Attention Retired Military RVers Who Want Extra Income

Need a job where you live in your RV at Military Famcamps for free for two weeks at a time? A job where you can work your own hours? A job that helps the rest of us Military RVers enjoy our Famcamps more? Then this is the job for you.

Right now Southeast Publications USA is looking for full time RVers to put together Famcamp site maps. These are the maps you get at the office when you check in showing the sites, listing the camp rules and giving important telephone numbers. I absolutely love these handy guides and so do the campground hosts, because they can show you on your own map right where to park your rig without having to physically lead you to your site.

There is no cost to the military for this service because the maps are paid for by advertising. They do, however, have to provide you with a free space for two weeks in order to receive this service. CO's and MWR Directors take notice, it's FREE for you and we campground users enjoy them. It's easy to get one, just log onto the link below and tell them you want a campground map for your installation and they will schedule a team to do one for your military campground.

If you notice, these site maps are surrounded with advertising and your job is to round up the advertising. No prior sales experience is required and the company will train you. These ads almost sell themselves since businesses surrounding our military bases are always looking for ways to advertise to us.

The reason I’m doing this article is because far too many of our Famcamps do not have these directories. Everyone who uses them loves them, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone and you can earn handsome commissions on the ads as well (not to mention the free camping).

A fee of $300.00 is charged for the first year for materials and a bond. After that there is a bonding fee of $100.00 per year. But, hey, you’ll recover these costs through your free camping the first month you do this.

Check it out here:
Southeast Publications USA

Air Force Famcamp Gets Needed Makeover At Barksdale AFB, Louisiana

A very noisy B-52 causes us to cover our ears as we enter the Famcamp at Barksdale Louisiana. We weren’t sure we were at the right place because of all the construction equipment, mud and pipes lying around. Yes, this place is getting a much needed facelift. Gil Smith (left) is the construction site superintendent for Walton Construction who has the contract for this upgrade and next to him is Alan Mitchell the Navy inspector assigned to this project. A total of 20 new sites have been added to the park bringing the total of 50/30 amp full hook-up sites to 40 plus two overflow sites with electric only. All the outboard sites are new plus two new drive-through sites. They added six new camp-sites next to the access road. The slabs are all 40 feet long with a 10 x 40 gravel aprons. They had to run new electric wire to the new pedestals, and a new sewer lift station was added to handle the increased load.

The old restroom and shower facility will be demolished as soon as the new building is up and running. The new famcamp building is 2800 square feet and completely handicapped accessible. It houses an office, clubhouse room, screened in porch, laundry and vending, showers and bathrooms.Here is where the new office will be located. The clubhouse room will also have a sink and refrigerator and be a great place for social gatherings.The porch will be completely screened in and equipped with rocking chairs. Do they think we are old or something? The laundry room will have two washers and four dryers. It will also be equipped with vending machines and a large ice machine.

The restroom and shower area is nicely tiled and will feature marble counter tops and benches in the shower. Hat tip to the current MWR director who wants to add even more camp sites to this park (20) but we’ll see what happens as we enjoy this new renovation.


Total cost of this project was $1.2 million. It will be very nice when completed!


Barksdale AFB Service Directory

Directions: From I-20 take exit 23 and follow the signs to the commercial gate. The gate is approximately 100 yards past the railroad tracks. Go through the gate, past the gate inspection station on your right and make a hard left turn onto the perimeter road. Follow this road until you see the sign for the famcamp near a government gas pump and make a left turn onto this road. You will pass RV storage on your left. Continue down this road crossing over a bayou (swampy waterway) and the famcamp will be on your right hand side. There are two entrances and exits into the campground.

The RV access gate (Truck Gate) GPS coordinates are 32.52533 N. and 93.67591 W.

The Famcamp GPS coordinates are 32.51258 N. and 93.61863 W.

Retired Military Couple Taken By Surprise When Required To Pay A Fee To Use A Military Recreation Area.

A retired military couple related the following experience while visiting Avon Park Air Force Range; “We recently had a bad experience with a campground in Florida. We were informed that the Air Force Range was now reopened in Avon Park, Florida. We drove over to check this out and were informed that in order for us to enter the Air Force base we would have to buy a pass!!! We are retired military and our car has a current MacDill AFB decal. The people we did get to talk with were all civilians! Needless to say, we were not happy! Please explain how an Air Force base can now be closed to retired military but anyone...civilian or military, have to pay for passes to check this out.”

The short answer is that Avon now belongs to the State of Florida and is no longer an active military installation. In my view this is yet another example of the erosion of benefits we are currently experiencing. However the good news is that we still have a foot-hold in the neighborhood, even though it’s small.
The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission closed Avon in 1993. Since then a maximum security prison has been built there along with a youth correction facility. Since the APAFR Military Recreation Area is no longer owned or controlled by the military normal military rules do not apply.

APAFR Military Recreation Area Homepage

Military members, active and retired still have a section of this recreation area preserved for their use, but they still have to pay a usage fee because it is maintained by the State of Florida. The fees are $30.00 per annual pass or $15.00 for seven days. The military campground area is primitive with no hookups, but there is no limit on the length of stay.

Volunteer Program: There are 13 full hook-up camp sites available to volunteers for free. Four are 50 amp and nine are 30 amp. You must volunteer 24 hours of work per week in order to stay here. These camp sites are not open to the public. If you are interested contact Marian Lichtler the Program Manager for Outdoor Recreation. Use the email on the website to contact her.

