LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – NAS Patuxent River is currently facing staffing shortages at the front gates.
Due to these shortages, there is no longer enough support for extra lanes at Gates 1 and 2. Gate 3 has also been given temporarily reduced hours and is now only open for the morning rush from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
“NAS Pax River is manning our gates to the necessary security posture to safely and securely maintain normal daily operations,” Public Affairs Officer for NAS Pax River Patrick Gordon told TheBayNet.com. “While we have a robust and dedicated cadre of civilian and military police officers on hand every day to maintain base and personnel security, sometimes limiting factors can prevent an officer from arming up, such as a medical issue that limits certain duties.”
“That being said, we still have the necessary security personnel at PAX to still maintain gate operations and patrols per CNIC instruction, but in order to do so safely we sometimes have to limit the amount of lanes open at gates to do so.”
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Todd Morgan also weighed in on the current situation.
“Bottom line is base CO has manpower issues and gates are one piece of it,” Todd Morgan told TheBayNet.com. “As people are coming back to work post covid, he has to utilize people as necessary.”
“People coming back to work haven’t really encountered this for a couple of years and now this is one piece of the sequence,” Morgan continued. “I suggest we all remain calm. Drive nicely and have consideration for others, use flex hours when possible.”
As of right now, there is no timeline or expectation as to when this problem will be resolved.
“We have been working with our higher headquarters at NDW to rectify the issue in the long term, as well as our mission partners at Pax River to train up and use Auxiliary Security Force personnel to ease some of the issues at the gates,” Gordon said.
We will continue to provide any additional updates as they become available.
Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com
Are all these workers putting in leave if they are late?
Nice try but I’m sure you wouldn’t if your employer kept you from picking up your shovel because the yard is locked up.
Hay Todd Morgan? When was the traffic study done for the Royal Farms store at gate 2. Was it done after the CORVID work from home started. If so, the numbers are incorrect and ROYAL Farms shouldn’t be approved. It is going to cause a traffic headache anyway.
Home Boy, this will definitely cause a “Royal” headache! Just what we need here “another gas station”.
Right? They put money on a stump for him. You know he’s getting paid.
Don’t make sense Master at Arms dont get shore duty, active duty use to go TAD to security when it was a shortage.
If it was an Air Force base, they’d have plenty of cops. But when you don’t have a dedicated security force, well……..
That’s what that get for laying the
security people off they new we had to come back to work soon or later. That’s what happens when you greedy for money
I wonder if they tried offering better pay and benefits
How does a medical restriction keep you from standing in one place for a few hours? Not to mention, shouldn’t someone in charge of our security be able to do the job to their fullest capabilities? If they aren’t physically able. They shouldn’t even be on duty. Hire someone who can do the job.
I figured it would take some civilians complaining for this to come to light. Traffic doubled in less than a month. Backed up from 0530 to 0830 from my experience.
It’s been growing slowly since COVID. I’ve worked on the base before, during and “after” COVID and traffic is not as bad as before but it’s definitely on the upswing. What’s unacceptable are the “security/safety” measures that have been implemented instead of dedicating that effort to finding a solution to Security Forces shortages. We’re all facing the same workforce problem but we don’t screw everyone else’s day and then cry about it. That’s probably why he’ll retire as a Captain.
He’ll retire as a Captain and his buddies in the county will give him a job.
Is the base hiring retirees and other separated military personnel to augment the gate security? It seems to me that this would be a win-win for everyone.