Eglin Reservation

Hi all,

I'm new here- even though my join date says 2005 I haven't been active on the forum until recently.

I live in the Ft. Walton Beach area, south of the massive Eglin Reservation. It truly is a wonderful place for all kinds of outdoor recreation including 'wheeling, though the rules are stringent. It's enjoyable to get out and just cruse the trails and get lost out i the woods for hours.

BUT, many of these trails are trashed. Furniture, burnedout cars, appliances... you name it, it's out there.

I've been kicking around the idea of attempting to organize a clean-up effort in conjunction with the Jackson Guard in order to make the Reservation a nicer place for everyone and to help keep it open and give the base commander of Eglin AFB a better impression, hopefully convincing him to continue to alow public use of the land he controls.

The problems I need some help on are:

I will need LOTS of volunteers! People with pickups, trailers and winches will be a HUGE help.

Disposal... obviously it's not going to do any good to pick up all of this trash if we've got no where to put it!


Help me out with some ideas and maybe, just MAYBE I can make this idea a reality!

well, I am hoping to have my trail rid down here in Pensacola with me by next month, so I can help. I keep hearing good things about that Eglin area so it would be nice to see it. Got any more info on it in general, a website maybe?

I am all for this, shoot, I can probably get some permissive TDY to do it during the week.

Sweet!
And, being military property, think of the E/OPR bullet.

Not much can happen with it for a while since I'm not really going to be back until the end of June, though.

I swapped out my MJ shackles for a set of already cut WJ control arms with a local guy a while back and he mentioned that there was an Emerald Coast Jeep Club that does runs out in that area a lot. Maybe get them involved when this goes down?

yea, the only problem is I will not have an OPR for another year or 2. I am in STRIKENAV training ove here and just get a training report issued once a year. SO I guess no bullets for me.

wolfpackjeeper said:

I swapped out my MJ shackles for a set of already cut WJ control arms with a local guy a while back and he mentioned that there was an Emerald Coast Jeep Club that does runs out in that area a lot. Maybe get them involved when this goes down?

yea, the only problem is I will not have an OPR for another year or 2. I am in STRIKENAV training ove here and just get a training report issued once a year. SO I guess no bullets for me.

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Yep, there's Emerald Coast Jeep Club and White Sands Jeep club. I know some guys in White Sands, so I'll be talking to them in the near future.

Who needs bullets anyway... it's about doing something good!

I have looked for white sands before, have gotten directions to three different places of where they used to be/meet and have never found them.

I have been told to go to this little place where they fix and sell jeep parts, but the Hispanic couple that run it do not seem to have a clue what I am talking about.

Kick a$$. I have spent a lot of time at Eglin AFB, well the ranger part. I used to fly Med-Evac for the Rangers and now I work on the blackhawks that fly them around. I dont get down there very much now but maybe I could work something out, stay on base, help with the clean up and get some good clean up going, that would be cool. Is there a requirement to get on base for non-military people? Is it just an ID card? Is there any forms that you have to submit to go for wheeling? parts of the reservations that are closed at any times? Where would this information be located about the reservation? pm me or post back. Nice to meet you and thanks.

last time i mosied over to eglin, I had to stop at the visitor station to get a pas for my MIL. I thought that was pretty crazy. Both my vehicles are DOD tagged, and I had my CAC card with me.

BBgun said:

Kick a$$. I have spent a lot of time at Eglin AFB, well the ranger part. I used to fly Med-Evac for the Rangers and now I work on the blackhawks that fly them around. I dont get down there very much now but maybe I could work something out, stay on base, help with the clean up and get some good clean up going, that would be cool. Is there a requirement to get on base for non-military people? Is it just an ID card? Is there any forms that you have to submit to go for wheeling? parts of the reservations that are closed at any times? Where would this information be located about the reservation? pm me or post back. Nice to meet you and thanks.

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There are "Red Zones" that are active bombing sites with a bunch of UXO. These areas are forbidden and they're mostly clearly marked with signes on the trails. Plus when you buy your range pass you'll get a map that clearly outlines it.

You'll need an Eglin Recreational pass. They can be purchased at the Jackson Guard in Niceville, FL. For me they're only $4 for a year and for civilians I want to say they're about $10. Either way it's pretty affordable. The map they give you also has open/close hours and all the rules on it for the year. It closes one hour after sundown typically but you can also buy a camping permit that's good for 5 days and 10 people for only $10!

wolfpackjeeper said:

last time i mosied over to eglin, I had to stop at the visitor station to get a pas for my MIL. I thought that was pretty crazy. Both my vehicles are DOD tagged, and I had my CAC card with me.

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It's not really a question of whether you're military or not, it's open to the public. It's more a question of safety. Basically that little blue permit they give you is their @$$ protection. It shows that yo have been briefed of the rules, dangers and conditions. You have to watch a little video on UXO also. Don't worry, though... UXO is highly unlikely and the closest thing I've found are some unspent M-16 blanks left behind from some training.

moneypit said:

It's not really a question of whether you're military or not, it's open to the public. It's more a question of safety. Basically that little blue permit they give you is their @$$ protection. It shows that yo have been briefed of the rules, dangers and conditions. You have to watch a little video on UXO also. Don't worry, though... UXO is highly unlikely and the closest thing I've found are some unspent M-16 blanks left behind from some training.

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I mean I had to stop and get he a pass when we were going to the exchange. Not to any of the ranges. I am at NAS Pensacola right now and you can get on the base with a valid Id, no stop, they just hand you a pass if your tags and everything are kosher.

Lady was flippin mean about it too for a lazy afternoon. I Had the military Ids for my wife and I and I had my MILs License as well, ready to go. She got pretty rude and had me turn around and go back to the visitor's station. Where my MIL did not even go in, I walked in with her ID, waited 20 minutes while the lady did something, at which point she gave me a little white piece of paper and said have a nice day. That lady was pretty nice though.

wolfpackjeeper said:

I mean I had to stop and get he a pass when we were going to the exchange. Not to any of the ranges. I am at NAS Pensacola right now and you can get on the base with a valid Id, no stop, they just hand you a pass if your tags and everything are kosher.

Lady was flippin mean about it too for a lazy afternoon. I Had the military Ids for my wife and I and I had my MILs License as well, ready to go. She got pretty rude and had me turn around and go back to the visitor's station. Where my MIL did not even go in, I walked in with her ID, waited 20 minutes while the lady did something, at which point she gave me a little white piece of paper and said have a nice day. That lady was pretty nice though.

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Hmmm... that's real dumb. There's absolutely no reason for that. Hell, I can go and get on NAS any time I want with just my CAC, and my step mother can get on any base all day long with her Army dependant ID card... Also, you can get on Hurlburt with an Eglin visitor's pass, but you can't get on Eglin with a Hurlburt pass!

The joys of the military. Well dont come to Ft. Benning on your motorcycle, they will want you to take the 2 day class so you have the license from Ft. Benning and wont let you on post because you havent been Benningized lol.

I have no intention of ever going to fort benning.