To support and encourage our active military by providing RnR Recovery Vacations and other rewards for returning U.S. soldiers, and their families, who served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas where our Armed Forces are deployed in harm’s way.
Our Mission
Troop Rewards was founded on the mission of providing recovery (RnR) vacations and other rewards for returning U.S. soldiers and their families who served in overseas deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hostile areas of responsibility.
These retreats rely on luxury resort hotels that partner with Troop Rewards to host returning service members and their families, giving them dedicated time to re-adjust to life back home together. Families pay only for their own transportation to and from the resort.
Who We Serve
Our target population is active Armed Forces members returning from an overseas deployment. We have provided RnR Recovery Retreats to deployed Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Special Operations Forces from over 35 different states, based at numerous air bases, forts, and military installations around the country.
How Our RnR Retreats Work
TroopRewards partners with Florida resorts to host 5-day/4-night recovery retreats for returning service members and their families — sponsored resort stays, a welcome-home reception, and daily breakfast; families cover their own transportation to and from the resort.
How We Started
The call that started it all: as an owner of a penthouse suite at the Sandpearl Resort and Spa in Clearwater, Florida, our founder, Tom Burkett, received an overseas call from an Army private serving in the Iraqi desert on a remote satellite phone. The soldier was asking what a stay at Mr. Burkett’s suite would cost for a belated honeymoon — and that pay-it-forward moment inspired Mr. Burkett to offer many stays at his resort for soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan over the next couple of years.
Then in late 2012, he created Troop Rewards as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so the community, businesses, and luxury hotels could come together to offer RnR Recovery to our deployed Armed Forces and their families — to help with their reintegration and resiliency, and to recognize their dedicated service to our country.
Program Goals
Our goals for these RnR Recovery Retreats are three-fold:
- Reintegration & Resiliency: Allows our service members to reconnect and bond with their loved ones after a long separation by providing a fun, relaxing, low-stress environment that helps them transition to life back home after a deployment.
- Reconnection: Offers family bonding and marriage enrichment activities to help reduce the divorce rates among deployed service members and help ease the effects of the invisible wounds (PTSD), stress, and uncertainty that have strained many marriages.
- Recognition: Unites the local community to rally around our military families, support them, and express our gratitude for their service and sacrifice to our country. Our programs also acknowledge the contributions of the military spouse who serves alongside the service member.
Each year we provide around 100 of these RnR trips to selected military families. The retreats create opportunities for families to meet other military families who have dealt with similar hardships during their deployments, to bond over their shared experiences, and to create lasting memories with their families and friends.
“We endeavor to one day provide RnR Recovery Vacations to all soldiers returning from deployment and serving our country proudly.”
Tom Burkett, Chairman & Founder of Troop Rewards