# Hundreds of thousands of people plan to rush Area 51 so they can see aliens **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988 "2019-07-12T21:51:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/41 "2019-07-13T21:34:14Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I have the lowest security clearance available and get recertified every 15 years. I remember Chefguy had a really good precis on the whole process in some thread here. Every 15 years must be a pain, especially for higher clearances, given my understanding of the backlog to get the process finished. For a SSBI, I thought they were running 24-36 months behind, and I’ve no idea if the renewal is as much of a PITA as the initial investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/42 "2019-07-13T22:31:28Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Boy, will they be surprised when the hit the force field bubble surrounding Area 51! Wait until the defenders unleash the 1920s-style death ray, reverse-engineered from alien technology recovered from the spacecraft that crashed at Roswell in the '40s. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/43 "2019-07-13T22:36:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The guards really wouldn’t have to do much even if thousands of people suddenly show up. Nellis is less than 15 minutes away on afterburners. Since that is where they base and train most of the tactical fighters in the USAF, I am sure that the crowd would disperse (and shit themselves silly) after the first low-level pass without anybody firing a shot. Depending on the crowd, they may just get their smartphones out for the airshow. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/44 "2019-07-13T23:07:33Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Unlikely that any more than a dozen would actually show up, but [several hundred thousand people plan to storm the Area 51 facility in September to get a look at those aliens in freezers.](https://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/local-news/400k-plus-people-join-facebook-event-plan-to-storm-area-51-to-see-them-aliens/?fbclid=IwAR3etWJKxEQzmILjtKnlmbYsaEnOg_PqsnDMsxvf-HDMTfW9ufJLGIFcZ5c) > There are also Facebook planning groups for the “event”. I think the air force has a plan for this contingency. They have bought up a lot of alien costumes and when the people storm the gates, they are going to run into a shit load of aliens. It would be almost like independence day, when the aliens do things, sexual things to the gate crashers. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/45 "2019-07-13T23:38:33Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > I think the air force has a plan for this contingency. They have bought up a lot of alien costumes and when the people storm the gates, they are going to run into a shit load of aliens. It would be almost like independence day, when the aliens do things, sexual things to the gate crashers. So Burning Man South… The Air Force should charge admission. “Better food than the Fyre Festival!” “More computers than BlackHat!” ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/46 "2019-07-13T23:49:22Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I just know that some poor schmuck colonel in the bowels of the Pentagon has been tasked to plan for this just in case. At least the handful of Majors doing most of the work for the Colonel get to [read humorous things](https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1151617/storm-area-51-september-alien-aliens-area-51-map-roswell-ufo-2019) like > [@](#): > > If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/47 "2019-07-13T23:52:14Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > For the OP: the gate and fence are 10s of miles from the base itself. I hope the protesters packed a lunch and lots of water. Was the first thing I thought. It may actually turn into mainly a rescue mission for the security force. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/48 "2019-07-14T00:10:19Z")
400,000 twelve year olds on the internet can’t be wrong, shit it going down. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/49 "2019-07-14T14:06:30Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > But they generally don’t shoot. Or I’d not heard of them doing it. (Do they even have ammunition chambered in their weapons most of the time?) > > It’s a common story though, and so common, I was wondering if there’d been any unintentional discharges by the security personnel. Or intentional. I work on a military base, and just in the 10 years I’ve worked there, there have been multiple incidents of deranged people trying to drive on base unauthorized, and the DoD police, i.e. the kids standing at the gate with M-16s, _absolutely_ will and have opened fire on them. And we’re a freakin’ _hospital_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/50 "2019-07-14T14:06:41Z")
Yes, lets run a half marathon through desert conditions (and there won’t be water stations) and then you find the trained soldiers who have been sitting in the shade with their loaded weapons in front of the locked doors. And this is assuming they don’t bother to send some fighter jets along the way to make it a bit more of a challenge. Sounds like a great idea to me. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/51 "2019-07-14T15:48:14Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Yes, lets run a half marathon through desert conditions (and there won’t be water stations) and then you find the trained soldiers who have been sitting in the shade with their loaded weapons in front of the locked doors. And this is assuming they don’t bother to send some fighter jets along the way to make it a bit more of a challenge. Sounds like a great idea to me. I suspect their collective thought is that the government will decline to use lethal force on all these smartphone wielding, unarmed intruders. I would hope that there are still some levels of government that don’t look forward to reading the headlines “US military kills hundred of unarmed civilians”. All they need to do is call the guard’s bluff, overwhelm them with sheer numbers and take control. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/52 "2019-07-14T16:27:54Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I would hope that there are still some levels of government that don’t look forward to reading the headlines “US military kills hundred of unarmed civilians”. I, myself, would be outraged! Outraged that there wouldn’t be enough Darwin Awards to go around! This wouldn’t fall under the category of some government atrocity, it would be a case of “bull messed with, horns received.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/53 "2019-07-14T16:42:37Z")
