Have you ever driven by an Air Force or Army base and wondered how you can get an up-close look at some of that amazing military hardware? Most bases are closed off from the outside world unless you are going on “official business”, but GearCrave knows a few (legal) tactics that can get you inside on your very own guided tour of the most hardcore technology, gadgets, and vehicles around. Check out our exclusive How To Get Inside A Military Base guide after the jump.

It may sounds simple, but the first challenge is to find a military base closest to you and learn what they have to offer. Sure, you could drive all the way to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, but if you want a close look at fighter jets, you’d be very disappointed. Now if you have a keen interest in nuclear missiles, Minot’s the place. Save time by checking out Military.com, which offers has an excellent installation finder. Browse by location, branch of service, and other options. Once you’ve found a base or two near you, keep these things in mind:

• Military bases vary greatly. Your best bet for a tour is an active duty installation since they are manned 24/7.
• Guard and Reserve bases may not be fully operational all year round, but chances are a Guard or Reserve base has a more convenient location. Guard and Reserve base working schedules are affected by training, deployments to Iraq and other factors. Some bases are only manned on “drill weekends” or during military training.
• When it comes to hardware, Air Force Guard and Reserve bases tend to have aircraft. Army Guard and Reserve bases tend to have ground vehicles, but may also have a helicopter unit stashed out there somewhere. If you want boats, the Navy and Marines are obviously your best bet, but it’s not uncommon to find landlocked Navy Reserve units.
• Most military bases have websites that describe the mission of that base in detail. Google your nearest military base to learn what’s going on there. With some bases you may not get anything more exciting that a bunch of Finance troops and Civil Engineers, but chances are you’ll find something worth seeing.

Once you’ve found a military base near you and you know what you want to look at, the next step is getting permission and an escort onto the base. The most surefire way to get on base is to request a tour for a bunch of high school kids. This almost never fails, and while rounding up a bunch of high schoolers may be a royal pain, you can use this activity to score brownie points at work by volunteering to organize an office parent-and-kid field trip. If this isn’t quite what you were looking for, try some of these ideas. The military loves giving tours to:

• Civic groups,
• Pro-military organizations like the VFW,
• Local charities.
• Church groups
• Colleges

If you can’t come up with something like this, just get a bunch of your buddies together and try asking for a simple tour anyway. More often than not, this approach can and does work. Every base is different and for every PA office that tells you “no” there will be another that may give you the greenlight. If you have a friend in the military stationed nearby, try to get them to give you a tour by “sponsoring” you onto the base. This is an excellent alternative to see stuff you’d never otherwise get to look at.

If you do manage to put a group together, the last step to getting a guided tour is to make one simple phone call. Don’t waste your time calling the individual unit you want to tour directly. Instead, look up the Directory or Information phone number for that military base, and ask for the telephone number for the Public Affairs office. Call the Public Affairs (PA) office, explain who and what your group is and that you want to arrange a tour. It helps to specifically mention what you want to see, and when you might be available. The PA staff will arrange the tour once it’s approved.

And that’s all there is to it! There’s no limit to the great (unclassified) hardware and facilities people can see when they request a tour– helicopters, fighter jets, those massive cargo planes, sometimes even the work centers that repair it all. One simple call to a military base PA office is all it takes to get rolling. Just be sure to drop us a line and let us know what you got to see, and did they let you take pictures?