Hit me up if you are interested.

I'd love to hear your advice and tips on that. Also for a new LT headed to their unit in a few months. Thanks!

Perhaps can you help me with this endeavor. Can you google what Morale Recreation (MWR) and Family Readiness Group funds (RFG) can be used for and give me a quick synopsis. My intent is two fold, it reduces my research time and illuminate rules and regulations that you would need to know as a commander. Then we can move to the next phase and I will reveal the myriad of things I did for the soldiers to boost their morale.

Aggie118 said:

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I'd love to hear your advice and tips on that. Also for a new LT headed to their unit in a few months. Thanks!

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Forget the research. I got it. More to follow later.

PURPOSE: The impetus of incorporating fun in the unit was my desire to say thank you to the troops and make their careers more enjoyable.

Some of the activities require funding and I will discuss them. I suggest that you learn the rules and regulations pertaining the Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) and Family Readiness Group (FRG) funds.

FUNDING:
FRG informal funds are authorized by commanders for specific planned purposes. Limited to $10,000 annually, these funds may be used for social activities, holiday parties, food, FRG parties, and outings.
FRG Funds are gained by the FRG group conducting bake sales. However invariably the unit ends up conduct bake sales. Chili dogs with all the fixings is a crowd favorite. You can coordinate with Panera Bread to obtain pastries that are a day old at no cost and they are good sellers.

MWR funds are passed down from the army. However, the amount is usually minimal. Unit Funds (MWR Funds) are designated to support social event restricted to unit level picnics and parties. Expenditures should directly support the overall morale and welfare of unit personnel.

OTHER MEANS OF FUNDING: When I was commanding a unit at Ft Riley, KS the company went to a KC Royals game to run a concession stand once a year. We got $500 for that.

When I went out for dinner I always talked to the managers to get gift certificates for dinner that would be passed down to the soldiers. This is against regulations, but I did not care. I would say hi I am CPT X and I have soldiers who work hard and deploy to various theaters. I am trying to find innovative ways for leadership to say thank you to the soldiers. If you can give me a gift certificate I would appreciate it. I was never turned down.

We also had a company soda and snack fund. I believe this is also against regulation as it competes with AAFES, but once again, I did not care.

ACTIVITIES:

A. Every Friday morning for PT we played flag football. It was great cardio and the team that got scored on had to do pushups or situps. The Gym gave me flags, cones, and a football. I named the field after the MVP of the game.

B. I had two companies. One company was really a detachment of 50 soldiers. One had 200 soldiers. When I had the small company I grilled food for them every Thursday after SGT's time. I am a pretty good cook so the soldiers appreciated my grilling. Sometimes we had potlucks and they were fabulous.

C. I introduced myself to the MEDEVAC company and asked them to fly my troops in their Blackhawks. They said they would love to do it. Before the soldiers flew I would inspect them for dog tags, Kevlar, and I issued them commercial grade barf bags. The pilots liked to hotdog it and the soldiers often got sick. I called them to request they tone it down a bit. I purchased gift certificates for two large pizzas and asked the soldiers to give the certificates to the pilots.

D. A couple times we had 4 mile runs and had hot breakfast and TMP vehicles waiting for us at the end.

E. Because we were well funded, the door prizes were really nice for the informal Christmas party. It started with a TV then boom box and the prizes got progressively cheaper. My attitude is sometimes you need to go world class and I think we accomplished that. I also gave away a framed and signed picture of me as a door prize. Of course the soldiers pretended to appreciate the gift. Invariably, in the back was a nice gift certificate for dinner. White elephant gift giving is easy to coordinate and entertaining especially when Crown Royal bottles were unwrapped. We also did karaoke and the most extroverted SGT was given a gong. The platoons had to perform a song and it was open to individuals. First place was $100 and second place was $50. We heard predominantly very bad singing but there was talent. The gong was a nice twist. By the end of the night the crowd was worked up into a frenzy by the gong master and the crowd started to boo before the singers started their performance.

