Airport oasis ready for duty -
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Published on: 6/28/2002
Last Visited: 6/28/2002
Capt. Tim Higgins spends about 200 days a year flying AWACS planes -- sophisticated military jets with radar domes piggybacked on their fuselages.At 32, he's served 14 years in the Air Force.He's visited lots of airports.
But when the Blooming Prairie, Minn., native drops by the Servicemen's Center at Minneapolis-St.Paul International, "it's like coming to Grandma's house," he said, because the volunteer staffers never fail to ask: "Do you want something?"
The center is a free haven for active-duty members of the armed forces and their dependents, and today it will celebrate its new quarters on the mezzanine of the airport's Lindbergh terminal.That's the latest of several locations it has had since it opened in 1970.
The new digs lack the luxurious leather and fireplaces of, say a Northwest Airlines WorldClub lounge.But the center's 26 beds (in 13 double-deck bunks), free refreshments, Internet access, television and all-hours, everyday accessibility reportedly have earned it an international word-of-mouth reputation.