Air Force Frequent Camper Program

I think the Air Force has decided to ignore this one to death.

Other posts have mentioned that it takes from 6 months to a year to get the upgrades processed and that no one in Air Force Services knows very much about it.

I pulled into the FamCamp at Tinker AFB, OK and asked the camp host how to join the program. He said, they don't sell it although they do honor it. I went to Outdoor Rec and the guy in charge told me that the Air Force won't send them any of the sign up packages and won't let them make one up from the supplies on hand. They have to search the other bases for packages and are seldom successful in getting them. He recalled having sold two memberships in the years since the program was started.

Has anyone else had problems getting signed up? Any suggestions?

The Services guy promised to talk with the guy at HQ USAF Services and have an answer for me before I leave next week. If I get an answer I will post it here.

Glenn

Glenn,

I recently sent in for my third tier, so I'll see how quick/slow the response is for my upgrade.

I can't account for Tinker's lack of knowledge, but I can shed some light on why there's a shortage of new member packets. As you may know, the USAF Frequent Camper Program includes Military Living's book on military campgrounds. This book is only published every 24+ months. The last one was published in 2004 and is well overdue. The USAF ran out of Frequent Camper packets and is waiting for the new book. Hence, the shortage of new member packets.

I wrote the USAF Frequent Camper Program and suggested they consider offering the U.S. Military Campgrounds Directory software in their packets. Customers could choose between the book or the Directory on CD, which is updated monthly. I never heard back from them and may inquire again.

While I agree there seems to be a lack of interest in the program from the USAF, I'm told the program is alive and well. Just a little delayed at the moment.

Please keep us informed of anything you learn. It's a GREAT program and hope they get their act together soon. Too bad there's not a similar DOD wide program.

Larry (or Steve)

Congratulations on your promotion to Full Member. I see that I have now become a Junior Member and am no longer a Newbie. It's been a long time since I was promoted to anything.

I made the same suggestion about dropping the book and adding the software to the Tinker Services guy but he can't even get the packets so I doubt that it will do much good. Is there an address at HQ USAF that I could write to make the suggestion? It would actually save them money as your software is cheaper less expensive than the outdated and inaccurate book.

As I noted in my email I have traced my navigation problems on your site to the CA firewall that was recently upgraded. Their upgrade makes it almost impossible to navigate some sites. The solution was to switch back to the free Windows Firewall and disable the CA firewall.

Glenn

Bummer about CA's firewall. I also use it and had problems, and also disabled the firewall portion. Since I'm on a private, secured wireless (using Satellite), I'm not at much risk.

Here's the address I have from the USAF Frequent Camper logbook:

Frequent Camper Program
HQ AFSVA/SVPAR
10100 Reunion Place, Suite 402
San Antonio, TX 78216-4138

Will write suggesting they replace the book with the software. Perhaps others will do the same.

CA is loosing a lot of customers. I loved the package that I had but this new one is more trouble than it is worth and their customer service is non existent.

Glenn

I spoke to the fellow at HQ services that runs the program and they have packages available to the bases, but the bases are somewhat reluctant to order the packages because there is a pending update to the book by Military Living and they don't want to get stuck with old books when the new book is out.

So, the question now is when will the new book be out?

We are on our third tier, and would easily be on the fourth if I had known from the beginning that the program even existed. We have never had trouble using the coupons at the bases, but have had to explain the program so some folks behind the counter a time or two.

I have to say I can understand why the bases don't push it much. They buy the package for $20, sell it for $25 (whopping profit there!) and turn around a give a free night to someone who was going to stay at the campgound anyway, easily wiping out the $5 made on the sale.

In over three years, we have never gone out of our way to stay at a different base because of the program itself but we have certainly saved money ourselves. We even keep two sets of books running for times we revisit bases - don't really know if that is kosher or not.