F. One time we contracted for busses and took 100 soldiers plus family members to a very nice theme park for the day.

I will add more if there is more and I can remember them. Say thank you to the troops and make their careers more interesting. I was really proud of the NCOs as a great percentage of the young soldiers wanted to stay in the army.

We used to have unit bake sales on Mondays during command maintenance while I was stationed at JBLM. We were locked in anyways doing PMCS and they stopped letting us do shoppette runs, so the batteries selling cookies, snacks and Monsters was a good way to raise money for units.

For some reason every unit I was in forbid playing sports for PT. Flag football or ultimate frisbee is good cardio, fun, and the competitiveness gets folks into it. Just were never allowed to play. Company/Battery runs as motivation quickly lose the desired effect of raising morale every Friday. We did have a "rebel" 1SG who would run us to an out of the way field when I was at Polk and we'd play football once in a blue moon but for the most part PT sessions were monotonous and predictable.

JABQ04 said:

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We used to have unit bake sales on Mondays during command maintenance while I was stationed at JBLM. We were locked in anyways doing PMCS and they stopped letting us do shoppette runs, so the batteries selling cookies, snacks and Monsters was a good way to raise money for units.

For some reason every unit I was in forbid playing sports for PT. Flag football or ultimate frisbee is good cardio, fun, and the competitiveness gets folks into it. Just were never allowed to play. Company/Battery runs as motivation quickly lose the desired effect of raising morale every Friday. We did have a "rebel" 1SG who would run us to an out of the way field when I was at Polk and we'd play football once in a blue moon but for the most part PT sessions were monotonous and predictable.

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I wonder if higher up said no sports for PT. It's a shame. Flag football was fun and it was great cardio. The team that got scored on had to do 20 pushups or situps and they did them fast because they wanted to continue playing.

Yes it was brigade policy (I believe) to not do sports for PT. Just made PT lame and repetitive.

ArmyTanker said:

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JABQ04 said:

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We used to have unit bake sales on Mondays during command maintenance while I was stationed at JBLM. We were locked in anyways doing PMCS and they stopped letting us do shoppette runs, so the batteries selling cookies, snacks and Monsters was a good way to raise money for units.

For some reason every unit I was in forbid playing sports for PT. Flag football or ultimate frisbee is good cardio, fun, and the competitiveness gets folks into it. Just were never allowed to play. Company/Battery runs as motivation quickly lose the desired effect of raising morale every Friday. We did have a "rebel" 1SG who would run us to an out of the way field when I was at Polk and we'd play football once in a blue moon but for the most part PT sessions were monotonous and predictable.

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I wonder if higher up said no sports for PT. It's a shame. Flag football was fun and it was great cardio. The team that got scored on had to do 20 pushups or situps and they did them fast because they wanted to continue playing.

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Out APFT average was around 260, so I don't think sports hurt us.

JABQ04 said:

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Yes it was brigade policy (I believe) to not do sports for PT. Just made PT lame and repetitive.

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Sport related injuries reducing readiness/effectiveness or whatever the official term for unit status that I am looking for.

There is always contact in "non-contact" sports and there are PT related injuries. However, these are seldom concussions, broken bones and blown out knees.

And now the APFT is no longer the test of record. everyone now is on the ACFT with a punitive date of 2022 if I remember correctly

Sports for pt was good because it encouraged me to also go out. I rarely found time to go out for pt with my division and my pt body kept getting onto me. So to meet our 3 times a week requirement and encourage pt growth, made pt Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with 3 a week required. Excellence got to skip 1 session and outstanding got to skip 2. Friday was mandatory pt for all and i made it sports day, so we'd leave the office at 1300, play for 1.5 hours, then rope yarn by 1500. Good camaraderie and got us out early on Friday.

Heritage trips are also good. When stationed out near DC, Arlington or the war memorials are great. Baltimore Inner Harbor had ships to tour. Follow it up with a division lunch and made for a good day.