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Base sponsors responsible for guest's actions
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 30th Security Forces Squadron is reminding Team V about the rules and regulations regarding signing people onto Vandenberg.
Properly signing a person onto the base, as well as ensuring the guest follows all base rules, is the responsibility of the sponsor; failure to do so can have serious repercussions.
"These rules have been set into place by the 30th Space Wing commander," said Master Sgt. Mickey Middaugh, the 30th SFS superintendant of garrison security. "They are set in place to uphold security and protect Air Force resources and individuals on Vandenberg."
That protection starts with the signing-on process. In order for a person without a military identification card to gain access to the base, a military identification card holder must sign them on at the Vandenberg Visitor Control Center. Guests 16 and older must have a driver's license, state-issued identification card or a passport. If the guest is driving on the base, the driver's license is mandatory.
Airmen can sponsor guests for up to 30 days with 24 hour access; dependants can sponsor guests as well, but must be 18 or older to do so. Guests living within 60 minutes of the base are authorized to stay in sponsors home for two days. Guest living outside 60 minutes of the base may stay in the sponsor's home for 30 days.
"Remember that you as the sponsor are responsible for your visitor at all times while on Vandenberg," said Senior Airman La-Toya Parrot, a 30th SFS Visitor Control Center technician. "If your visitor violates any laws or regulations, you will be held responsible."
Sponsor responsibilities include telling security forces where the guest will visit; those areas are then noted on the pass issued to the guest. If sponsored guests are found in areas on base outside of those areas listed on the pass while unescorted, the sponsor and the guests will be in violation of procedures and the 30th SFS will escort the guests off base. The 30th SFS will also report the sponsor to the responsible unit commander. The guest could also be cited or barred from the installation and the Airman could lose his or her privilege to sponsor guests.
"We do not have a problem with Airman following the rules, but we do have problems with guests," Sergeant Middaugh said. "We need to make sure our Airmen know the individuals they are sponsoring. If they are not a really good friend, someone you can trust, please think again about sponsoring them on base."
If an Airman violates these provisions, she may also be subject to, depending upon the circumstances, one of the following: administrative consequences (e.g., Letter of Counseling, Letter of Reprimand, Unfavorable Information File); nonjudicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice; or, in serious instances or combined with other misconduct, administrative discharge or court-martial.
There are also consequences for military dependants or other civilians who violate the rules of escorting people onto the base.
"If a base-affiliated civilian violates the rules by sneaking another individual onto the installation who does not otherwise have permission to be here, that individual could potentially be held both criminally and civilly liable for their own actions and the actions of the person he or she snuck onto base," said Capt. Brandon Porter of the 30th SW Judge Advocate office. "These provisions are in place to ensure the security of our base, and violations of them by Airmen are not taken lightly."
For more information on base entrance and escort rules and regulations, see 30th Space Wing Instruction 31-101, Chapter 8, or call the Visitor Control Center at 606-7662.