This Friday, Nov. 11, being Veterans Day, the staff of the RV Industry Association put together this report on veterans and RVing that appeared in its twice-weekly eNewsletter.
Not only is Nov. 11 Veterans Day, but it falls in the middle of National Veterans and Military Families Month. And how are a significant number of those we’re honoring spending their free time this month? Like lots of other lovers of the great outdoors in America – RVing!
If you’re not seeing them at public RV parks, it may because they are camping on the grounds of military bases, like Ft. Meade Army Base, located between Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland. There, authorized RVers pause to show their military IDs to armed soldiers before passing through the heavily guarded main gate toward the Camp Meade RV Park.
In most cases, the RV parks are owned by a branch of the military and managed by the branches’ Department of Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) or a similar office. The Navy MWR just concluded the Great Navy Campout 2022, their 7th annual summer-long event, which celebrated outdoor recreation and camping as a way to connect with nature and wildlife at more than 35 Navy installations worldwide.
Like the Army and Navy, the Air Force, Marine Corp and Coast Guard also operate campgrounds and RV sites on military installations throughout the United States. Sometimes called FamCamps (family campgrounds), these range from bustling villages with full RV hookups, bath and laundry facilities, and amenities that rival luxury commercial RV resorts, to rustic outposts that offer no water, electricity, or trash removal.
But there are a few key things that all these military campgrounds have in common: their daily rates can be close to half the cost of public campsites; their maximum length of stay is generally longer than permitted at local- and state-regulated RV parks; and not just anyone can stay at their campground.
Click here to read the full report.