The pass
Free lifetime access — and it is worth more than "national parks"
It is a lifetime pass, not an annual one. You do not renew it.
- Honored at six federal agencies, not just national parks: National Park Service, Bureau of
Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Saying only "national parks" leaves money on the table.
- Veteran here means anyone who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, including National Guard and
Reserves.
- Who rides free with you: the pass admits the holder plus the occupants of one private
non-commercial vehicle — or up to two motorcycles — or the holder plus three people age 16 and over.
Families pay per person at walk-up gates because nobody told them this.
What "free access" does not mean. The pass covers entrance fees and standard day-use amenity
fees. It does not cover or discount camping, tours, special recreation permits, reservation fees, fees
for organized groups, or concession-operated facilities. If you are budgeting a camping trip, budget
for the campsite.
This is a federal-lands pass. It is not a pass to private attractions. A private hotel, museum or
attraction is not free and is not required to discount anything — any discount there is that
business's own choice.
★ Six agencies. One pass. No renewal.
Getting the pass
The ID they accept — and what the "free" pass can cost you
A DD214 is not on the accepted list. Do not drive to a gate with only a DD214.
- A DoD ID — DD Form 2, DD Form 2765, or the Next Generation USID
- A Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC) — the card VA issues to veterans enrolled in VA health
care
- The VA Veteran ID Card, including the digital version
- A state driver's license or state ID card with a veteran designation printed on it
Hold none of those? Apply online for the free VA Veteran ID Card at
va.gov/records/get-veteran-id-cards —
it is one of the four IDs the parks accept. It requires an honorable or general (under honorable
conditions) discharge.
The word "free" has a catch. The Military Lifetime Pass costs nothing if you pick it up in
person at a park or federal recreation site. A digital pass through Recreation.gov is also free. A
mailed physical pass costs $7.50 shipping through Recreation.gov, or $10 processing
through the USGS Store — and a USGS mail order can take up to three weeks.
★ Pick it up in person. Pay nothing.
Gold Star Families
The definition is narrower than the word sounds
Read this before you drive a grieving Family to a park gate.
The Park Service defines a Gold Star Family member as next of kin of a service member who lost their
life in a qualifying situation — war, an international terrorist attack, or a military operation
outside the United States while serving with the U.S. Armed Forces.
Not every surviving Family qualifies. A death in a stateside training accident, from illness, or
by suicide may not meet that definition. I hate writing that sentence. I write it so nobody finds out
at the gate.
Gold Star Family members use the
printable Gold Star Family voucher from the Park Service site —
not a DoD or VA ID. Get it at
nps.gov.
If the answer is no here, it is not the end. A surviving spouse or Family member who does not
meet that definition may still be eligible for military lodging as an unremarried surviving spouse —
see the resort panel below — and for VA survivor benefits, which are a separate matter entirely.
★ Check the definition first.
Military resorts
Who can book — broader than you think, narrower than the flyers imply
Four Armed Forces Recreation Center resorts: Hale Koa in Hawaii, Shades of Green in
Florida, Edelweiss Lodge in Germany, Dragon Hill Lodge in Korea.
Eligibility is broader than most veterans think, and narrower than a travel flyer implies. The
categories the resorts list include:
- Active duty, Guard and Reserve, service academies
- Public Health Service and NOAA Commissioned Corps
- Military retirees, and Medal of Honor recipients
- Honorably discharged members separated at 100% disability
- Involuntarily separated members, and VSI/SSB separatees
- Unremarried surviving spouses and qualifying former spouses; survivor Family packages
- Current and retired DoD and Coast Guard civilians
- And under the Purple Heart and Disabled Veterans Equal Access Act of 2018, effective
1 January 2020 — Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war, veterans with a VA
service-connected disability rating, and Primary Family Caregivers enrolled in PCAFC
On the rating: any service-connected disability rating. The 2018 Act newly covered 0–90%.
Veterans rated 100% permanently and totally disabled already had full access before it.
These lists come from each resort's own website, not from a .gov or .mil page. Check the
resort's own eligibility page before you book:
Hale Koa ·
Shades of Green.
★ Do not book on a flyer. Book on the rule.
The gate
The ID that gets you in — a DD214 alone will not
Being eligible and being able to prove it at the gate are two different problems.
- A Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC) printed with SERVICE CONNECTED,
PURPLE HEART or FORMER POW; or
- VA Health Eligibility Center Form H623A (priority group 8E) together with a REAL
ID-compliant driver's license or a U.S. passport
- Primary Family Caregivers use their VA Office of Community Care eligibility letter
A DD214 alone will not get you in. If you are eligible but hold none of the cards above, start
by applying for VA health care — the VHIC comes from enrollment — and ask your VA facility's
enrollment office about Form H623A.
★ Sort the card out before the flight.
Overseas
Germany and Korea are not automatic — read this first
Edelweiss Lodge in Germany. The Armed Forces Recreation Center operator's own site states the
2018 expansion currently does not include the Edelweiss Lodge, and that the new law is subject to
limitations of host-nation law and international agreements that have not been resolved. VA's own
reporting says the same thing in general terms: overseas access is "subject to applicable host-nation
laws and applicable international agreements, like status of forces agreements." Edelweiss's own site
says guests must have a valid DoD common access card or be accompanied by an authorized sponsor. So the
2018 expansion I described above covers Hale Koa, Shades of Green and Dragon Hill Lodge — treat
Edelweiss as a hard verify-before-you-buy-a-ticket. I will not tell you to buy transatlantic airfare on
a rule that does not reach Germany.
Dragon Hill Lodge, Seoul. It sits on U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan. Eligibility for the room is not
the same as access through the gate. Confirm gate access with the lodge before you book anything.
★ Confirm the gate before the ticket.
The open door
Shades of Green — the route for a veteran with no service connection
If none of the categories above fit you, this is the one listed door on this page that
is still open.
Shades of Green, on Walt Disney World property in Florida, runs a separate program called Salute to
Our Veterans. Per the resort's own site, it admits any honorably discharged veteran —
January and September only, subject to availability.
Know the price before you get excited. Salute to Our Veterans guests pay the Category 3
rate — the highest tier the property charges. It is access, not a bargain. Price it against a
regular hotel before you commit.
Confirm at
shadesofgreen.org
before you book. Dates and availability are the resort's call, not mine.
★ Two months a year. Top rate. Still a door.
Navy Lodge
Navy Lodges — United States and overseas
Run by the Navy Exchange Service Command. Not Navy-only.
The operator states authorized patrons include active duty and their Families, Reserves, Coast Guard,
retired military, DoD civilians, and — in its own words — "Others separated from the Armed Forces and
their family members (0-100% Disabled Veterans, Caregivers, VSI, SSB, Medal of Honor Recipients, former
POWs, and Purple Heart Recipients)."
Not just coast to coast. There are overseas properties in Italy (Sigonella, Naples), Spain
(Rota), Japan (Atsugi, Sasebo, Yokosuka), and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
That eligibility list comes from the operator's own commercial site, not a .mil page. Verify your own
eligibility before you pay a deposit:
DoD Reservation Center, 800-628-9466, or
navy-lodge.com/Resources/Policy.
★ Call first. It is one phone call.