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Make clubs valuable

The party’s far from over, but Air Force clubs aren’t what they used to be.

And never will be.

That’s something to cheer about, but also shed a tear for.

It’s good that the lingerie parties in the back room have been replaced with dive-in family nights at the pool. And it was the right and fair thing to do when the Air Force dropped club membership as a de facto condition for promotion.

But it’s sad that so many clubs are closing and that others are withering, having lost 74,000 members in the past seven years.

To its credit, the Air Force is reaching out to junior members with free memberships and other officers. A general membership drive underway offers three months of free dues even to careerists.

But the clubs won’t survive on discount memberships alone. If they are to thrive, they need a commitment from the top. Commanding officers need to be members and make use of the clubs’ facilities for their own purposes and for unit festivities; chief master sergeants should do the same. That’s not to say we should go back to the old days, when senior members virtually coerced junior ones into joining. Rather, the seniors should be setting the tone, so that those coming up behind them see what they do and want to do the same.

Another thing the clubs should do is drop the ridiculous club member credit card. It’s a turn-off. In its place, they should offer — but not require — the proprietary card, with its $500 limit, now being offered at a select few clubs, such as one in Osan, South Korea. That experiment has so far been a success, so roll it out further.

Finally, the clubs need to make membership pay off for members with real benefits. In the end, it’s a value proposition: If airmen see the value, they’ll join. Otherwise, it’s just a subsidy that many airmen can’t afford.

Air Force clubs are worth saving, and Air Force Services, which runs them, has taken the first steps toward doing so. But it needs to do more, or it will lose out to swifter, more exciting attractions beyond the base gate.