U.S. Central Command Breached by Joyriding Teens; Al Qaeda Fails to Warn Us in Leaked Video

Brian Doherty | September 21, 2006

From the Reuters report:

Two teenage car thieves drove a stolen car on Wednesday without being stopped onto the US military base that commands much of the war on terror, triggering an investigation into the security breach, police and military officials said.

Police in Tampa, Florida, said the joyriders were only stopped and arrested after ramming two police cruisers that had entered MacDill Air Force Base in pursuit.

We can see, then, why the war on international terror will be such an eternally ongoing struggle.

Comments

|9.21.06 @ 1:54PM|#

This is why we need alternative means of interrogation.

|9.21.06 @ 2:13PM|#

It's sounds worse than it was. The guards were so amazed by the stupidity of the little thieves that they were stunned into inaction. Just like that kid who flew his Cessna over MacDill on route to that building in downtown Tampa. Too weird to respond to in time, really.

Here's a question: What did the cops have to do, security-wise, to race onto a military base in hot pursuit? Do they even have jurisdiction on federal property?

What lessons have we learned here? Well, al Qaeda is probably wondering whether it should employ teenagers for the rest of its attacks. Teens are apparently invisible to our security apparatus.

The Wine Commonsewer|9.21.06 @ 2:20PM|#

I was once prevented from entering USMCAS El Toro because I didn't have a front bumper on my car. Were those sharp eyed USMC MP's on the gates at MacDILLweed AFB, they wouldn't have missed any joyriding kids.

Got dam Air Force don't know which end of the M-16 the bullets come out of, how can you expect them to guard the gates?

|9.21.06 @ 2:31PM|#

Cute, TWC, but as you should know, they're called rounds, not bullets.

sneers Civilians!

|9.21.06 @ 2:56PM|#

Civilians do seem to be getting the best of the military in Tampa. They just use planes and cars instead of "rounds" :)

|9.21.06 @ 3:10PM|#

Ayn, FYI, the round is the bullet and the brass. It's not all that important to know where the brass discharges, unless you're left-handed and wearing short sleeves.

|9.21.06 @ 3:33PM|#

Ayn, FYI, the round is the bullet and the brass. It's not all that important to know where the brass discharges, unless you're left-handed and wearing short sleeves.

Timothy|9.21.06 @ 4:16PM|#

Ayn, FYI, the round is the bullet and the brass. It's not all that important to know where the brass discharges, unless you're left-handed and wearing short sleeves.

That's a painful lesson for left-handed shooters, dammit. Stupid hot brass.

Larry A|9.21.06 @ 4:19PM|#

It's not all that important to know where the brass discharges, unless you're left-handed and wearing short sleeves.

Or you're sitting near the M-60 machinegun and your collar's open. Door gunners have a strange sense of humor.

In this case, note that "inside the front gate" doesn't mean the joyriders were anywhere near anything important or secret. Letting the local law take care of the teenagers seems more sensible than blowing them up or something.

|9.21.06 @ 4:49PM|#

Yeah, because the appropriate answer was obviously to light up a car-load full of joy-riding teenagers.

No matter how you slice this, it's a no-win scenario. Either the guards light up two 16-year-olds and are accused of being murdering baby-killers or they let them through the gate and let the locals apprehend them and are accused of not having stringent enough security measures.

"The spokesman declined to elaborate on MacDill safety measures, citing national security. He emphasized that the teens didn�t damage base facilities and were caught within minutes. 'They really did not pose a danger to the base,' he said."

How often have we heard about how wrong it is to open fire on cars running checkpoints in Iraq? Yeah, so all in all, I'm glad the guys on the gate were smart enough NOT to kill these idiots.

|9.21.06 @ 5:03PM|#

How often have we heard about how wrong it is to open fire on cars running checkpoints in Iraq?

I don't know who says this, but they are wrong. There big signs, lots of warnings and usually a warning shot prior to taking out the danger.

Yeah, rob, see if you say that next time when it's not just some dumb kids and it's someone who seriously wants to harm servicemen. I would've shot them, or at least the engine block, and I would know that self-defense and defending my buddies was more important than these two retards.

|9.21.06 @ 5:45PM|#

"I don't know who says this, but they are wrong. There big signs, lots of warnings and usually a warning shot prior to taking out the danger." - Ayn Randian

Yep. We agree. And yet there are goofy knuckleheads who screech about this. Some of them post here:

http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/03/what_really_hap.shtml

"Yeah, rob, see if you say that next time when it's not just some dumb kids and it's someone who seriously wants to harm servicemen." - Ayn

C'mon, you honestly think the guards had NO idea who was in the car? Bottom line: The guards correctly assessed the threat.

