Military's RR

From the Stars and Stripes:
"Military's new R&R plan doesn’t include leaving Afghanistan"

The U.S. military is rolling out a new rest and recuperation program for troops fighting in Afghanistan. But don’t pack your bags for a nice long break on a sunny beach or a visit home — you won’t be leaving Afghanistan under the “rest-in-place” program. R&R sites are being established within brigade or regional areas of operation, with a range of amenities provided by Morale, Welfare and Recreation. A four-day Special Liberty Pass is the ticket in. “The decentralized approach at the brigade level was chosen because it provides leadership the flexibility to design R&R programs that fit their requirements, yet takes care of servicemembers’ needs for a break close to their unit area,” U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesman David Lakin wrote in an email to Stripes from Kabul. The only other formal R&R program is the 15-day Non-Chargeable Rest and Recuperation (NCR&R) leave program. To be eligible, servicemembers must be on a minimum 365-day deployment with at least 270 days physically in country. Starting this year, deployments for Army personnel were reduced to nine months so most soldiers are not eligible. Marine infantry battalions are on seven-month deployments.The Special Liberty Pass program is for all servicemembers not authorized for NCR&R.

Through nearly a decade of war, nearly 200,000 troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan traveled to Qatar for Central Command’s Rest and Recuperation Pass Program, or R2P2. There, they found an oasis of amenities: pool tables, rooms full of big screen televisions, swimming pools, miniature golf, a discothèque, trips to a shopping mall and deep sea fishing. But as the Iraq war wound down and the challenges of travel or leave limitations prevented troops in Afghanistan from going, the number of R2P2 participants dwindled, and the program was ended in April of last year. The brigade level facilities won’t have the luxuries that troops enjoyed in Qatar, but Lakin said servicemembers will have access to facilities equipped with “standard” MWR packages and recreation kits, including video games, recreational games such as foosball, televisions and exercise equipment. And, MWR is working to install or upgrade internet café systems, Lakin said. That’s not much more than even small combat outposts generally have: phones, computers and a room for video games.

^ It seems pretty dumb to have RR places in Afghanistan. Soldiers should be able to get out of the war-zone to fully relax (even if they can't go home to their families.) Even during Vietnam soldiers were allowed to go to Thailand, Hawaii, the Philippines, etc, but now they will be confined to Afghanistan where the threat of bombs and attacks will continue while the soldiers "rest." ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/military-s-new-r-r-plan-doesn-t-include-leaving-afghanistan-1.180662