Triangle pool now open weekends Published June 10, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Greg C. Biondo 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- With budgets being cut across the Department of Defense many morale, welfare and recreation programs are feeling the strain. Funding for summer hires and lifeguards has been cut this year but team Keesler is ensuring that its Airmen are still able to dive in and enjoy the pool. Leadership spent many hours deciding the most fiscally responsible course of action to take to be able to support our Airmen with recreational pool services this summer. "We were thinking of creative solutions of what we could possibly do to keep the pool open. Could we increase the purchase price into the pool? Would that be feasible? It looked pretty expensive." said Lt. Col. Jonathan Wright, deputy commander, 81st Mission Support Group. Keesler was given $1 million for winning the Air Force Installation Excellence award to help quality of life services. "Leadership decided since most of the pool use is on the weekends, why not use some of the money to keep the pool open for Airmen and their families." said Tom Golden, community services flight chief. "We really get a lot of usage out of our base pool from individual swimmers who want to use it for fitness and from Air Force families who want to use if for recreation." said Wright "We wanted to preserve that resource." The options available to airmen under the MWR programs are vast but it's important to remember if we don't utilize these services we run the risk of losing them, said Golden. The Triangle pool is now open on weekends until Sept. 30, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. to include holiday weekends. During the week the Triangle pool will be closed but Airmen are encouraged to utilize the off-base options available in the local community.