Unfair, unreasonable and ridiculous

Starting in Nov of every year the retirees start piling in to the park to spend the winter. All these parks have 14 day type restrictions on length of stay. They get to know the manager, kiss butt, do a few chores and next thing you know they are there for all winter.

This is so true I don't even try to get a spot on base anymore. I always call and stay at the KOA and use their military discount.

I am currently at Shields Park in Corpus Christi and was just talking to one of the host here and he told me they have had people here 3+ years. In Tuscon, I couldn't get in for 5 days the overflow had 8 people, this is mostly because of active duty people. A lot of active duty in Ft. Bliss also. Now don't get me wrong I don't blame them, there are not enough facilities on base for all the new active duty and if it was me, I would do the same rather than pay the high rents out side post. Try to get into Macdill in FL --- next to impossible.

It is time to go to your Congress person to bring these CG back to what they were build for

---

short term not a residence.

Ron

Ron, I am interested in a few more details about your stay in Tucson. Was this at Agave Gulch FamCamp? You mentioned having to wait 5 days in overflow? with only 8 people in overflow? And you blamed this on active duty people? I am the manager of the Gulch at D-M. I do not know of a small group of active duty guests causing your problem. If there is such a problem please let me know your dates and I will tell you our totals for those days. I believed you were misinformed of the reason for your 5 day wait. If there is an issue that can be corrected I am happy to try to do so. Thanks..Gulchman

In Tucson it was Agave Gulch that had 8 in overflow when I drove by. I had called ahead and ask what the wait looked like and was told could be 3-5 days in overflow and I decided to go to a private CG instead, I only wanted to stay for 5 days. Regarding the active duty, I was refering to Ft. Bliss, I would guess what I saw there was half the site with active duty.

Thanks for the reply.3-5 days is about par for this time of year. I was checking to see if there was a situation in our park that we needed to remedy. Safe Travels..bye for now

I really have to agree - with several people's comments. I have been to many MCGs since 2004 and found a really good rotation policy at Patrick, not that I liked sitting in overflow, but it all worked; full timers at Grassy Pond with NO military affiliation whatsoever, they are the porch/storage unit sites; we had to stay in a gulley that flooded! Gila Bend (that's via Luke) is full of those fulltimers also! They stay from sep thru mar/apr yearly and so do their non-military friends. AND if you don't get a receipt for the cash (preferred) payment, you won't get one (in someone's pocket???). There are a few others, but I have to get my book and notes out to comment. One had so many full timers (w/garbage, porches, etc), one of them had the gall to ask me to pick some stuff up at the commissary. We stayed at Ft Fisher in dec; followed the rules, paid our money - NO ONE WAS THERE...we had neighbors every night, they didn't pay and several weren't associated w/mil; they said, "the base is always closed (with no gate) at this time of year and we stop over here, no one knows different!" Guess they were right, because, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get ahold of anyone connected with the base or facilities management. At Camp Murray people can only stay Apr thru Oct (I believe) then the ones that are old, old...have a truck from McChord come move all of them over there until apr, then it goes around again; that is except for the 'workers' that stay there year 'round - I was at all of the above and know first hand, not rumor.

There really should be a place to write (a nice, formal letter), root/cause analysis; tell the problems, give solutions/corrective actions. Then see some results! Isn't there a Head of MWR or AAFES for each branch??

No one deserves full time/homestead privileges. My feeling is that all CG's should have host(s) working full time with a reservation system in place. (Hosts ought to rotate, or only get one season and not be able to invite their home neighbors to "come on down".) Camping rates ought to be like lodge/inn, dependent on rank. Prices ought to be similar to the outside, but lower (I have found many MCG's prices to be much higher than I can get outside; time in spots and on base should have a limit and be enforced.

I have been waiting to share my thoughts for months and hope someone has some legitimate advice on how we can all band together to make this a better program for everyone.