I.D. cards for retired D.O.D. civilians

I am a DOD civilian who is many, many years from retiring. However I do know some co-workers who are about to retire. During some receint research we noticed that some bases give retired DOD civilians ID cards which state that the person is a retired DOD civilian. Our base (29 Palms Marine Base) currently does not. I know that there are many people who have run into this problem. While we are still able to use the campgrounds after we retire as DOD civilians, we would be required to show our latest LES to access the campground, not to mention the added time it would take to get a visitors pass to get on base in most cases. I am writing this post in hopes that someone has the knowledge on how to resolve this problem. Is this at the base commanders disgression or does this issue go even higher into the chain of command? Thanks for any help and also any input.

Yup. I can resolve it easy.

Don't give access to military facilities to DOD retirees.

Military retirees paid a price for their Retired ID card and the benefits that go with it. We put up with the frequent transfers, pulling the kids out of school early, finding new jobs for our spouses, standing night and week-end duties, serving our nation in harm's way and all the other petty BS while DOD civilians just went to work for 40 hours a week and were paid a lot more than the GI working the same job right next to them.

Civilian supervisors have ruined many a military career by not understanding the military evaluation system and the only loyalty they ever seemed to have was to their union rep.

You've got a cushy, high paying job. Why should you retire and think you have earned military retirement benefits also?

Glenn

I have to agree with Glenn on this one.

Unfortunately the decision of who can use the camp grounds is left up to the local base commander. Most of these guys don't have a clue about the RV lifestyle. They usually leave decisions of who can use them up to paid managers (civilians).

Recently we were in Key West and the new CO at NAS, Key West, had just ruled DOD Civilians were no longer allowed in. Made it much easier for us military types to get a decent cite.

dear Glenn,
I wholeheartedly appologise if I have pushed any of your buttons. I have read and reread my post several times and I am sure that I did not under any circumstances degrade or undermine the commitment, honor, hard work, dedication or self sacrifice that the men and women of this nations armed forces provide every day of the year to this country to keep all of us safe. I work right along with these men and women everyday and I know that I am not one of them. However, whereever your negative opinion comes of me because I have taken a job path that puts me into contact with these fine men and women on a daily basis comes from, please do not stereo type me because I am a civilian. If I had not accepted this job as a civilian, someone else would have. Perhaps you are right, perhaps it would of been someone who would degrade the military or do all that is possible to make their life harder. But that is not me. I work along side the military, it is my job to help, even if only in some small way, to make their life a little easier. My immediate supervisor is a Master Seargent. I answer directly to him. As for never moving around, I have had my share of that too. I grew up with a father in the military. We did plenty of moving. It is not the same as being in the military, however I have not found one person who discredits being a military "BRAT". Are you telling me that your children never paid a price, never had heartaches, lost friends, new schools or nights lost sleeping worrying about whether they would ever you again while you were in Viet Nam or Iraq. Sure, this does not constitute military service, not even close, but you had better think twice before you assume that I do not know the sacrifices that are made by our men and women in uniform. I do not belong to a union. I do not and have not ever believed in them. I do not believe that I need to explain my whole situation to you. It is really none of your business. My simple question in this whole post was about information that could help. Your information did not help. It seems as though you have a grudge against civilians and for that I am sorry. But please do not blame me because you have a negitive opinion of civilians. As I noticed this site was set up for all with access to DOD campgrounds. I am one of those with that access, so until I am asked to leave by the administrator of this site, I will continue to be here. Please think next time before you lash out at someone because of a stereo type. Happy motoring, be safe
By the way, I was not asking for military retirement benefits. I do not deserve the military retirement benefits and did not imply that I did. I simply asked about an ID card to access campgrounds, a benefit that I do currently receive. I never asked for PX, commisary or any other privlages. I was simply asking why some bases issue cards and why some do not.

Hey guys !! Pull in the claws ... WOW, STNB did ask a legitimate question, and some DOD civilians do earn the right to camp on the military CG's ... and generally, it's based on last priority and space available ... and at a higher cost.

SO, if the CG allows DOD civilians, who are any of us to over-rule that directive??

Matter of fact, there are probably some civilians I'd rather see here than a few of the retired's I've met, at least as far as taking care of the CG's -- especially some of the retired guys that abuse the privileges we all earned ...

no claws and not once did I suggest the original poster was being disrespectful of military people. But since the subject was brought up I would rather see the poster have access to military facilities of ANY type because he is a military BRAT before granting access as a DOD civilian. The former has experienced some of the pain and frustration of military service while the latter simply has a job.
Nothing personal, I just grew tired of seeing DOD civilians get the better jobs and the better pay, more time off and the higher retirement benefits. Whenever I see that military campgrounds give up some of their limited spaces to non-military civilians the hair on the back of my head stands straight out.
I will also grant M44 his point that there are some DOD civilians I would rather camp next to than some obnoxious GI (perhaps much like me) but when it comes to assigning access to groups I would much rather see the space go to a retired trooper.
I fought for the right exercised right here for anyone to speak his or her opinion no matter how rigid, unpopular or disrespectful those thoughts might be. And the bottom line is, as M44 said, I don't make the rules, I just don't happen to agree with this one.

See ya down the road.
Glenn