This is about the current Covid 19 Crisis, however:
MacDill has 305 FHU campsites for. 1-180 day stay with reservation (can be made 365 days prior)
54 FHU sites first come first serve 14 day max stay
21 partial HU (H2O + elec) no res accepted
50 sites dry camp (no HU no reservation)
It is one of the largest FAMCAMP
s in all DOD, and they keep 54 sites on a 14 day no res system--as many if not more the the majority of other FAMCAMP's
So there is plenty of sites for recreational campers, and active duty always have 1st priority.
The really busy months are Jan, Feb Mar. (Jun, Jul, Aug, you're lucky to find a few dozen on a weekend)
The homesteader's you refer to are the revenue that helps keeps it going year round and pump money back to the base for all MWR activity and to benefit the active and their dependents first, the rest of us second.
A large number of the longer term campers are a big part of MacDill's volunteers that work all over the base like the pharmacy, clinic, library, etc (I believe MAFB has more retires within 100 miles of the base than any other installation).
What would make you happy Joe, reduce the campsites to a typical FAMCAMP and reduce the number of NAF employees and make eligible users just go on the civilian economy and pay higher prices? I put nearly 30 years on active duty and I am 80% DAV--I think I 've earned it, and because of that since I am here (until Apr 25 per reservation) I would like to think I could feel assured I wasn't going to be thrown off the base and told go fend for myself. I wear a CPAP every night--I'd like to have electricity to keep that up.
