One team, one club

  • Published
  • By Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer
  • Commander, 56th Fighter Wing
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Many of you - active, retired, officer and enlisted - have expressed concerns regarding my plan to combine our two consolidated clubs into one facility. I hope this article will clarify why I made this decision and provide you with my vision for our club's future. 

Our Air Force clubs are a time-honored tradition. Yet in the past decade, our clubs have suffered three serious challenges to their continued viability and survival: high costs, declining membership and decreased services. 

To offset those challenges, many bases, including Luke Air Force Base, "consolidated" officer and enlisted clubs into facilities with a shared dining room and separate officer and enlisted bars. Luke used a slightly different approach by keeping BOTH facilities open and designating each as consolidated clubs. In 2005, what was the Officer's Club and Enlisted Club became Club Thunderbolt and the Desert Star Club, respectively. 

That approach gave us two facilities, but committed us to excessive operations and maintenance costs; which forced cutbacks in service; which aggravated an already serious decline in membership. 

Our clubs have been reactive - making periodic cutbacks to "recognize, confirm and recover" from the descending spiral they're in, rather than being active - "observing, predicting, and maneuvering" the club to meet the needs of our active and retired force. I aim to change that. 

To improve their bottom line, clubs have slowly morphed from their traditional role of providing a setting to build esprit de corps, camaraderie, and élan into a place to eat lunch, dinner, and hire a caterer - admirable services, but ones that do not entice the next generation of American Airmen to become club members nor teach them about our ethos. 

We cannot continue on our current flight path. As I see it, we face four challenges that must be conquered lest we be remembered as the generation of Airmen who let the grand tradition of club membership die. 

The first being monotony. If we maintain the status quo, we'll get more of the same. The same tired food, venue, décor and events. As a loyal club member for 28 years, I don't make that comment flippantly; but I was stationed here as a young fighter pilot from '87 to '89 and can attest that Club Thunderbolt has not changed significantly in décor, menu, or offerings in the past 20 years. 

Secondly is cost. If we maintain the status quo, it will cost an estimated $3.474 million to suitably repair, upgrade and operate both consolidated clubs. Combining our two consolidated clubs into one will reduce that cost by more than $2.355 million. We'll use those savings to provide our patrons with a more robust staff, better customer service and first class events. 

Membership is also a challenge. If we maintain the status quo, we'll accelerate our clubs' death spiral. Fewer young officers and NCOs will want to join the club because they won't see it offering them something special; in turn, the club won't offer special events because there's no revenue. And it'll be no wonder why our young ones won't want to join - they'll see with their own eyes that we've made no effort to provide them with a venue and service worthy of their membership. 

Lastly, we face a challenge with heritage. If we maintain the status quo, the next generation of Airmen - officers and NCOs - will neither be willing nor able to encourage their subordinates to join. Having never been club members, they'll have no personal connection to, nor appreciation for, the kinship club membership provides. 

I can assure you that we will preserve our Air Force heritage, standards and time-honored traditions in our single consolidated club, which is scheduled to open in late October. Although we'll have common areas, dining and banquet rooms, there will be separate officer and enlisted bars for each corps of Airmen and their guests to gather and socialize without jeopardizing good order and discipline. 

This hasn't been an easy decision, but it is the best course of action we have to defray costs, reverse our declining membership trends, and improve services for our members. I look forward to your continued support and feedback as we commit on this vector to improve future club operations at Luke.