Repaving, expansion projects underway at March "fam camp"

  • Published
  • By Megan Just
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  With 20 of its 30 motor home spaces vacant, March's family camp is looking a little sparse. But the vacancies aren't due to a lack of demand. Rather, the opposite is true. Construction is began earlier this month on a project that will expand and improve the already popular Southern California military camping destination.

The $400,000 in projects initiated by the 452nd Force Support Squadron will add an additional 10 motor home spaces with full hook-ups, pave the camp's central road and take measures to prevent the wintertime flooding problems that plague the camp.

"Because there's no drainage near the road, 'fam camp' becomes Lake March every time it rains," said Tina Greene, Outdoor Recreation manager.

Although the project created a burden for the campers who had to move out of the sites for the start of construction, Greene said most of the campers think the inconvenience is worth the improvements they will enjoy later. She expects the paving of the road will make the camp quieter and less dusty, and the new spots will help fill the high demand for sites.

Andrew Turpin, retired after a 20-year active duty Air Force career, has enjoyed stays at March's family camp since the mid-90s, as well as other military family camps in the Southwest.

"March has the best camp," he said. "Other camps are not as well taken care of as the Air Force camps. [Here], you can walk out the gate if you want to go to the commissary or BX. At most other bases you have to drive a long way."

In addition to the easy access to military amenities, Greene said March's campers feel safer staying inside the perimeter of the base, rather than in an open civilian facility. She said campers also like to stay at March for the many attractions that are within a 90-minutue drive, like Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, the San Diego Zoo and Los Angeles's many museums.

She said the busiest months at March's family camp are November through April.

"Normally, the snowbirds come in the winter," she said. "Usually, in the summer, we're not too full because it's so hot here, but this year, we have been full all 12 months."

Cary Kerr, 452nd Community Support Flight Chief, attributes increase in family camp patronage to the decline in the economy and the developing subculture of traveling retirees. He said more military and retiree families are choosing longer vacations and that RV camping is more economical for them.

He said some of March's family camp patrons are staying at the base while they undergo lengthy procedures at the veteran's hospital in Loma Linda. Also, with the arrival of the 912th Air Refueling Squadron active associate unit, Kerr has noticed an increase in permanent-change-of-station families that choose to take temporary refuge at the family camp while they look for a place to live in the local area or wait to find a buyer for their previous home.

Kerr said the increase in the camp's patronage is good because it translates into an increase in morale, welfare and recreation programs for March Airmen.

"The fam camp produces a high return on our investment. It is low manpower and high yield," Kerr said. "It means more money going into the base MWR fund and allows the Force Support Squadron to continue offering the other goods and services that may not be as profitable, like low-cost outdoor recreation rentals and off base trips and tours that are designed to break even."

But even with the large financial benefit for March's Airmen, the cost for the campers remains low.

At just $15 a night for sites with full hookups and $5 a night for overflow 'dry' camping, Kerr said, "We're one of the lower priced facilities in the military, not just the Air Force."

Conversely, Camp Pendleton's ocean view motor home sites at the Del Mar campground, for example, are $50 a night and fill three months in advance for the popular summer months. At local campgrounds in the area, sites cost as much as $35 per night.

Kerr was a part of the original development of March's family camp under former outdoor recreation manager, John Bond.

In the mid-90s, Kerr said there was a tiny, "less than stellar" camping area next to the commissary. Bond and Kerr designed the first ten sites in their present location in 1995.

In recent years, the Outdoor Recreation Center staff has made smaller-scale improvements at the family camp, such as a landscaped park and WiFi Internet.

For an example of the direction he'd like to see March's family camp head, Kerr looks to the amenity-filled, 256-site snowbird haven at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. In the future, Kerr has plans for 30 sites at March.

"In the fam camp business, if you built it, they will come," he said.

But those sites are still many years from fruition.

"It's taken me a long time to get these last 10 sites done," he said of the current site expansion that has been in various stages of planning, approval and funding since 2004.

Kerr expects the current construction project to finish by Nov. 1, at which time a total of 40 sites will be open in time for Southern California's sunny and mild winter season. While the March family camp does not accept reservations, Tina Greene said the Outdoor Recreation staff can predict upcoming openings within a two week period.

When there are no spaces open, the existence of the overflow camping sites means the Outdoor Recreation staff has never had to turn anybody away. The overflow campers are added to the waiting list and can use the camp's bathhouse and dump station while they await a vacancy.

Tech. Sgt. Joe Davidson, 452nd Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this story.

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