There are literally hundreds of different businesses out there that give discounts and benefits to service members. Ranging from restaurants to clothing stores and everything in between; 9 times out of 10 when you whip out your Military ID in the check out line and ask if they have a military discount, chances are they will say yes (at least in the south-east and Texas of course). These discounts typically range between 5-15% and are NOT the focus of this article. There are literally too many to count, and they are usually well advertised.

The focus of this article is the massive military discounts that are not heavily advertised. Size doesn’t always matter (just ask my wife lol), but when I use the term “massive”, I’m specifically referring to 40% off and higher; amazing deals that can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in both the short and long term.

How else do you think ole Ms. Mona Lisa was able to afford those sick PNVG-18’s on her first deployment to the ‘Stan?

SSG(ret) Mona Lisa’s Hero Photo taken at Bagram Airbase during OEF-I

1) EPIC Ski Pass ($99)

If you have absolutely any desire to go skiing this year or next, then you need to get this unbelievably outstanding deal. The EPIC pass gives you UNLIMITED ski sessions at the following resorts for the 2019 ski season:

Vail, Beaver Creek, Whistler Blackcomb, Breckenridge, Park City, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Stowe, Wilmot, Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton, and Perisher in Australia.

This pass is typically $900 for liberal, granola-eating hipsters, but since you are a meat-eating, freedom-loving, door-kicker you can get it for $99. This includes dependents. For reference, a single day lift ticket at Vail can cost over $100!

You can check it out here:

https://www.epicpass.com/pass-results/military.aspx

14 resorts, 1 pass, unlimited sessions… nothing between you and a good time but $99 and a piss test when you sign back in off leave.

2) Microsoft Office Professional 2016 ($10)

Want to up that Power Point game at home? Trying to learn a new awesome formula in Excel to brag about to your friends at work? Well I have just the deal for you.

AKO offers Microsoft Office to active duty army for insanely cheap (among other things like Rosetta Stone, etc). However, they do a really shitty job of advertising it and an even shittier job at streamlining the process to actually get it (as with everything with the Army). Nevertheless, since I’m feeling super helpful today, here is literally all you have to do.

Step 1: go to http://hup.microsoft.com

Step 2: Type in your Army email address

Step 3: Use ABAD560AD0 as your product code

Step 4: Receive email and Click the button in the email to confirm your registration

Step 5: Enter payment $10 (normally $400) and download program

Every staff officers’ guilty pleasure

3) Disney World (4 days for $226) / Disneyland (4 days for $168)

If you are in the military and you paid full price to take your family to one of the Disney theme parks, then you probably want to stop reading right now because you’ll end up killing yourself. While Disney World itself does provide military discounts through their website, you can find MUCH higher discounts at your local base MWR through the Disney Armed Forces Salute Program.

Disney World

Get a four-day Park Hopper pass for $226 or a five-day Park Hopper pass for $246. Park Hopper means you can go to more than one park in a day. For reference a one day ticket at Disney World costs about $120.

Tickets must be used between January 1, 2018 and December 19, 2018 and must be purchased on base at your MWR/ITT office. For more information and details, visit Disney World’s promotional page.

Disneyland

Lodging is the next major expense that destroys a service member’s wallet when planning a Disney Vacation. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Shades of Green, but that is mainly because they don’t accept Rewards Points. If you read my article on the 4 Best Rewards Cards for Military, then you know that I am a huge fan of using Rewards Points to pay for lodging and automatic elite hotel status for free meals. Additionally, depending on the experience you are looking for, you can find even better deals on condos and houses on Airbnb (which DOES accept Rewards Points)!

However, many military families absolutely swear by Shades of Green, and for that reason, I will include it. If you are looking for an “on-campus” resort experience with close proximity to all the parks, Shades of Green provides MUCH better prices than the official Disney chain hotels to military service members and their family. You can view eligibility requirements here.

These Air Force dudes look a little too excited to be watching Mickey dance...

4) Sea World & Busch Gardens (Free)

U.S. active duty, activated reservists, and National Guardsmen receive one free admission per year for the service member and up to three dependents.

