This was one of those weeks where Friday afternoon was welcome. It has been a long week! I just got home, enjoying my slippers and looking forward to relaxing as the week disappeared into memory.
The phone rang.
My daughter-in-law was stranded and needed a ride. Her car wasn’t starting. I asked her to humor me so I could walk her through a few simple things in hopes the car would start. She was in no mood to humor me, so I said I would pick her up. She works on a military base in a civilian position, so I had to get a pass that allowed me to get on the base. Before I left home, I removed all my weapons from my pickup. The military police don’t seem to like armed civilians on their base.
In order to get on the base I needed to get a visitor pass. I had done this before, although it had been several years.
I was greeted by a pleasant young soldier at the counter when I walked in the visitor center for my pass. My daughter-in-law had called ahead to let them know I would be coming. The soldier asked for my driver’s license and I gave it to her. “What is your social security number”? Even though my government told me my social security number would not be used as a form of identification, I gave it to her. That assurance from my government is written on my social security card, a practice that has long been abandoned. It always agravates me when it is required as a form of identification. Her next question was “What does the K. in your name stand for”? I told her.
“Please stand by the mark on the floor and remove your hat so I can take your picture”. During all of this she was writing and refering to the screen on her computer. “Now, please place your right index finger on the red light”. At this point I thought briefly about calling my daughter-in-law and telling her she would have to find a ride to the visitor center. That wasn’t very practical since her two children were at the day care which was also on base. I put my finger on the light. “Now, I need your left index finger on the light”. I had already gone to far to stop now. She asked me for my proof of insurance and vehichle registration next. After reviewing those documents and writing some more, she printed out my pass.
As I approached the guard at the main gate, I talked with my daughter-in-law to get directions. The gaurd told me I could not drive and talk on my cell phone. He was very courteous. When a car pulled up behind and I had not yet gotten complete directions he told me to put it on speaker and keep it out of sight.
I managed to remain calm and civil through this process, but prayed that I would not have to endure the rigors of the military police stopping me because my left tail light was not working. I met my daughter-in-law at the daycare and we drove to her car. The tow truck she had called arrived about the same time. She got in her car and tried the key. The car started.
She would tell you that I was nice to her even though we both knew her car “might” have started if she had humored me when I was at home in my slippers. She would also tell you that she was surprised at my unhappiness about the process of getting a visitor pass.
I will admit I was a bit surprised as well. The process of gaining permission to pick up my grandchildren and their mother on the military base revealed to me how deeply I distrust my own government. I understand all the stuff about security. None of that diminished the striking awareness that my mug shot, fingerprints and other information was required, recorded and stored into a government data base. Most, maybe all of it may have already been there, but this experience left me cold, and made all the recent national discussion about detainment of US citizens seem somehow much more plausable.
With the President and other leaders refering to people like me (you know… bitter, clinging, tea party types) as terrorists, this security clearance process made me very uncomfortable. I no longer trust my government. They have far too much power, and even members of my own political party support the growing restrictions of my freedoms as they “protect me and take care of me”.
Go ahead, call me paranoid.
Is this what we’ll face the next time we renew our SD drivers license???
ooOOoohh..we already do.
South Dakota is one of the first to implement REAL-ID…all 18 points of it. Now we have biometric facial identification on our drivers license. The company we use was called L-1 ID , now sold to Safron. Saffron is an international ID software company in France….they have a 40 year relationship with communist China. Their goal is to have the world as monitored as China is. interestingly….recall Plastination? Where whole human bodies were plasticized and put on exhibit ? This has stopped since people have questioned where the bodies come from. In China you can be put in prison without due process (we just made this a law in the US)…and every one there has their blood type and DNA on a centralized ID card. MANY relatives complain that “prisoners” have been harvested for organ donation….after all the government and healthcare are one and they have your tissue type on record. Seemingly if a wealthy or meaningful unit of the government needs an organ ….just hope they don’t have your tissue type or you may be accused of a “crime”.
But that could NEVER happen here because EVERYONE in America is a Christian with only benevolent actions towards others…..
They’ve probably been doing this in many other countries for years. But then again, other countries don’t have members of their military dedicated to unfriendly, lethal fire directed at their fellow soldiers.
I am definitely embittered by the current state of our DoD. Boyd was right…
Well, one obvious solution to your discomfort is to shut down Ellsworth Air Force Base and get all that federal power off our sacred land.
I’m sure you would secretly love that, Cory. You and your comrades hate the military anyway and you could really hurt a red state to boot and all the while you could blame it on the tea party.