US Naval Station San Diego

Waiting game

Easy access in and out, even during busy hours. Love that there is also a brueggers towards the entrance and a Starbucks

Major traffic jam by pier 13 ! Looks like someone slept in again. 05:13 and no one is manning the gate rediculous.

There was this time when a cop, named officer Stevens, contacted me when I was watching my friends R.V., as I was checking it he contacted me, even thou my info that I gave him was acute, he still yelled at me, and when he checked my I.D. he told me to wait here, and if I were to leave he held up my I.D. and said, «I’ll find you!», then he got into his patrol car with my I.D. and drove off leaving me there, he was gone for 10 min.
He was testing me, as a cop, you shouldn’t do that, first of all. Then when he came back he decided to place me in handcuffs, talking about his protection.
I waited for 10 min, for him to come back, why ‘em I being cuffed?
This base is also misleading,
I remember I re-​took the ASVAB, and petty officer Dennis, was very clueless, I never received me new score, and when I asked him he said, «oh, I don’t know, I just send it off to Pensacola Florida and they process it from there.» How did he make rank? (This was in summer of ’08)
What a fucking idiot.
E-​3 Miller, who is an MA and worked at pass and decail is very clueless and laid back, her and her supervisor didn’t want to give me there names because, they weren’t sure if they were providing me with the info that I needed at the time. So, they didn’t want to be responsible for their actions.
Why provide info if you’re not sure than?

My review is about pass and decal. AWFUL.
The first time I came here, I had to wait 3 hours initially after using the RapidGate kiosk to be able to get a 28 day pass.
Three weeks later, I got an email that my card is ready to be issued and to schedule an appointment.
So, I scheduled an appointment for 11am today. I show up at 10:55 and take a seat outside. Just now at 11:30, I went up to the window to find out when I’ll be called, and she rudely tells me that I’ll need to wait because my issuer went to lunch.
UHM DONT SCHEDULE APPOINTMENTS ON YOUR OH SO IMPORTANT LUNCH HOURS THEN!
…Because it’s not like I’m missing work or anything, it’s not like this delay is screwing up my entire schedule. Awesome. Great job pass and decal.
Apparently appointments mean nothing nowadays, why even have some fancy online scheduler then if it’s not going to do its job.

Not a bad base at all. Not sure where the negative reviews are coming from. Has Everything you need. They got gyms, basketball courts through out the base, a small little track field near pier 5, a navy exchange that’s perfect for the uniforms the military wears. They also have different places to eat here such as McDonald’s, rice long, the well deck near pier 13 and the waterfront recreational center near pier 2. Inside the waterfront recreational center are Starbucks, MWR Center and a small bar for those who want to have a drink and socialize. The waterfront is perfect for the single sailors that live on the ships stationed here. They have computers, several pool tables where they can all have a great time, and there own little restaurant inside that makes good fried foods. Throughout the center are also several seating areas where they can sit down and charge their personal electronics or watch tv. The base is pretty big and is kept clean all day everyday. It gets pretty hectic though on the weekdays during the morning and the afternoon around 1400 – 1600 because of people coming off of their shifts. So get ready to sit in traffic because of the gates and also the trains that come through, both the trollies and the big BNSF trains that come through before the gate entrances. Overall, this is base is great and has everything you need, professionally, to get stuff done.

Conveniently located near trolley, restaurants and stores. but the traffic and lack of entry organization is horrible. If hurry up and wait was ever your thing, this place has got it on lock.

This base is conveniently located near restaurants, the trolley, different forms of transportation of you prefer not to drive or don’t have a car, near airport, the NEX, gas stations, commissary, and so much more. I’ve seen better bases as far as landscaping and structures go, so with that being said 4 stars is more appropriate.

This review will be for Pass and ID. A necessary evil to access this facility.
Your base needs to be secure. I get it. You have procedures to follow and checks and balances. I get that too. Sometimes… Well in government more than sometimes, things break or don’t work. Check. Meetings are a good medium to pass word to everyone. I have no problem with the staff having meetings.
That being said, if something does go wrong maybe, MAYBE, you should consider a contingency plan. I’ve never experienced problems getting onto a base like I have here, with a bonus runaround to go with it.
First attempt to go on base, drive up to the gate (dry side) with License and VA medical ID. «Sorry we can’t accept those to get on base. Go to pass and ID and they’ll get you a day pass. They turn me around, I go to pass and ID (a short drive) and they simply tell me «We don’t do that anymore.»
As in «You just can’t come on base, period.» Cool, my first wasted one hour drive from home to base.
A few months go by, my school offers a class on base that I need. Anxiety sets in. I email with my counselors and they send over some base access paperwork for me to fill out. Apparently one day access exists again now. So I go to pass and ID with this paperwork and two forms of ID. «We don’t have an e-​mail vouching for you from your sponsor.» …Of course you don’t.
So I get my sponsor to send me and the ID office the e-​mail again. «This isn’t from the person we usually get it from, hold on.» *Sirens in the distance* There’s a fire on base somewhere and dispatch apparently controls emergency response and pass and ID. Pass and ID functions are put on hold. I’m told that if they don’t come back online before 1530… it’s tough shit and I wasted another trip. They come online thankfully and I’m able to get on.
The next visit for my class went without issue.
Third class, show up at pass and ID. «Systems are down, we can’t do anything for anyone.» REALLY?! This is the second time I drive to San Diego and back for literally no reason.
Walked in at noon today and the staff is having a meeting, but do they let you know that… Nah. I sign their stupid sign in pad and sit there staring blankly for 30 seconds at them until someone (who just got done chit chatting jokingly with the person standing next to them) offers assistance. Just kidding, no assistance offered. «We are having a meeting right now, you need to go wait outside in the middle line.» Sweet. Ten minutes later I get in and get the damn pass.
The worst part is the oh so genuine lack of giving a shit by the people who work there. It feels like they are giddy to tell you that they can’t or won’t do their job, and it makes me furious. Knowing that I’m pretty tolerant for a veteran, I really hope they figure their jobs out before someone trying to get base access loses their mind in that office.
It’s literally EASY to get on Pendleton and MCRD, in my experience the Marine Corps follows the rules a little bit more to the T than the Navy does. Why the hell is it so difficult to get onto this base without a hassle? Please… for the love of Obama, fix this place.

