military campgrounds new rules for use

[2_Retired]

As of 01/01/2020, anyone with a "service connected" military disability is now eligible to use armed forces campgrounds. It used to be limited to those with 100% disabled designations, but now any level of disability, as long as the U S Department of Veterans Affairs health card carries the statement "Service Connected" under the vet's photo access is allowed. One must have a REAL ID driver's license or passport to enter any federal facility. Check out www.militarycampgrounds.us for a list of those around the country.
The health card also gives you access to the armed forces vacation club, with great discounts on places to stay all around the country and the world!

[pnichols]

2 Retired wrote:
Totally agree ItzyRV. Long term stays should and must be discouraged, if not eliminated. These shoud be places to visit, not live! Snowbirds, etc. should not be allowed to winter for months in the warmer climates at the expense of those of us who simply would like to visit an area for a week, or even a few days. There should be more availability for family members who wish to visit active duty personnel. I did notice that more campgrounds are limiting reservations to a maximum of 60 days, or even 30 days, before an actual stay. This should help.

I agree 100% on ... "These should be places to visit, not live" ... relative to a lot more campgrounds than only military ones. Sometimes our camping trip enjoyment is negatively impacted by folks being allowed to do the Living Vehicle thing instead of the Recreational Vehicle thing - in certain beautiful camping places.

Our public campgrounds have got it right by the best they can restricting stays to 14 days. That opens up the best camping spots and areas over time to a lot more folks trying to make the best of their time in RVs by using them for purely recreational reasons.

[2_Retired]

Totally agree ItzyRV. Long term stays should and must be discouraged, if not eliminated. These shoud be places to visit, not live! Snowbirds, etc. should not be allowed to winter for months in the warmer climates at the expense of those of us who simply would like to visit an area for a week, or even a few days. There should be more availability for family members who wish to visit active duty personnel. I did notice that more campgrounds are limiting reservations to a maximum of 60 days, or even 30 days, before an actual stay. This should help.

[ItsyRV]

I was told locally that DOD issued a memo to all base commanders asking them to reevaluate MWR polices related to capacity control at their campground facility. Apparently there's a push to ensure facility access is opened up through the reduction of long-term or seasonal stayers. The goal is to create more shorter term availability similar to how federal campgrounds are managed by eliminating long term and repeated rolling to another site within the facility. They also want to remove the priority "season ticket holder" syndrome that allows a long term user from the prior year to have first chance to book another long term stays for the next year (and in a few cases 2 years away).

Even before this new group having access, some places were near impossible to get a reservation. One place I was at, there were several people that practically lived at the campground half the year. I support the effort to increase availability through reduction in stay lengths, just wished it would have been considered years ago when people first started complaining.

[edbehnke]

It covers much more than just disabled vets. there are other eligible people you can use the MWR (can rent equip such as RVs, get ticket discounts and etc) which includes everything on a base.

• Veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart;
• Veterans who are former prisoners of war;
• Veterans with a service-connected disability, documented by the VA; and
• Primary caregivers of veterans who are eligible per the VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.

As for the AFVC, it already covers veterans in its eligibility.