Review Detail

El Centro is one of the bases where the CO has decided that spouses of veterans with a service disability are not allowed. After making reservations well in advance, we made a wrong turn and arrived just after the visitor center had closed. After about 1/2 hour at the front gate a very polite MAA escorted us to our site. We checked in at MWR and they said, just go to the visitor center in the morning. The next morning we arrived at the visitor center and the civilian clerk informed us that while I was allowed on base, my wife was not. I explained we were already in and set up. She said she should not have been allowed in the night before, per the base commander's guidelines. She said my wife needed to be sponsored. When I said I would sponsor her, she said I wasn't allowed to. My wife asked if she was allowed back in to help pack up and was told no. Finally, we asked to speak with a supervisor. Of course he was in a meeting. After over an hour, the supervisor called back and said he would sponsor my wife. We got back on and I went right to MWR/famcamp. I told them what had happened. They actually were surprised and said they were not aware that was the base policy. We decided to leave the next day. The civilian clerk was very apologetic and gave us a refund for the days we weren't staying. My wife suffered through a few deployments with me and knows the military life. She was so upset by the way she was made to feel, this has really turned her off from MWR facilities. To top it off, El Centro is kind of in the middle of nowhere.