The offer must be redeemed online through the Waves of Honor program.

“Damnit, who let the Coast Guard guy in the front of the line!?”

5) ExpertVoice (40-70% off)

Previously known as 3point5 and Promotive, ExpertVoice is online marketplace for experts with significant personal and professional industry influence aka “Pro’s”. It provides an umbrella for dozens of brand incentive programs and rewards industry professionals and influencers with exclusive product offers, deep discounts, free samples, and insider knowledge applicable to their field of expertise.

Pretty much every major outdoor retailer (Patagonia, Merrell, Mountain Hardwear, etc.) all offer “pro-deal” discounts for outdoor industry experts. Lucky for you, most of these companies consider anyone with a “.mil” email address to be an “industry expert”. Boy have we got them fooled…

In the past, you had to sign up for each one of these programs separately. Each one had different rules and the process could be pretty convoluted. However, ExpertVoice captures dozens of these programs all under one roof. Simply register on the website, and use your “.mil” email address to sign up for “U.S. Army” affiliation. If you have a SOF email (soc.mil, socom.mil, etc.) or copy of your Ranger School or Q-Course certificate, you can sign up for the “Special Forces” affiliation (someone forgot to tell them the difference between SOF and SF lol). Once approved you will have access to 24 different Pro Deals all from one website.

If you don’t want to sign up for this site, or just like doing things the hard way; here is a list capturing a good chunk of the pro deals for military that are out there:

• Patagonia Pro
• Outdoor Research Pro
• Arc’Teryx Law Enforcement & Armed Forces (LEAF) Program
• Oakley Standard Issue
• Merrell ProDeal
• Mountain Hardwear
• Gerber Pro Gear
• Salomon Pro
• Black Diamond
• Scarpa Pro
• Sierra Designs
• Kelty Pro
• ReFactor Tactical (They have a sick “Operator Art Gallery”)

6) National Park Service (Free)

Once again, if you ever paid to visit Yellowstone, Yosemite, or any other national park, stop reading because you are going to want to kill yourself. The National Park service offers free annual passes to all military service members and their dependents. Each pass covers entrance fees at ALL national parks and national wildlife refuges as well as standard amenity fees (day use fees) at national forests. A pass covers entrance, standard amenity fees and day use fees for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle at per vehicle fee areas (or up to four adults at sites that charge per person). Children age 15 or under are admitted free.

• Cost: Free annual pass
• Available for: Current U.S. military members and dependents in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard as well as Reserve and National Guard members.
• How to obtain: In person at a federal recreation site (see PDF list of federal recreation sites that issue passes) by showing a Common Access Card (CAC) or Military ID (Form 1173).
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Annual Pass for U.S. Military (USGS website)

Use all that discounted climbing gear you just bought to scale that cliff you industry expert you

7) Armed Forces Vacation Club ($349 per week)

Want the space and perks of a timeshare without actually having to own a timeshare? The AFV Club offers DEEPLY discounted space-available time shares worldwide to active and retired military and their family members. The one catch is that in most cases you have to book the lodging for the entire week. Membership is free and their standard non-holiday rate is $349 for seven nights.

Did they really use Calibri in their logo…?

8) American Express (No Annual Fees)

I wrote an entire article on this, but there are still too many service members that aren’t aware of this amazing benefit so I’m going to mention it again.

American Express waives ALL annual fees for active duty military, allowing service members to tap into prestigious Credit Card Rewards Programs they would not otherwise have access to. These fees range from $95 to $550, and they are all waived in appreciation for your service. Use your regular spending to never pay for a flight or hotel room again.

This is the black card; it may or may not ACTUALLY exist… kinda like Seal Team Six… oh wait, they made a movie…

That’s it

Some of you may already know about these discounts and that’s great, but there are thousands of soldiers, airmen, and marines (sigh… and coast guard too) who don’t. I hope there was something in this post that helped you save some money. I encourage you to spread the word about these deals and discounts to your fellow service members to return the favor. Please comment below if you have any questions or if there are any MAJOR deals/discounts that I did not include.

You’re Welcome