows. Have a cell phone and contact information for show
organizers handy so any questions can be answered quickly.
4. We were searched, vehicles that is. All the hoods were raised, all
the cans, boxes, packs, trailers, cargo boxes, you name it, was looked into.
The security police at the entrance do not like surprises! Take that for
what it is worth and spare yourself some time. DO NOT take any bayonets,
period. Be prepared to demonstrate that all of your dangerous looking
artifacts are in fact not dangerous. Have your vehicle registration and
insurance information with you, they might ask for this.
5. Be patient and polite. Try to understand the stakes at hand. The
military establishment who is allowing you to be their guest can't win.
People will bitch about the additional security measures, but let anything
bad happen and they will bitch about the lack of those same security
measures. Try to see it from their point of view.
Since 9/11 we all know things are tighter, this was no exception. Despite
the fact that over a month ago I started working the issue of access, this
included the mention of the dewat firearms on vehicles, a few things fell
through the cracks, in this case the guns, I feel it was my fault in large
part because I only mentioned it at the onset of the arrangements. We
really surprised the gate guards when the inspection started! It could have
been ugly and it could have ended our participation in the show. This was
not the fault of the gate guards, it was a simple mistake that was quickly
worked out by the show's commanding officer who arrived in a nick of time.
(remember that list of phone numbers
I told you to keep handy?)
Once in we set up and had a prime spot to exhibit from, we were in the main
stream of traffic. We had a great many visitors and were able to promote
the hobby in a very positive manner. All in all the positives far
outnumbered the negatives. We were treated very well by the base staff.
One of our members was injured when setting up and they took very good care
of him, even stitched him up and returned him to us in working order! We
were told that we would be welcome again. I took this as a compliment.
DO NOT take this note as a negative comment on the base, the personnel or
planners of the air show. There were mistakes made by both parties. They
were resolved through communications and cooperation. The fact that the
show boss and I had established a business rapport helped a great deal. In
the future we will be in-processed a lot smoother due to the lessons
learned.
Hopefully this note will help some of you avoid any problems with a similar
venture.
David & Donna Brubaker
Member MVPA #18115
M-151A2
http://www.piace.com/~b52d/
President: Mid-Kansas MVPA
http://www.piace.com/~b52d/MKMVPA
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