SEAGOVILLE -- Army Reserve Sgt. Nick Morales feels like a “sitting duck” when he goes to train at the Seagoville Armed Forces Reserve Center.
The husband and father of four trains monthly at the base.
“I don’t want to be a target,” said Morales, a Bronze Star winner. “When it’s wide open like that, that’s what you are is a target.”
And he's not alone in his concerns.
Fellow reserve Sgt. Eric Fitzgerald is also a Bronze Star winner. He’s says it’s not a matter of if, but when there’s another attack on a reserve military installation.
The two reservists reached out to News 8 after our investigation exposed significant security gaps at the Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve Complex.
“They can call me a whistleblower or whatever, but this is an issue that needs to be addressed,” said Fitzgerald, a husband and father of two. “It needs to be addressed now, before another Chattanooga happens.”
That attack left five service members dead last July at a Chattanooga reserve base. But the terror attack didn't prompt much change.
Nothing changed, either, after Houston terror suspect Omar Al Hardan told authorities that he wanted to sneak onto the Grand Prairie base and blow up Humvees. He was arrested last month and remains in federal custody.
On Wednesday, News 8 drove out to the Seagoville base. The gate was wide open and anyone could have driven right onto the base, where active duty reservists work full time.
The front gate wasn't the only security gap News 8 found Wednesday. A side gate was wide open, too, and anyone could have gained access to the base through it.
Morales and Fitzgerald say when reservists train on the weekends, there is typically no one checking the IDs of those entering the base. Morales also says the back gate is frequently left unlocked.
“I worry about my soldiers making it home to their families and me having to explain to their families why they didn't," said Fitzgerald, who was assigned to the Seagoville base until transferring to a different unit in December. “Then I worry about somebody having to tell my wife that something happened here. ‘You're husband's gone now.’”
Fitzgerald said they have had several active-duty threats at the base, and that the reservists have to depend on the local police department for protection -– and hope that they get there in time to stop someone from being hurt or killed.
Both men say they love the camaraderie of the military. They have served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I love being a reservist. Always have. Always will,” Morales said.
Fitzgerald is a former Marine who said that when “he wasn’t in the military, he missed serving.”
But as reservists, Morales and Fitzgerald are not allowed to carry weapons on the base and they could be prosecuted for doing so. In their civilian lives, they never go anywhere without a weapon.
“Everyone in uniform pretty much puts a target on them when they’re in uniform,” Fitzgerald said. “To have to give up your right of self-defense, it’s definitely a problem.”
They say it doesn’t make sense that the Army trusts them to carry weapons 24-7 when they’re deployed, and doesn’t trust them to do so when they’re on reserve duty.
News 8 began investigating security at the Grand Prairie base in the days after the Chattanooga attack when a reservist came forward outlining security concerns. News 8 found that the unarmed security guards did not consistently check the IDs of those entering the base.
“It's very easy to get on that base,” said the reservist, who is assigned to the Grand Prairie base and asked not to be named. “I've seen soldiers hold up a credit card to get in. I've seen soldiers walk right in and never be confronted by that security guard.”
The reservist said there would be little in the way to stop a terrorist who wanted to attack the base.
Allen West, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a former U.S. congressman now based in Dallas, also visited the base last April and saw the lax security first-hand.
“I got my ID out, ready to present it, and the young lady that was there, unarmed, just waved me right on through -- didn't check my picture ID whatsoever,” said West, who also served on the House Armed Services Committee and is now CEO of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis.
An Army Reserve spokesman say as a result of News 8’s story, changes are coming to the Grand Prairie base. And we've learned the Seagoville base plans to start arming at least some active-duty reservists during the week and post armed guards during weekend training drills.
“I've talked to people that are still out there and things are coming down,” Fitzgerald said. “They are being told that there's going to be a lot of changes here really quick, and that's great. It's about time.”