RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Drug dealing, violence and other criminal activities - while establishments associated with these may make newspaper headlines, those headlines won't include Randolph Airmen; at least not if base leadership can help it.
For this reason, certain public establishments and areas are "off-limits" to base Airmen to include several local clubs and border areas of Mexico.
"The welfare and safety of our personnel are a top priority," said Col. Richard Clark, 12th Flying Training Wing commander, in a recent memorandum circulated throughout the base. "All active duty members, Reservist and Guardsmen attached to Randolph Air Force Base are prohibited from entering areas designated as off-limits with the exception of Air Force Office of Special Investigations personnel performing duties in an official capacity."
The commander added that all other Randolph personnel, including Department of Defense civilian employees, contractors and family members are strongly discouraged against going to or traveling in the off-limits areas.
According to Capt. Bradley Henderson of the 12th FTW legal office and Special Agent Sam McCosh of the AFOSI Detachment 401, a board of voting and non-voting members from Randolph, Lackland, Fort Sam Houston and Brooks City Base meets quarterly to discuss which establishments military members have been frequenting that have problems such as assaults, car burglaries, thefts, drug incidents, gang-related incidents and so on.
"They review data from the local police departments, Army Criminal Investigations Department, military security forces and OSI," said Special Agent McCosh.
The unit commanders have the final say as to which establishments are placed off-limits.
Special Agent McCosh said the commanders' decision is ultimately in the best interest of those Airmen and Soldiers under their command.
"The average person isn't aware of the activities that occur at certain establishments," he said. "We've all heard of stories of people being assaulted because they took a wrong turn into a certain neighborhood. What the AFDCB attempts to do is take all the information it can about an establishment and determine if it should be placed off-limits for the interest of safety."
The special agent added that military members can often become the target of certain illegal activities in the types of establishments placed off-limits.
"The bad guys know the military gets one thing twice a month that a lot of other people don't get, and that's a paycheck," he said.
Captain Henderson noted that establishments placed off-limits by the board are notified before being placed on the list and given a chance to address the board and petition for a review.
In some instances, a new owner may take over an establishment on the list, fix the problems, and address the board to be removed from it, he said.
"Sometimes it's easier to place an area off-limits and stop people from getting hurt or in trouble than to deal with the consequences of frequenting a place where U.S. servicemembers and citizens are targeted," said Captain Henderson.
The captain added that Airmen caught violating the off-limits policy are subject to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for failure to obey a lawful order.
Those establishments placed off-limits include the Cracker Box Palace, Club Senses (formerly known as X/S) and any off-site locations when used to host an X/S-sponsored event or Planet K on Evers, East Mulberry Avenue, Goliad Road and Austin Highway as well as all locations in Bexar, Atascosa, Wilson, Guadalupe, Comal, Kendall, Medina and Bandera counties. Border areas of Mexico placed off-limits include Ciudad Acuna, Piedras Negras, Juarez and Nuevo Laredo.