I hope that the DOD gets more creative than just “buzz the kids with fighter jets”. C’mon, guys. You don’t have much to do out there in the desert, you have time to dress up an MH-X Stealth Blackhawk copter… so it looks like an alien ship. Or at least buy a couple [Stealth Quadcopter Drones](https://www.amazon.com/Merkury-Avier-Stealth-Quadcopter-Camera/dp/B0711FMVQ1) off Amazon and make them look like flying saucers. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/54 "2019-07-14T18:17:15Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I hope that the DOD gets more creative than just “buzz the kids with fighter jets”. C’mon, guys. You don’t have much to do out there in the desert, you have time to dress up an MH-X Stealth Blackhawk copter… so it looks like an alien ship. > > Or at least buy a couple [Stealth Quadcopter Drones](https://www.amazon.com/Merkury-Avier-Stealth-Quadcopter-Camera/dp/B0711FMVQ1) off Amazon and make them look like flying saucers. There’s no point in this. Most people would just laugh it off without even acknowledging the creativity. These interlopers aren’t “most people” though. Many would just see it as evidence to reinforce their belief and they would make an even bigger problem down the road. I wouldn’t do the modern jet flyover either. It would just give too many of them a thrill. Can you load lachrymatory agents / tear gas / pepper spray into a crop duster? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/55 "2019-07-14T19:20:36Z")
I want to see Area 51 put out a mothership from _Independence Day_ and hover it over the sightseers. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/56 "2019-07-14T22:55:33Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I know that the signs say it, and it’s a common trope that they’ll do it, but does anyone know if any of the security for special weapons/material storage areas or national security areas like Area 51, have ever shot and killed trespassers? Word is that the Area 51 guards are going to deploy a giant net. All of the captured intruders will be herded into corrals and sold at federal auction. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/57 "2019-07-15T05:16:05Z")
Now over 600,000, and military has issued warnings: > **[Storm Area 51: US military ‘ready’ to confront 600,000 alien-hunters...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/storm-area-51-us-military-091226168.html)** > > The Air Force has issued a stern warning to the over half of million people planning to storm a top-secret US military base in the Nevada desert who are on a hunt to “see them aliens.”Over 600,000 people have signed up to an event called “Storm Area... ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/58 "2019-07-15T05:23:04Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I know that the signs say it, and it’s a common trope that they’ll do it, but does anyone know if any of the security for special weapons/material storage areas or national security areas like Area 51, have ever shot and killed trespassers? Mentioned it on the Dope before, sometime in the early 90s, perhaps as early as 1989 I was mired several cars back from the main gate NOB Norfolk VA when a protester decided to stop standing around yelling and ran the gate, when a bunch of Marines out doing PT dogpiled the moron … no shots fired, the gate guards were laughing. > [@Spud](#): > > This reminds me of when I asked my friend who was an officer on a nuclear submarine how fast it could go. He responded “I couldn’t tell you.” I said… you’re an officer on the submarine and you don’t know how fast it can go? to which he responded… “I didn’t say I don’t know.” I always had fun on Dependent cruises, I gave up doing the fake qual card thing after the third or fourth cruise I did. It wasn’t fun taunting the poor junior officers after a while. Pity that the combination of playing [688](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/688_Attack_Sub) and reading [Janes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane%27s_Fighting_Ships) for fun makes a female who has the tiniest amount of comprehension of militaria distressing for the poor junior officers. \ It was much funner just hanging out in the machinery spaces with the husband and our buddies anyway. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/59 "2019-07-15T10:31:05Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I know about the guy who drove onto past the gates at Mercury, onto the Nevada National Security Site, left his vehicle with a metallic object in his hand, and got ventilated for his trouble, but IMHO, that would’ve happened on any felony traffic stop in Nye County. I mean cases like where people “break red” on an Air Force Base or No Lone Zone, and the security forces actually shoot at them. While looking for a movie theatre, a Russian colleague and I unknowingly drove onto a United States Air Force base. Our first clue was when a uniformed guard ran onto the road and demanded we pull over and roll down the window. I so wanted to tell my friend, who was driving, to ask him where the “nuclear wessels” are, but thought the better of it when we saw the guard’s machine gun. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988/60 "2019-07-16T18:03:57Z")
Now it’s reached 1.3 million. > **[The Military Has a Warning for Anyone Interested In Raiding Area 51 In An...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/military-warning-anyone-interested-raiding-151809468.html)** > > The U.S. Air Force has responded to the 1.3 million people who have signed on to raid Area 51 in search of aliens. Someone mentioned the distance of over 10 miles from perimeter fencing to actual base facilities - what if the raiders breached the fence, but then continued by vehicle instead of by foot, driving their cars that distance of 10-20 miles? (hypothetical, of course, since again, no more than a dozen are likely to actually show up) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-plan-to-rush-area-51-so-they-can-see-aliens/836988.md?page=4)