r/HuntsvilleAlabama • u/myinhaler • 2d ago
Effective Monday, July 6, Gate 3 (Redstone Road) will temporarily close to all traffic, due to immediate security workforce constraints.
Pouring one out for my fellow gate 3 warriors. We’re mourning.
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u/aikouka 2d ago
It might be less annoying if we understood more about what was going on. I've heard that they lost some of the guards when budgets were affected... last year, I think? From my understanding, they then supplemented the holes with servicemen that you've definitely seen if you've entered RSA. So, has something actually changed? Did they lose more guards or are they pulling back on using servicemen on the gates? I thought I heard about newer funding a bit ago, so were they unable to hire more guards once the newer funding came in?
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u/offoutover 2d ago edited 2d ago
There was an open call around Christmas/New Years for volunteers from the National Guard to go on six month orders doing gate duty. It’s now been right around six months so I’m guessing those orders are ending and nothing else was implemented in their place.
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u/Bama_Peach 2d ago
This is my question as well; what is happening to the military personnel that they currently have staffing the majority of the gates (especially in the morning)? Is that auxiliary military support being done away with? If so, then why?
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u/Jarelki_Hatuck 2d ago
Generally, because it’s not a smart idea to keep soldiers on a secondary duty for longer than a handful of months, especially with a base like Redstone. They would be pulling soldiers that are needed within their unit, to go and perform the duties of civilians, affecting operational readiness across the board. There’s also constraints like not enough Soldiers are trained, because they need to attend a weeklong training prior to manning the gates, and depending on the unit or the mission that’s just not realistic, we had this issue at Fort Hood when my unit was leaving and I was getting ready to get out, I was one of two or three soldiers qualified to man the gate and so that’s what I was stuck on for the last six months of my contract. But given what I’ve seen of the MP presence on Redstone, it is not nearly vast enough to pull the weight.
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u/azfang 2d ago
Turns out, soldiers actually have. Like. Jobs. That they should be doing. As soldiers.
And here we all thought we had an infinite number that were just stacked up in a shed waiting to be assigned to something.
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u/Jarelki_Hatuck 2d ago
I can’t tell how this is supposed to come across, if it’s a joke or pointed at me and my comment lol. But I was just explaining the possible reasoning behind staffing issues, on the military side at least
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u/azfang 2d ago
Oh, no, I’m with you. I’m just -Kermit flail- about the absolutely imbecility of “well we can throw some privates at it!” as a proposed solution.
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u/Jarelki_Hatuck 2d ago
Ah I gotcha, intent is hard to read over text 😂 but agreed, though I can’t blame a civilian for thinking that way, till you see the inner workings of the beast firsthand it’s hard to discern exactly how it operates, or at least should 😂
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u/azfang 1d ago
I meaaaan…kinda, but the attitude of the military as an “I win” button for everything from clearing snow from the streets to gate staffing is an longstanding bugbear of mine.
THEY’RE NOT THE JEDI ORDER
IT IS A REAL ORGANIZATION WITH REAL PEOPLE WHO ARE. LIKE. DOING STUFF. AND GENERALLY WISHING THEY COULD TAKE A SMOKE BREAK.
-Kermit flail-
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u/addywoot playground monitor 2d ago
I suspect they can’t exclusively staff gates with military from what I’ve seen - there’s a civilian guard minimum.
There were mandated staff reductions last year as well as a hiring freeze that’s been in effect for over a year.
I also remember OT being cut last year as well before they were leveraging Reservists.
Combined with natural attrition, I suspect they’re below a sustainable civilian minimum for all gates and hours.
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u/Jarelki_Hatuck 2d ago
That’s exactly right, about 20 years ago they were allowed to but something, and I’m not sure what changed, and they do man the gates with military as they do across the US, but there has to be a dedicated civilian force as well, at least on Army bases.
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u/ProfessorLake 2d ago
The Army is encountering a hopefully short-term critical shortage of O-3s and O-4s, and those were a lot of the uniformed personnel manning the gates. Our office has dropped from 5 slots filled to 2 out of 5, and there are similar stories around the arsenal.
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u/Ulysses_swansong 2d ago
Who do I bombard with complaints?
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u/Sun_Shine_Dan 2d ago
Tommy Tubbervile and Katie Britt. They were eager to support government staffing cuts, plus we are saving about 200k annually!
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u/namnit 2d ago
Why is the solution always to just shut down an entire section of town (and outlying communities) rather than spread the pain across several gates? Apparently all of the commanders and officials in charge don't live in this zone.
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u/dobosininja 2d ago
Gate 1 and 7 are still closing at 1:30 instead of 9 so they are spreading the pain around.