So, update your military campground directory appropriately. This is still a beautiful place to visit and worth the price of a pass. Look at it as a donation to help keep the place running. There are many things to do here including hunting and fishing and birding. I’ve included the regulations below (they are two years old and the fees have increased since they were written).

2005-2006
APAFR MILITARY RECREATION AREA REGULATIONS
A1.1.2.1. A Military Recreation Permit is required by each individual or family using the MRA and must be purchased from the Outdoor Recreation Office prior to any use of the area. The price for the MRA Permit is $30.00 per year or $5.00 per week. The permit allows the holder and his/her spouse and any underage dependents to use the MRA for all forms of nonhunting outdoor recreation activities, and allows only the permit holder and one underage dependent at a time to hunt. Permits may be purchased at the Outdoor Recreation Office during scheduled office hours which are generally from noon on Thursdays until 8:00 p.m. on Mondays. Free-use MRA permits may be issued to persons specified by the DET 1/CC.
A1.1.2.2. MRA Guest Permits are available for escorted guests of active-duty, retired military, and DoD civilian personnel. The price for the MRA Guest Permit is $18.00 per week.

A New Military Campground Directory Is Here – Halleluiah!

This new software program provides you with all the essential information you will need to find and enjoy any of our military campgrounds. It comes with a one year update subscription and it gets better with each monthly update. This directory is light years ahead of the old Military Living’s “RV, Camping & Outdoor Recreation.” That directory should have been named, “Military Golf Courses and Some Sketchy Information on Military Campgrounds”. Their directory is HISTORY for military RVers, but golfers may still buy a few copies.

I love the front page of this program because you can just click on the state you are interested in and it will pop-up all the military campgrounds for that state. You can click on the star on the map or the name of the campground on the right hand menu and the campground information will appear. Sometimes you need to use the menu at the right because too many stars are clustered together.

This is a great directory now and will continue to get better over time. We can all pitch-in and help perfect it by submitting corrected military campground information. The program comes with an easy to use fill in the blank template. If the GPS coordinates are different or a phone number changes or nightly rates change or a gate is now closed to RV access – fill out the form and let the rest of us know about it. This is a group effort and all of us military folks know that if we work together we can accomplish much more than we can by ourselves. So hop onboard, buy this program and start using it, you’ll be glad you did!

You still need to use a map or a GPS aided mapping program to ensure you’re on the right track. The directions in U.S. Military Campgrounds Directory are FAR superior to Military Living’s directory. Just throw that old directory in the trash and buy this one. I’m not kidding!

It takes a few weeks to receive your premium updates but it’s worth the wait. You must send in the coupon that comes with the CD to receive the updates. You will also receive a FREE map data file with all the military campgrounds in whatever format you specify. You will receive the code to activate the premium subscription via email and once activated you must restart the program and do a new download of the latest updated information. There are sure to be more improvements as we go along and I will tell you about them here at Military RVing.

One of the best items on this software is the rating system. You can rate each military campground through this software (internet connection required). CO’s and MWR Directors need to get the message that their famcamps are under scrutiny. Many of our famcamps are in disrepair and need help and this is one of the best ways we can raise the level of awareness to CO’s and MWR Directors.

Also, why should a military campground cost more than a Passport America campground right outside the gate? CO’s and MWR Directors need to get the message to keep rates competitive! Some of these military campgrounds think they are Club Med or something! Military campgrounds are supposed to be a benefit not a cash cow!

Go here
Military Campground Directory
and purchase this program today! It will be one of the best investments you'll ever make. See you around the campground. Jim

Visit Ft. Bliss Famcamp, You’ll Be Glad You Did!

Ft. Bliss Famcamp RV Park is located in El Paso, Texas and is in my opinion one of the finest famcamps in the system. All the park spaces are the same, elegantly landscaped with shrubs and trees. The wide pull through spaces are level concrete slabs with a large patio. Each full hook-up site has 50 & 30 amp electric outlets. They also have tables and BBQ’s at each site with plenty of extra parking. The office is efficient and staffed with helpful people. If you arrive after 1600 the night host will assist you in obtaining your site. Fees are $15.00 per night with a $2.00 discount with the Senior or Golden Access Pass. The laundry, bath and shower facilities are superb. The Logan Heights Shoppette is located directly across the street from the famcamp. Park speed limit is 10 mph. They have 73 sites and are planning to build 60 additional (and identical) sites beginning in 2008. Rumor has it that the base is also working on building a new PX and Commissary complex.

Ft. Bliss is experiencing a great deal of surge growth with the bringing in of the 1st Armor Division and 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Cavalry. The base is already scrambling to build additional new family housing units to accommodate the growth.It’s easy to get lost when initially trying to find the park, especially if you are using directions out of the military famcamp book. Save yourself the hassle and plug these coordinates into your GPS system and it will lead you to the Ft. Bliss Famcamp front entrance. 31.84052 N. 106.44324 W.

There are literally hundreds of things to do in El Paso and more restaurants than you could ever visit, so I suggest that you pick up a copy of the visitor’s guide at the park office or visit http://www.visitelpaso.com/ .

I have included the Ft. Bliss RV Park information pages for your use. You will need to copy these to your photo editing program to enlarge them.