All past and present enlisted service men and woman own a portion of the land at the Armed Forces Retirement Homes in Washington DC and Gulfport Mississippi.

How is that possible you ask? Each of us, which have served in the United States Armed Forces, has involuntarily contributed to the Armed Forces retirement home. A deduction of $.50 a month was taken out of our pay. Most of us never realize that the money was actually being deducted and there was obviously no big deal over the $.50. The money went into a trust fund that, to this day, was controlled by the executive branch of government i.e. the White House. You can get further information on who contributes to the enlisted land by going to HTTP://www.AFRH.com .

Enlisted Land Washington DC

At the time the home was established there was no way for the  enlisted members to get together and form an organization to run and control their own property. Therefore the Executive branch decided to ask the Defense Department to handle the overall running of the home. There is a long history of the different people who ran the home up to 1975 in a book entitled AFRH, I believe it’s out of print. Because of this lack of organization we were mainly controlled by officers or retired officers of the Department of Defense. The two main reasons for this situation was, one, there was no enlisted organization to step forward and take control of our property, secondly, most NCOs at that time did not have the education, training or experience to run a retirement home and handle the funds properly.  

All this has changed dramatically within the last 40 years. We have senior NCOs who now have Doctorates Degrees, Bachelor Degrees, and experience managing large organizations that would give them the education and background to operate a retirement home. We also have, with this website, the ability to call together all enlisted people past and present to be members of an organization called “Enlisted Land”. With the organization formed we can go to the executive branch of government and ask them to appoint us as managers of the property and home from this date forward.  Establish this notion in your mind, because, there are individuals that want to turn the Armed Forces retirement home into a privately run home. The preponderance of the residence at the home approximately 1300 are trying to find out just what the advantages would be for the home. We are running into roadblocks of a political nature and therefore we feel it’s time to come together and form an organization to run the homes, as they were originally meant for; taking care of enlisted members, in their later years of life.

Gulfport Home

The money that is in the trust fund for the Armed Forces retirement home is totally funded by enlisted people out of their pay.

There is an organization that has been created here at the home called Resident Advisory Council that should have influence in the decision making of our property. However it appears that certain individuals want to push their own agenda without regard to the wishes of the residence and the owners of the land and are trying to privatize the home. The majority of us residents do not want this place to be privatized and we want a greater say on what happens at the home. For that reason we are creating an organization that can withstand the misguided pressures of the existing management team.

 With that said each of us should come together and form an organization to manage our land. The organization will be called Enlisted Land.  Enlisted Land will be the name until we are legally organized. By virtue of the fact that you have contributed to the enlisted land you are automatically a member of the organization. With voting rights as the organization is formed.