Some people have a knack for getting themselves into that “hurry up and wait” scenario and the newer Common Access Card
(CAC) ID card seems to be a big offender, sometimes.
Sometimes people can get in and get out with their shiny new ID card before you even knew they were there. Why is it some
people get it done fast and others simply don’t?
“Anything that’s not CAC usually takes about five minutes to do, on average,” said Chief Personnel Specialist (SW/AW) Rick Andren,
Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bangor Personnel Support Detachment Bangor command senior enlisted. “What takes the longest are
the CAC cards.”
For the month of June, there were a total of 3,344 ID cards issued, pin resets and DEERS enrollments for both the NBK Bremerton
and Bangor sites combined. Each of which has two ID card computers hooked up to a server in Everett. Of the customers, 2,149
were at NBK, Bangor.
“The [CAC] cards themselves are different, because the way they are loaded,” said Andren. “They have the actual chip on there now.
So, when we do a card up, it takes a while to create the card and laminate it with the chip. Then you have to put the card into a
card reader and make sure the chip is valid and load all the certificates. Each certificate takes anywhere between five to seven
minutes to load and there are three certificates per card.”
Although the process of getting a new ID card can be tedious, there are ways to speed up the process. One of those ways is to
go to PSD first thing in the morning. There is a lower volume of people getting ID cards then and usually the wait times are much
less than if people wait for the worst times, between 11 a.m. and after 2 p.m.
“It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete a card if the server is running smooth,” said Andren. “On days with heavy volume
and the server is slow, we have had periods as long as 40 minutes to load a single card. That’s what slows down the wait time
for PSDs.”
Another way is be prepared and have all the proper documentation ready to go. Also have a PIN number in mind and know your
navy.mil email address for the CAC cards. 
“The problem lately has been in saving the cards through DEERS,” said Steve Johnson, DEERS Rapid Site Security manager.
“They have been running through fine for the past few weeks, but once in a while, when it gets to the save part, it can take up
to 40 minutes. It’s a problem with the portal that creates the certificates that go onto the CAC cards.”
There is also a Saturday ID card service at the NBK, Bremerton, reserve center open from 8 a.m. to noon, which sees an average
of 20 customers per day and can handle approximately 50 to 60 for the four hour time frame.
For more information on wait times call PSD Bangor at 396-5731 or PSD Bremerton at 627-3331.