Straight Talk: Movie theater

  • Published
  • By Col. Stacy L. Yike
  • 66th Air Base Group commander
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Question: My family recently PCSd to Hanscom. We are a young family with three kids, ranging from 3 years to 7 years old. We have experienced outstanding service at every facility on base, however, there is one thing that my wife and I have noticed that does not make a lot of sense to us. The base movie theater plays kids movies at 7 p.m. or later. I am not sure what the rational for this is. Our children's bedtime is typically at 6:30 or 7 p.m. The times for the kids movies simply do not work for us.

My wife and I have utilized the theater on the weekends as a fun, convenient and inexpensive date. The theater is a great facility, but the times for children's movies are not kid friendly. I recommend moving the children's movies to a Saturday or Sunday late morning or early afternoon show. At my previous base, the children shows would get close to selling out at these times. We would have to get to the theater early to ensure we got a good seat. I look forward to hearing from you.

Response: Welcome to Hanscom and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on the theater. I spoke with AAFES leadership to learn more about this. It seems that in the past, we have not had adequate patronage to support an afternoon showing. However, the face of Hanscom is changing as more and more people move on base and our goal is to establish hours of operation that best serve the majority of the base population.

AAFES is going to do a trial run beginning in May and we are hoping for great results. The theater will run one matinee each month to gauge interest level. The first showing will be May 14 at 1:30 p.m. and the feature will be HOP (rated PG). The following month's show times and dates will be announced in the Hansconian, so stay tuned. In addition, the Exchange does offer theater rentals for birthdays and other events. Contact Uli Castell at 781-274-7252 for more information.

Do you have suggestions for changes to operating hours at your favorite base location, such as the library, pool, gas station or BX? We conduct regular reviews of the needs of the base population for these services and then establish staffing plans to meet as many of those needs as we can. Budget realities certainly keep us from being open all the time for everyone, but we aim to please. We will be conducting another major survey in late summer after most of the new PCS folks have rolled in, but you can get your comments in now. Post your views at the discussion board on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/66abgcommander and we will look at some minor tweaks to improve service this summer. The 66th Air Base Group: we are here to serve!