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Why is it..........?

Squirrel

Squirrel

Lantern Swinger
..that you are asked to produce your ID card on LEAVING a naval shore establishement?
I've served on and visited several Army and RAF bases, and they don't have the same policy, whilst (and forgive me if I'm wrong on this) every RN establishment I can think of, does. Just seems pretty pointless.
 
Now that's a reason I really hadn't thought of!
I once asked a Chops(M) who replied that it's to make sure you're not a terrorist who's snuck in. I never thought that made much sense as surely you'd just sneak back out the way you came in.
 
Squirrel said:
..that you are asked to produce your ID card on LEAVING a naval shore establishement?


Just seems pretty pointless.
Click to expand...

Not when you consider the nause you'd go through trying to get back in if you'd left it in your cabin!
 
Squirrel said:
..that you are asked to produce your ID card on LEAVING a naval shore establishement?
I've served on and visited several Army and RAF bases, and they don't have the same policy, whilst (and forgive me if I'm wrong on this) every RN establishment I can think of, does. Just seems pretty pointless.
Click to expand...

If the MGS spent a bit more time checking it was correct when you go into the base, they wouldn't have to make sure it was correct on the way out!!!

I've been into one of the MWS establisments a few times and the fellas on the gates are often more interested in your tax disc, tyre tread, etc than your ID card.
 
Squirrel said:
..that you are asked to produce your ID card on LEAVING a naval shore establishement?
Click to expand...
The policy you describe never came about until around the mid 70's. Before that, no one gave two s#!ts. However, I do believe that I have an idea why things changed.
During the years of paper ID cards (70's), I went ashore with a bloke who had lost his card (never checked on the way out). He went ashore with nothing more than a blue sheet of A4 paper and a black pen. We stopped by Alders, or whatever it was called in those days and he had his photo taken in a booth. He made his own ID card which worked perfectly until he joined his next ship and got collared at Portland. His excuse, he didn't want the 7 days 9's and the fine. Logical I would have thought.

I suppose that could have been a turning point in identity checks because as I said, shortly thereafter ID cards were checked both ways in and out. Just a thought. :wink:
 
And also possibly to check that you hadn't been confined to quarters/barracks/station etc? My old man was in the army back in the 60's and that was one reason that they did that in his regiment (admittedly it was a local decision at that time)
 
Don't think I was ever checked for an Id card on leaving ships -cos they all knew me!! However the Qm usually wanted a station card .

Do they still use them on ships???

The Dockyard gate guys usually wanted a show of an ID card as you left and as you returned .


As for Caledonia well its all manned by civvies on the gate and a Dockyard cop wiv shooter !! You need ID to get in and if you have a car and visiting you will need a pass for it!
 
If you lot think Naval security is bad you should have visited some of the RAF bases I did during my ROC Annual Camps. The concept of security was completely alien. Rarely was anybody manning the guardroom. Anyone could enter via the married quarters which led into the bases, unchecked, via a low fence! It was a joke!

Had some good fun though... carrying drunken Observers outside in their beds and putting them in the middle of the Parade Ground. Early the following morning several faces would be peering out of the dorm window watching to discover his fate... Sadly the dorms were NOT mixed :( - in a monitoring post we all shared the same room :lol: :D
 
used to walk into the Pompey Dockyard or Nelson gates with a quick flash of a library card if i had forgot to take my id out with me. never got stopped. What i used to do is say i had lost my ID card, then i would get a shiney new id card, and i would keep that as spare, and just use my old one. Still got my ID 5 years after leaving the RN, comes in handy when i go down Pompey to see my m8's or away trips with Newcastle v Pompey, lets me get into the base, and have a free room for the weekend, without having to pay for a hotel lol.

But serious though, if a Terorist wanted to gain access to the Dockyard, he would find it incredibly easy.
Some of my civvy friends used to sneak into Nelson on sunday nights to get into the Nelson Bop as it was the only place open after 11pm on sundays lol
 

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