Reveille/Retreat too loud for base residents?

  • Published
  • By Col. Thomas Bergeson
  • 3rd Wing commander
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  ACTION LINE QUERY:

I am a mother of two small, exhausted little boys. Now, we have nap interrupted by retreat. Now at 7 a.m., we have sleep interrupted by Reveille. At 5 p.m. today, I'm sure nap will be interrupted again and I'm wondering if at 9 p.m., we get to look forward to this again. My boys are tired and cranky and just want sleep. As I'm sure a lot of children now need because you feel the need to blare loud music in housing areas at inconvenient times. Not everyone is on your schedule. Some working individuals are on swings or 3rds who also value what rest they can get. A lot of us have small children who are not school age and will not be getting up at this time when school is in session. A lot of us have small children who are on schedules who expect sleep at certain times during the day and when it's interrupted, the whole day is off for them until they can get back on schedule. These schedules are not easily changed. How do you feel when you are not able to get the normal amount of hours of sleep that you are used to? The day is off. It's hard for toddlers that are used to things happening at a certain time not being able to have that. 

Tradition, I understand. My husband is in the Air Force and that makes my family part of that. This is my home life we are talking about though and today, it's not a happy home. If I need to, each morning once my children are jolted awake, I have no problems bringing them to your office and letting you and your staff hear them scream and yell because they are so tired. Because they were jolted out of bed an hour to two hours before they are normally awake. 

Can something please be done so this doesn't happen in housing areas?!?

RESPONSE: 

As you are aware, Elmendorf Air Force Base re-implemented the playing of Reveille/Retreat on Aug. 4 over the base's Giant Voice system. We asked each and every active duty member to review these customs and courtesies and share the importance of them and the traditions they uphold with their family, regardless if they live on or off-base. 

Like other significant changes to base life at Elmendorf, this process will take some getting used to. 

The Giant Voice system also serves a primary purpose of alerting the base populace in emergency situations. If I were to have the towers removed or the volume lowered in the housing areas, it would also impact any emergency alert warnings. We would be sacrificing the safety of hundreds of base personnel during life-threatening events. We care too much for your safety, the safety of all the families on Elmendorf, and the pride of our nation and our Air Force traditions to modify the sound system at this time.