Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer
I've worked out at the Cape here in FL, and let me tell you, when you get off the beaten tourist track and start driving around the reservation, it is fascinating. Now, back in 2002 (and previously), KSC and space exploration was a going concern for the US, so you really didn't get the whole feeling of abandoned structures etc.; sure there were some buildings that were no longer used (the "milk stool" concrete pad for the Apollo-1 rocket has "ABANDON IN PLACE" stenciled on it, for example) but by and large most stuff out there was in use. But it was weird, driving down these little access roads here and there and bam, you pass a small office building standing in the middle of what is effectively a coastal marsh, then nothing else.
Ahem.
Point being during one of these drives a co-worker at the time mentioned that one weekend (well prior to 9/11, mind) he'd decided to drive out and get some fishing in. Nothing was on the pad, and there was no scheduled transport so he could have his pick of the better spots on the surf. As is easy to do, he got turned around out in the boonies there and was tooling up one road when all of the sudden, a Blackhawk cruised over and hovered about 20' off the road in front of him, he said maybe 10-15 yards away. The door gunner (!) shook his head and wagged his finger at Ken, who nodded back and turned around and drove back the way he came.
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Having worked at national critical sites, most of them we can not keep some one out as there is to much space to cover, we will know if they get on, and can keep them from getting out and/or keep them from secure parts. A lot of it depends on the mission statement and how in your face they want to be. The last one that I worked for most of the land they did not care, you could come and go as you pleased, as long as you were respectful of others, but if you got to there inner area that was a different story.