Should General Officer/CSM/CW5 reserved parking at Commissaries and Exchanges be repurposed for others?

Thanks for voting! I wholly support assigned parking spots at duty locations, but don't think reserved parking at the Commissary/PX/gym is appropriate. I'm sure the CEO of Microsoft has a parking spot near his office, but I doubt he has one at the local grocery store. Of course, as you said, the military cannot be compared to civilian life. I would like to reiterate that this question is merely a product of an observation, and was asked to facilitate the completion of a school assignment.

SPC Benjamin Smith -

Good questions but truth be told this tradition will not change.

Thank you for offering your opinion.

Exactly CSM David Heidke .

Interesting choice of subject matter. So not to react with any kind of prejudice, let me point out several things. First; It was mentioned that expectant mothers should have priority. Many doctors will tell you the more exercise and especially walking that an expectant mother does, the better the pregnancy will be. Second: Families with small children are always problematic, one would think if families were shopping, that both parents if not family adult members would be present to help control the children. They could control these little rascals by making it a game, and providing much needed physical exercise walking from any parking space to either the commissary or exchange, who knows they’ probably have fun. Third: To reserve a space even for 10 minutes for perhaps over weight arm chair warriors purging for food, or those who are lack of physical activity, exercise from their car providing Cardio Vascular exercise is a good thing especially when they don’t get enough exercise. No, I concur with CSM Heidke. In most part everyone mentioned would benefit with some exercise. For those who haven’t a slot, let them strive for excellence by climbing the rung of the ladder to success. Meanwhile, stop intruding on those who achieved their goal to claim such perks.

Thanks for voting! I've seen a few people comment that although some privileges increase with rank (BAH, PCS Weight Allowance, etc.), everyone is equally entitled to Commissary and Exchange privileges across the ranks.

I’m not sure I would put it that there are others that deserve them more, but rather, need the spaces more. Deserving something means you did something to earn it, which would lend itself more to the rank based thought. I think that by taking away some privileges for working hard and achieving something we take away incentives too. Parking spaces are trophies though - some folks need them for the status it brings and others don’t.

Thank you LTC Kevin for your response without any emotional input like the other „ranking“ soldiers did. We are living in a equally called world and should show this more and more to all. Not …I am better..I have rank or a Titel …I deserve more.

I have to absolutely agree with OP's opinion that reserved parking might make sense at duty locations but makes absolutely no sense at places like the commissary.

Back when Fort Knox still had an army hospital there were two "General Officer" reserved parking spaces that were ALWAYS empty. There were only two general officers assigned to the entire post. Neither was in the chain-of-command for the hospital. If either was going to visit the hospital their driver would have dropped them at the door. They wouldn't have taken their POV.