Base coffee shop offers laptops

  • Published
  • By Ross Tweten
  • 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. --  Blazin Beans, the Homestead Air Reserve Base coffee shop, opens a virtual library May 22 by offering laptops for free use.

The laptops are available to sign out at the counter with free use of Blazin Beans' unsecured wireless internet connection.

The service is available to all Department of Defense identification card holders. Participants need only to show their identification card, sign a hand receipt, and a laptop will be issued. The laptops must remain inside the Blazin Beans facility.

According to Ms. Alice Fields, 482nd Director of Services, there was a need for another option for members of the base to access the internet in a convenient, reliable manner.

"People all over the base are working on their degrees and working on their professional military education," said Fields. "It's just the right thing to do, giving people another outlet to study and achieve their goals."

Currently there are four brand-new laptops available for checkout. If the laptops are used appropriately and consistently, according to Fields, the service will be expanded and more laptops may be purchased.

"We have people here every day doing professional military education and taking college courses and maybe they didn't bring their laptop or maybe they can't access a research site through the base LAN system," said Fields. "Blazin Beans offers a conducive environment for studying and quietly surfing the internet. It's a virtual world, so why not have a virtual library?"

Laptops are available to sign out on a first-come, first-serve basis during normal business hours: Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Unit Training Assembly weekends as well.

For more information about Homestead ARB's new virtual library, call the 482nd Fighter Wing Services office at (305) 224-6784.