"I would've shot them, or at least the engine block, and I would know that self-defense and defending my buddies was more important than these two retards." - Ayn

Bloodthirsty today, are we? Here's a little hint, unless you've got something better than an M-9 side-arm or an M-4/M-16 you're better off shooting at the RADIATOR. You probaby won't do much damage to the engine block. It's not like the movies where cars blow up after a few rounds.

Bottom line: These guys weren't a threat and the guards were smart enough to know that. The fact that base security has a "layered approach" that has a more powerful response the nearer you get to places you could cause harm if you were a bad guy also plays a part.

|9.21.06 @ 5:53PM|#

Of course, if the HNR headline says "U.S. Central Command Breached by Joyriding Teens," the fact that they never actually breeched CENTCOM but merely DROVE PAST IT, might be considered a bit misleading. But hey, when it comes to headlines, there's really no difference between horseshoes and hand grenades, right?

I'm sure the headline that reads "Burger King Breached by Joyriding Jackasses" was considered for its nifty alliteration but discarded because it didn't sound like a national security crisis. Sheesh. They didn't "breech" either the Burger King, CENTCOM, or the comissary.

"TAMPA � Two teens in a stolen car blew through a MacDill Air Force Base guard post early Wednesday, passing the base Burger King, commissary and U.S. Central Command before they turned around at a construction barrier."

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/20/Tampabay/Teen_crash_gate_at_Ma.shtml

Mr. Doherty, perhaps getting your news from a fairly established news outlet in the area, with a little more detail than a Photoshopped Reuters version, would help.

|9.21.06 @ 7:45PM|#

Too right, Rob - 5.56/45 rounds just bounce off engine blocks. You need something with a bit more punch, like 7.62/51 (from an AR-10, say; that's a marvelous rifle.)

|9.21.06 @ 9:31PM|#

Sometimes gate crashers don't get as lucky as the kids in Florida were. http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060519/METRO03/605190368/1014

Although the SP who did the shooting here happened to be an off duty police officer on his drill weekend, depending on where the kids had gone and what they did, it could have been worse for em.

|9.22.06 @ 10:04AM|#

peachy - I've never tried .45 slugs, only 9mm, which REALLY don't cut it. I've heard the M-4/M-16 rounds compared to souped up .22 rounds.

Brad - It's amazing how frequently people who are "off their meds" end up trying to get onto military installations.

Every one of these situations is different. Level of force tends to center around assessment of the threat and proximity to sensitive areas. It's sad when someone essentially commits "suicide by cop" or the security forces assess the threat as high enough to require lethal force to repel it and it turns out to be someone crazy but (mostly) harmless.

|9.22.06 @ 12:10PM|#

"""Here's a little hint, unless you've got something better than an M-9 side-arm or an M-4/M-16 you're better off shooting at the RADIATOR. You probaby won't do much damage to the engine block. It's not like the movies where cars blow up after a few rounds.""""

Great!!! now you spoiled the movies for me. LOL

Most military installations have private security that could have picked up the chase near the gate and catch them in the usual police manner.

The Wine Commonsewer|9.22.06 @ 2:00PM|#

Yes, A/R, they're rounds. And it isn't a gun, it's a rifle (one for shooting, one for fun). But you take my point. :-)

At El Toro, if you had a sticker on your car, you got a wave or a salute (I think the officer stickers were blue). If you didn't have a sticker you were stopped. There wasn't any way that any joyriding kids could crash the gates unless the car had a sticker. And then, that wouldn't be gate crashing.

|9.22.06 @ 2:54PM|#

TWC - They still use the stickers, but now every car is checked for proper ID as well. Which frankly, kind of voids the reasoning behind using the stickers, which was already a bad idea. i always thought that just because a guy steals a car with the right stickers he shouldn't get saluted onto the base! Heh!

The Wine Commonsewer|9.22.06 @ 3:38PM|#

Rob, for some reason or another our ops officer got into a peeing match with an MP at the main gate and tried to pull rank on him by pointing to his collar insignia and shouting Oak Leaves. The MP's response was to pat his holster and shout forty-five.

Eventually the CO somehow intervened, or drove out to the gate and got the Major, or something. Memory is a little fuzzy as to why and how.

|9.22.06 @ 4:03PM|#

"Rob, for some reason or another our ops officer got into a peeing match with an MP at the main gate and tried to pull rank on him by pointing to his collar insignia and shouting Oak Leaves. The MP's response was to pat his holster and shout forty-five.

Eventually the CO somehow intervened, or drove out to the gate and got the Major, or something. Memory is a little fuzzy as to why and how."

Bwahaha! That's priceless! Why is it that the promotion to 0-4 seems to come with an IQ deduction of 40 points?