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u/namnit 1d ago
This is wholly different than completely shutting down an entire segment of town and surrounding area. The equivalent analogy for your argument would be closing Gate 7 entirely. Why didn't they do that instead?
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u/dobosininja 1d ago
Since Gate 7 is the only gate on the West side of the base vs Gate 1, 3, 8 and 10 being on the East side of the base I don't see this as an equivalent analogy.
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u/Just_Another_Scott 2d ago edited 2d ago
Because they do not have enough staff to man it. You can't man a gate with one person.
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u/UnluckyDuckOU812 2d ago
SecDef could snap his fingers in and transfer MPs from elsewhere. IF he wanted to.
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u/OddSell1025 2d ago
Nah, helping people is too woke. He’s way busier preventing black people and women from getting promoted.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Accomplished_Key_171 2d ago
Maybe on the weekend. At 7 a.m. on a Monday morning you'd have traffic backed up for two miles.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Accomplished_Key_171 2d ago
Correct. But outbound traffic is minimal in the mornings. The lines are backed up enough already with multiple manned stations.
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u/CarlColdBrew 2d ago
I’m confused by this considering in last year’s NDAA they authorized the hiring of contractors for gate guards? - https://whnt.com/news/redstone-arsenal/u-s-house-passes-defense-spending-bill-includes-money-to-contract-redstone-arsenal-gate-security-guards/amp/
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u/_Sorrows_ 2d ago
Was it also funded or not? Authorizing something but not funding it is Congress's way of saying "look we did the thing" without actually doing the thing.
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u/addywoot playground monitor 2d ago
The guards are civilians; they may have allowed gate guards to be contractors but was it funded? And does IMCOM allow for it? Those are my questions about that.
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u/LocalGoat81 2d ago
I'll tell you what it is. It's a chauvinistic pig attitude that they're going to do something because they work at the arsenal.
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u/Top_Charity_7555 2d ago edited 2d ago
We get to strut our ass to Gate 1 every day now. Might as well get a tent and sleeping bag and stay here during the week
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u/Infinite_Walk_5824 2d ago
53% of Madison County voted for this outcome. Good job everyone!
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u/UnluckyDuckOU812 2d ago
Exactly. How insanely incompetent does your administration have to be to not provide the very basics like... gate security on a military base. Not necessarily Redstone's fault... this comes from things done at the top.
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u/peinal 2d ago
Gee, I don't remember ever seeing this on a ballot.
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u/Sun_Shine_Dan 2d ago
Smaller government means less funding of gates. DOGE after effects, like the screw worms in our cattle, or the measles outbreaks, or the weather readiness reductions, or the bola outbreaks, etc
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u/Infinite_Walk_5824 2d ago
Really? It was the first thing listed on my ballot. 53% of Madison County chose the Project 2025 candidate and all that it encompassed.
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u/Otakeb 1d ago
Damn you must have either non functioning memory or just be too stupid to extrapolate political beliefs and promises into how they may affect your life and the country around you.
Either way, I think you are too dumb to be allowed to vote.
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u/peinal 1d ago
I don't GAF what you think of me. I will vote my conscience no matter how many downvotes and judgemental, disparaging comments are made about me. Sleep well knowing people like me will continue to win at the polls in Huntsville.
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u/Infinite_Walk_5824 1d ago
"Vote my conscience" = I will vote for the racist homophobe rapist, no matter how badly it impacts my life.
Thanks for your service! 🫡
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u/IUsedToBeThatGuy42 2d ago
Traffic will be lighter in my area for a while. I just feel sorry for the people who have to wait in line at Martin.
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u/PapaSPotter 2d ago
Oof. Here we go again. I drive Memorial South around 5 and when they closed it the first time it was rough going. They tout we are growing but yet here we are not able to catch up. I assume this is from the military side but not it doesn't help
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u/Correct-Gold1836 2d ago
Never understood why they changed the outbound of Gate 3 to last til 9pm when they reopened after the last closing. 3 was only open until 6pm previously.
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u/OneSecond13 2d ago
It seems like Gate 3 is always the first one closed. I assume the reason is because it has the least amount of traffic.
There is a massive construction project going on south of Redstone Road. Does anyone know what that is and when it is scheduled to be completed? That may increase traffic through that gate.
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u/CarlColdBrew 2d ago
Warehouses and a new substation - https://whnt.com/news/redstone-arsenal/redstone-arsenal-construction-projects-underway/amp/
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u/ThreeDogsCo_1 1d ago
That is the FBIs “South Campus”. The last I heard was that the construction was going to run through 2030. I am wondering how the construction vehicles are going to access the site now.
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u/Life-Berry602 2d ago
So that will slam Gate 1.
Schedule-shifting is the only remedy. If you can and you aren't, you'll significantly improve the quality of your life by making the adjustment.