The base has everything you need. It’s split into dry side/​wet side.
Dry side-​2 gyms, 24hr mini nex, subway, navy fed ATM, self-​auto garage, storage units, re center, golf hitting range and barracks.
Wet side-​uniform shop, thrift store, mcdonalds, subway, rice king, brueggars bagels, 2 gyms, free theatre ($ 1 for 3d), starbucks, family rec center, and ITT center.
Around dry side-​trolley station, pass and decal, main store nex, commissary, food court, autoport, package store, car wash, oil center, navy fed ATM, and FFSC.
It’s a nice base with exception of it being busy during work hours but that’s only because it’s the main base for Ships in San Diego.

I really like this base. I have worked at every base in Southern Cali and I gotta say NBSD is by far the best and easiest to access. I arrive everyday at 7 am and go in through the back gate by 19^th street. Never have a problem unless the damn freight train is coming in and out. Then it just sucks. The base is pretty well planned out as everything is within a few miles of itself. My opinion this is the best base to work on.

Yes the parking and traffic is terrible but here is a tip GET THERE EARLY!!!
so you have enough time to find parking and yes you might have to walk a little.
There are two parking Structures and there is a lot of parking along the fence next to the trolley tracks on the dry side. I’m not on the wet side much except when I go see a movie so I have no idea how the parking is.
As for the traffic all I can say is be patient

I’ve never seen such a poorly designed base for traffic entry points. On top of that, there are a litany of gates that could be open to quell the traffic nightmare that are LEFT CLOSED. I don’t care what excuse there is (not enough people to stand watch, blah blah), it’s unacceptable for a military installation to have a base that throws gridlock traffic at its workers first thing in the morning.
There’s two major areas of Naval Station San Diego. The «wet side» where all the surface ships are located, and the «dry side» where training facilities, medical facilities, and barracks are located. These bases are only separated by Harbor Drive, and would you believe it can sometimes take over 30 minutes to get from one side of the base to the other? If not, start believing.
There’s a Brueggers Bagel, Starbucks, McDonalds, Sbarro Pizza and a bowling alley, but they just aren’t enough to overshadow or hide how bad the morning commute is to get on the base.
I don’t have a choice in driving here, but this base is an engineering design nightmare…

Parking is a joke. Traffic to get on and off base is a joke. OH, let’s build gates, but only open certain ones at certain times and not publish that info ANYWHERE. OH, it won’t be consistent every day? No big deal. OHHH yes let’s also come up with a secret code that tells people where they can and can’t park. All of this makes so much sense. But seriously, this is the worst laid out base I have ever been to. Ever. They do have a lot of nice amenities (Starbucks, gyms, hotels, NEX/​Commissary, gas stations, etc) but that seriously doesn’t make up for the traffic nightmare. I live 1.5 miles away (downtown). Why does it take me over an hour to drive to work? I could actually walk there faster than that, although I refuse to walk through the ghetto at 5 in the morning… One day, this place will probably implode from so much traffic congestion.

Aside from terrible parking and the horrible traffic in the morning, this base is actually pretty decent. It has a couple food options on base, just in case you’re in a rush. Otherwise there’s a ton of places to go in the surrounding area, including the big NEX.
It’s also a pretty easy base to navigate, for being so big.
It’s awesome that the theatre is free too.

Stationed on USS Jarrett FFG33. This was home port and I can’t tell you how happy I was doing nav detail comming back from the gulf.

After a long night time drive from the Bay Area to Naval Base San Diego I was exhausted. I downed some coffee to help keep both feet planted on the ground due to lack of sleep. Anyhow the family was super excited when my son’s ship pulled in for the homecoming as were other families and loved ones. We had not seen him for about six months…
We all greeted him and got a tour of the LPD ship which was really awesome!
My son calls this place home and for us it was such a treat to be here!
«NIL FATO RELINQUEMUS», translated in English as
«WE LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE»
Hooyah…

ACTIVE DUTY REVIEW:
I’ve been stationed out here in Naval Base San Diego for about three years now and I love it. Even back in boot camp and service school, people would always say nice things about NBSD how its a better command has better morale and just a better base than the rest of the bases out there. There are two sides on the base Wet Side and Dry Side. Wet Side is where all the ships can be and shore commands can be located at and Dry Side is where the barracks and the schools are located at. The base has plenty of recreational facilitites such as movie theatre, bowling alley, bar, lounges, swimming pools, basketball and volleyball courts, parks, gyms and more. There are plenty of things to do in here when you’re bored and you dont feel like spending money and going out in town. The base and the facilities are very well maintained as well.

Sailors and ships, what more do you want!!!
Okay, this was supposed to be a one line review, but to be fair, I’ve been stationed in San Diego since 2003. 32^nd Street Naval Base has changed a lot since I’ve been here! There is a lot to do for those of you who have access to base, such as the Waterfront Café, movie theatre or all of the gyms both «wet side» and «dry side».
For those who suggested a parking structure for our base, from what I’ve heard, the land is not up to specs to be able to build one. Parking used to be worse actually and is slowly improving (repainting lines, tearing down buildings). It is what it is.

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