Over 6,000 local nationals enter Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, every day to provide services ranging from food service to water delivery to facility repairs.  These men are accounted for through entry and exit points, badged, screened, searched, biometrically cataloged and tracked, and subject to random checks at any time.  Despite the military’s efforts to keep nefarious troublemakers away from BAF, we are always aware of the potential for “insider threats”.

Insider threats are the people who appear like the good guys, but intend to do damage.  News stories of military and civilian workers and trainers being shot by their own Afghan body guards remind us that anybody can be an insider threat.  So, we don’t let our guard down, and we don’t give people the opportunity to create trouble.

Case in point: bag bans.

Pretty much every building on BAF enforces a bag ban.  No backpacks, laptop totes, laundry duffles, gym bags, shopping bags, purses, fanny packs, briefcases, or packages of any kind are permitted because a bomb, biological weapon, or other implement of mass injury or destruction could be hidden inside.  This rule applies to everybody (military and civilian), not just local nationals, because anybody can be an insider threat.

Bag bans explain why our uniforms have so many roomy cargo pockets, which you just can’t fully appreciate until you’re not allowed to carry any bags, boxes, or packages with you into any building.

Bag bans force you to plan your day carefully.  Shopping at the PX (Post Exchange), then want to stop off at the Green Bean for a smoothie?  No, get your smoothie first or plan to drop off your purchases back at your room (not your office) before you enter the Green Bean.  Bringing your laundry bag to work so you can drop it off on the way to lunch?  Think again: no laundry bags are coming into the office building.  Heading to a meeting with your laptop and a bunch of handouts?  Pile those loose-leaf papers on your naked computer and haul it to the conference room with a bungee cord around the stack because you’re not packing a bag.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it you find it’s really great to get around hands-free.

MM