Hi,

I was just wondering how many of you use Military Campgrounds? I am retired/disabled and have my DOD card and we are considering availing ourselves of the many campgrounds on military bases.

What was your experience? I have been on two investigating their campsites and find them pretty nice.

I'd like to hear about your experiences and recommendations.

Edited November 8, 2016 by drzcharlie

I use them all the time. Your good to go if you're retired military or 100% DAV. Otherwise check with the command first. I've read that some are flexible. The FAMCAMPS that I've been to are not. Rightly, active duty has priority for sites.

Edited November 4, 2016 by markandkim

Base campgrounds are much like any others in that some are very nice, most are satisfactory, and a few are dumps. You should be able to use any of them as I have not heard of any that do not accept retired/disabled members. A few will also accept other veterans, usually as space allows. If near a base where you know someone, I believe that all of them will let a sponsored guest stay there.

Since you are eligible to us military campgrounds you may find this link useful. http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/

However, take time for due diligence. Just because it is a military campground does not mean it costs less that others in all instances. For example, we often travel through Abilene, TX. The DW asked why we did not stay at the Dyess Famcamp. Good question! So I checked on it and found that the nightly rate was within a dollar of the KOA rate and the KOA had far easier access from the highway. On the other hand, the Air Force Academy Famcamp is in a beautiful location and the rates are excellent. We have been tempted to stay there, even though we live here, for an "in town" mini-vacation.

You should check out the website Chalkie has recommended. It has all the known military campgrounds listed and provides websites (when available) for the Famcamps so you can get more in-depth info on each location. We have stayed at many of these campgrounds and appreciate the convenience they offer in our travels. We agree that they are not always the cheapest since most do not offer weekly or monthly rates, but there are some that offer resort type amenities or locations that are hard to match. Try them out!

Edited November 4, 2016 by JohnM

We us Kirtland AFB as we pass through and our daughter livers there for now. My BIL is a DOD employee at Luke AFB and he uses fam camps in both Yuma and Kingman all the time.

I love driving the secondary back roads so base/fort campgrounds are great--added security and use of facilities I am entitled to as retired. Can be good to fantastic.

We stay at military campgrounds whenever one is available. We just left Nellis AFB FamCamp which is one of the nicest and most popular. At $22 a day, that's a bargain when you visit Las Vegas. Use the military campground website that Chalkie recommended and read the reviews for the campgrounds that you plan to visit. Many of the campgrounds have a problem with "homesteaders" and some have been converted to temporary housing for active duty personnel. That's an exaggeration but read the reviews for Fort Bliss in El Paso for an example. The following article describes a common problem that, in this case, is being corrected:

http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/news-and-articles-mainmenu-2/latest-news/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-tells-long-term-residents-to-pull-up-stakes

Make sure you call ahead, especially during "snowbird" season. Some parks in the south (NAS Key West, Fl, SUBASE King's Bay, Ga, etc.) fill up and have ZERO availability.

The Navy has an AWESOME reservation system...even a toll free number to call if you don't want to use the web site.

Some parks allow reservations while others do not. Some allow long term stays while others do not. Seems to be no uniformity in the system, even within the same service.

The military campground site mentioned above is a VERY good resource. But, as was also stated above, they are not always the best or cheapest in an area. I have found Passport America parks to be the better option in some places.

The USAF has a frequent camper program. I have not used it.

http://www.myairforcelife.com/Outdoor/FAMCAMPS.aspx

We use them:

1. If they are along our route. We don't travel out of our way for them

2. If they are comparable in cost and amenities to other public/ private CG

Thanks everyone. I was hoping to get some responses and I want to thank all of you for your insight. I think we will take the plunge and try them.

We just stayed at Ocean Pines (Oceana NAS) in Norfolk for two months. The rate was $585 per month which sounds high but all the surrounding camp grounds were $1000+.

The RV app Allstays has a great free app that list just the military parks they are also listed on their paid app and it shows everyplace you can stay free or charge. The other good thing is they show all the places to fuel get repairs buy supplies and low bridges with clearance. We use it all the time because it is all over layed on top of google maps just don't pay attention to distances they are provided by travelers and not always correct.

We use them quite often. As anything else some may be nicer than others. All in all, we have had very good experiences with the military campgrounds.

Try them you'll enjoy them.

Rick, I love your tag line. I called the base in Key West to see if it was possible to get in next Thursday. I was told that I should call before we hit the causeway as sometimes there are very few there and sometimes they are in overflow. It's worth the gamble. Off we go.

Thanks everyone.

The reason military campgrounds have different rules is, each local base commander sets their own. Thus the recommendation to call ahead.

militarycampgrounds.us lists each facilities rules, and current entry route, don't think allstays has that feature.