Page 22 - mch1018_Magazine

Air Force Inns, Continued from page 15
March. The tragic wildfires in Northern California, coupled Cambron: The Lodging Accounting Course will no lon-
with bad weather, have caused a slight delay in this project’s ger be offered in-residence at AFSVA, but is currently being
completion. developed to go online.
A 262-room Visiting Quarters project is under construction As we venture into the final developmental stages of the
at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. This facility will be replacing course, we are eagerly anticipating a course launch date of
legacy infrastructures and will provide the installation with June 2019. This course will provide distance learning for
one energy-efficient facility. The current timeline estimates Lodging Accountants/QAE in the business aspects of lodg-
construction completion in June 2019, with the facility open- ing accounting.
ing for business in the fall of 2019.
Construction will soon begin on a 266-room Visiting Quarters
at JB Charleston, S.C., slated to replace legacy infrastructure. MCH: Last year, you mentioned wiring infrastructure upgrades
The current estimated completion date is December 2020. at 14 different installations. Have they been completed,
and have the results been favorable? Are more technol-
ogy/connectivity/Wi-Fi upgrades in the pipeline? And how
MCH: Over the past two years, the Air Force has been far along is the program of replacing older, smaller model
working on renovating about one-third of the rooms in its televisions with 43-inch flat-panel sets?
entire lodging universe at a cost of about $275 million. Is
the project completed? How many rooms and buildings Cambron: Eight of the 14 projects identified last year were
were eventually included in this work, and what was the completed. The remaining six projects are progressing well.
final cost? Can you fill us in on plans for the next set of The completion dates for these projects will take a little longer
renovations? due to the complexity of work.
Our wiring infrastructure upgrades will continue through
Cambron: In fiscal 2017, we completed renovations on 2019. The 43-inch, flat-panel televisions are being installed
5,400 rooms; and in fiscal 2018, 4,900 rooms in 329 buildings as part of the scheduled room refresh projects.
at a cost of $141 million. The fiscal 2019 renovation budget
includes 4,560 rooms in 125 buildings at an estimated total
cost of $130 million. MCH: Is there any further Air Force Lodging program in-
formation you can provide us that has you excited about
for fiscal 2019 and beyond?
MCH: Please give us an update on the In-Residence Account-
ing Course and the Air Force Lodging Training Blackboard Cambron: We are excited about the future of Air Force
training initiatives. How have each of these worked out Inns and look forward to continuing improvements for our
during the past year, and do you have any other training customers.
initiatives ready for the coming year?
—MCH
Top Priority, Continued from page 7

Whidbey Island MWR Holds Annual Picnic

he Morale, Welfare and
TRecreation (MWR) pro-
gram of NAS Whidbey Island,
Wash., hosted its fourth an-
nual customer appreciation
picnic, featuring country
music performers Thompson
Square and Jerrod Niemann,
on Friday, Aug. 10. The picnic
is MWR’s public thanks for the participation and support the Square, husband and wife Keifer and Shawna Thompson (right
base provides. photo), performing an acoustic set. They said that the stories
“Really it’s just bringing a lot of things together,” said NAS they hear at concerts like this make playing for the military
Whidbey Island’s MWR Director Jeffrey Shaw. “We just try truly memorable, and that they never feel more patriotic than
to get that out to the troops and show them that we appreciate during these moments.
what they do, and give them an opportunity to have a great A large crowd turned out for the event, and as Jerrod
time. We love what we do … serving those who serve.” Niemann (left photo) closed for the last half of the concert,
During the picnic, food services were provided along with people were dancing, singing and fully enjoying themselves.
a beer garden, and bounce houses were set up along the pe- Story and photos by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd
rimeter for children to have fun while waiting between shows. Class Scott Wood, USN, Navy Public Affairs Support Element
The main event began with country music duo Thompson West, Det. Whidbey Island, Wash.

22 MILITARY CLUB & HOSPITALITY | OCTOBER 2018