The Ebenezer Scrooge policy of Armed Forces recreation programming.

MWR bookkeepers have taken on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Why do I give them this title The top military policy makers have let the bookkeepers take control of what is called "Morale Support" and not the needs of the Military personnel and their dependents We Americans ask our military to go all over the world to back up our foreign policies; we should see to it that they are backed up with the best recreation support available. What is this Ebenezer Scrooge policy I am talking about? The one that implies, "If a revenue making recreation facility shows it cannot be self supporting, close it." This policies the cause of many remote recreation facilities being closed when they were especially needed to support morale in the far reaches of the world.

Example: Storck Barracks, Illesheim, Germany. You won't find Illesheim, Germany on a normal map, because it is such a small village. The base is still very active, but its arts and crafts shop has been closed, the recreation center has been closed and the photo center has been reduced to an unstaffed pick-up point for film. (The photographer, once an Appropriated Fund position, was transferred when CPO changed the position to Non-appropriated Fund.) It would seem that the bookkeepers are only interested in making their books look good; instead of giving the top recreational support the military community deserves.

This is only one example, but I am sure this type of action is being repeated all over the world. Appropriated Fund positions have been cut for most "key" recreation positions although every branch of the military needs APF support.

Non-appropriated Fund positions were established in place of these AP positions, but CPO must be living in a fantasy land to believe professional recreators are going to take a job where they are cautioned if their facility doesn't become "self supporting" it will be closed. Would you take such a job?

Why do I feel so strongly about having KEY positions for military recreation personnel funded by Appropriated Funds? I have been an employee of the Department of Defense MWR program for over 36 years and I have seen the stress which is imposed not only on military personnel, but also on their spouses and dependents. I helped to bring recreation programs to families when their loved ones were sent to Desert Storm, I have had the sad experience of packing up for a widow whose husband was killed in Saudi.

We the American people should be willing to support the recreation programs of the military without the Ebenezer Scrooge policy.

MWR policy makers have buried the term "subsidize," I guess because they feel the military has too many fringe benefits, but then they have never experienced seeing the tears in a child's eyes whose father has been killed serving his country. When I entered the DOD MWR program in 1960, the policy was that recreation programs were an Appropriated Fund activity, subsidized by Non-appropriated Funds. This policy was responsible for General Schwarzkopf saying, "I have never commanded troops with such high morale." Since that observation, many recreation facilities have been closed because of the Scrooge policy.

I hope that the military leaders of this nation can reverse the action which has been pushed on them by the bookkeepers. I will gladly take on the job of point man" to see this change take place.