Minot AFB Outdoor Recreation hosted another fantastic single Airman trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Mall of America on November 8-10. On this trip, five single Airmen traveled to the Twin Cities and spent Veterans Day weekend shopping, seeing the sites, and eating their weight in some of the best food.

Staff Sergeant Daniel Williams from 5 FSS went on this past trip to Minneapolis and said, “I just got here [to Minot]. I had never been to the Mall of America, [I] and thought it would be cool and, for $200, of course!” The trip prices include lodging and travel costs and any activities that were specially chosen. For this specific trip, the Airmen got the chance to visit iFly, an indoor sky flying experience, go on a Behind the Scenes tour at SEALIFE in the Mall of America, and eat at one of the nicest restaurants the mall has to offer, Benihana.

Paige Pertuit, the Director of Outdoor Recreation, and Renatta Molioo, the Flight Chief over Outdoor Recreation, are experts at planning and orchestrating trips like this to Minneapolis. They explained that these types of trips allow Airmen to get out of the small-town atmosphere of Minot and experience some mind-blowing things that they normally may not have the funds or capability of doing on their own. Renatta commented, “Once we get away from the base everyone gets to relax.”

This Mall of America Trip and, others like them, help build a community setting and allow Airmen to bolster friendships. Paige mentioned, “Some Airmen will bring their Xbox with them and end up hanging out with each other in the hotel rooms and kind of practicing that sense of community aspect and some of them become friends.” Once everyone has made it back to the hotel at the end of each day of excursions, they can all kick back and relax. Paige explained that Airmen often continue to build connections between individuals that may have not met under different circumstances. Most of the time, Airmen are traveling on these trips alone and are not familiar with the people they will be traveling with. However, after eight hours in a car with someone, it can safely be said they are no longer strangers.

These trips are made possible with the help of Recharge for Resiliency (R4R). This program provides resources that foster culture, mission, and a sense of community among Airmen and Guardians and their families. This trip for instance, only cost each Airmen $200, where if they would have gone alone may have been closer to $500. Paige explained that, “R4R and our sponsorship subsidized the activity fees and food cost. At the end of the day each Airmen had a savings of $300 for activity fees that was covered by R4R and the food cost covered by our sponsorship.” R4R is a wonderful program across the Air Force that understands what being alone and away from family can mean when it comes to a single Airmen’s lifestyle.

Some very exciting news is that there is another trip coming up with Outdoor Recreation. There will be a Sled Dog Trip in Minnesota leaving on the 17th of January 2025. For anyone looking to break out of their comfort zone and go on an amazing trip, keep an eye on the Outdoor Recreation Facebook page where they will post updates about when to sign up.