The Army has canceled a memo that would have directed a defense contractor to cease providing ping-pong and other “recreational activities other than sports and fitness” for soldiers at Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring, Kuwait, said Lt. Col. Christina Wright, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Central Command.
“All activities remain in place,” Wright told Task & Purpose on Monday, in response to a query about the letter of technical direction, or LOTD. “The purpose of the LOTD was to relook what redundant activities contractors were required to provide in addition to existing services.”
A copy of the April 14 memo was posted on Reddit more than a week ago. The unsigned document appeared to be a letter from the Army’s regional contracting center in Kuwait to Vectrus Systems Corporation in Colorado.
The company is one of four contractors selected by U.S. Army Sustainment Command in 2019 to “provide essential logistics support services to forces in the field” under a 10-year contract, according to the Army.
“The purpose of this LOTD is to cease conducting recreational activities other than sports and fitness,” the document says. “Recreational activities to cease include Bingo, 9-Ball, Jenga, board games, cards, ping pong, dominos, and video game tournaments, as well as carnivals, line dancing, karaoke and arts and crafts. Armed Forces entertainment does not apply to this LOTD. This applies to activities on Camp Arifjan and Camp Behring.”
But on Monday, Wright told Task & Purpose that the memo had been canceled last week.
No information was immediately available about why the Army had changed course on banning the games. The original document posted on Reddit said it was meant to “Follow the Secretary of Defense guidance to focus on warfighting.”
When asked if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed that all recreational activities for troops be directly related to sports and fitness, a Defense Department spokesperson referred questions to the Army.