Contractors, vendors, or visitors are having to wait for hours, even days, for a new pass to get into the sprawling army post.
Fort Bragg officials told ABC11 the new automated installation entry system has stopped more than 45 people with outstanding warrants or criminal records from coming on base since August.
However, the same system that is supposed to make Fort Bragg safer is also causing problems for people whose job is to help our military men and women.
"I am 969...and they're at 662 right now. They're estimating probably a 6 hour wait," said Pilot freight driver John Deyo.
Deyo spent another day waiting outside Fort Bragg Monday.
"I was here Friday for 12 hours," said Devo.
He is frustrated because he says the soldiers on base need what is in his truck.
"I deliver for the Central Issue Facility and these are the things soldiers need for deployment. So if I can't get on base, they don't get their canteens, flak jackets, boots," he said.
Devo and hundreds of contractors, workers, and other visitors are overflowing the visitor center to get the new automated installation entry pass.
"We've been telling people step by step how to do this, and what you see behind me are people who did not do it or their sponsor or their bosses who did not do it," said Public Affairs Officer at Fort Bragg Garrison Tom McCollum.
The new pass tightens security and everyone submits to a background check. It should not take long, but base officials say most people waited until the November 1 deadline to apply.
"It does take 2 or 3 minutes when you get to the desk, but if you take 100 people 2 or 3 minutes, ends up being 600 minutes," said McCollum.
The visitor center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but some people's wait could last well into the night.
"No one's been turned down, they got frustrated and left because it's been taking so long and we're sorry but this is the cost you have of procrastinating," added McCollum.
For contractors like Deyo, he understands the need for security but just wants to do his job.
"This is almost overwhelming for them [Fort Bragg] even, and I don't think they had any idea what they were doing," he said.
Deyo told ABC11 he knew this change was coming, and even though the folks on base want his delivery, his company had trouble finding a sponsor on base to back them in this process.
A Fort Bragg spokesperson said the security measures are not in response to the Navy Yard shooting in Washington and has been in the works for a while.
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