DoD stickers were discontinued following 9/11. Only way yo get waved on is with a military ID. Vehicles are randomly stopped and searched.
Proper ID is either a CAC for active duty and civilian employees or retired and dependent IDs.
DOD stickers are still mandatory at Ft. Lewis & McChord. McChord was going to phase them out, but when they became a joint base with Ft. Lewis, Ft. Lewis said we have to have them.
Correct. I'm a DoD civilian contractor who drives/flies into bases all the time. I've worked at MacDill before (and Hood, Andrews, McGuire, McChord, Bragg, etc.) Security has definitely tightened up over the past year. The random searched seem to have increased, with good reason.
If the man in the vehicle was indeed AWOL military, then luckily he did not have a current CAC card. Perhaps the Security Forces guard just sensed something wrong with the picture. The guards at these bases are generally well trained, disciplined and very observant.
Without giving details, I can tell you that there have been probing attempts at a few bases this year. I hope the investigation on these two is exhaustive in looking at their associations...