Humor

“Area 51 is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” said a USAF spokeswoman.

It started as a bit of a joke, but the US Air Force (USAF) told people not to go near Area 51.

As we reported previously more than a million people have RSVP’d to an event on Facebook, planning a raid on Area 51 in southern Nevada to “see them, aliens.”

The event, titled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” saw a group of alien hunters meeting at 3 a.m. on Sep. 20, 2019, near the top-secret USAF Base to coordinate a plan of attack to reveal the truth behind the curtain. Thousands have commented on the page, which reads: “We will ‘Naruto run’ with our arms stretched behind us like Naruto Uzumaki in the Japanese anime series “Naruto.” We can move faster than their bullets.”

A spokeswoman for the Air Force told The Washington Post it was “ready to protect America and its assets”.

Facebook user Jackson Barnes wrote on the event page: “Hello US government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this plan”.

“I just thought it would be funny and get me some thumbs uppies on the Internet. I’m not responsible if people decide to actually storm Area 51.”

But the Air Force wasn’t seeing the funny side.

“[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” the spokeswoman said.

Area 51 has been the focus of enormous interest among a significant segment of the public for decades—an interest that inevitably spawned books, articles, and a variety of documentaries. For some enthusiasts, Area 51 was a clandestine site for UFOs and extraterrestrials, but it is better understood as a U.S. government facility for the testing of many U.S. secret aircraft projects — including the U-2, OXCART, and the F-117. Declassified documents help demonstrate the central role that Area 51 played in the development of programs such as the F-117, and the operational employment of the aircraft. Other declassified documents reveal Area 51’s role in testing foreign radar systems and, during the Cold War, secretly obtained Soviet MiG fighters.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

The event saw a group of alien hunters meeting at 3 a.m. on September 20, 2019, near the top-secret U.S. Air Force Base to coordinate a plan of attack to reveal the truth behind the Area 51 curtain.

According to Fox News, more than 250,000 people signed up to attend a Facebook event planning a raid on Area 51 in southern Nevada to “see them aliens.”

The event, titled “StormnArea 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” saw a group of alien hunters meeting at 3 a.m. on Sep. 20, 2019, near the top-secret U.S. Air Force (USAF) Base to coordinate a plan of attack to reveal the truth behind the curtain.

From there, the group “Naruto run” moved with their arms stretched behind them like Naruto Uzumaki in the Japanese anime series “Naruto,” and therefore “move faster than their bullets.”

The joke event was hosted by “S***posting cause im in shambles,” a page that posts memes, and SmyleeKun, a guy who streams video games on Twitch.

Another 283,000 people said they were “interested” in attending.

“Let’s see them, aliens,” the event hosts wrote in an apparent effort to rally the troops.

The USAF facility, commonly known as Area 51, is a highly classified remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), within the Nevada Test and Training Range. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the correct names for the facility are Homey Airport (ICAO: KXTA) and Groom Lake, though the name Area 51 was used in a CIA document from the Vietnam War.

The facility has also been referred to as Dreamland and Paradise Ranch, among other nicknames. The special-use airspace around the field is referred to as Restricted Area 4808 North (R-4808N).

The base’s current primary purpose is publicly unknown; however, based on historical evidence, it most likely supports the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems (black projects). The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore. Although the base has never been declared a secret base, all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). On June 25, 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2005, the CIA publicly acknowledged the existence of the base for the first time, declassifying documents detailing the history and purpose of Area 51.

Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western US, 83 miles (134 km) north-northwest of Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield. The site was acquired by the USAF in 1955, primarily for the flight testing of the Lockheed U-2 aircraft. The area around Area 51, including the small town of Rachel on the “Extraterrestrial Highway”, is a popular tourist destination.

Did anyone take the “Storm Area 51” Facebook event seriously and show up at the heavily guarded site with 24-hour surveillance?

Photo by USAF