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Working Gym
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National Guard Bureau CAMP DOHA, Kuwait (10/12/2004) — A warehouse that looks like many of the other brown concrete structures at this military compound in Kuwait attracted Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class John Banks like a magnet in late September. Banks just had to get inside building No. 8, before proceeding to Iraq, to check out the gymnasium he had brought to life for American service members about 12 years earlier – during the months after Operation Desert Storm. The free weights and the blue steel exercise equipment that Banks had ordered for the facility in 1992 were still there. They were still being used by Soldiers and others taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The basketball court and volleyball courts were being played on each day by men and women determined to stay fit and busy during their off-duty hours, and there were three racquetball courts where there had originally been two. Furthermore, the place had air conditioning and modern bathrooms with lockers and showers and modern cardiovascular exercise equipment. John Banks was satisfied to see that the time, and the money, he had put into the facility during his first tour of duty in Southwest Asia, when he was a buck sergeant from Illinois, had not been in vain. “I can’t believe how much it’s grown. It makes me feel like I’ve made a contribution to the people serving over here,” said Banks, 47, about the gym that, he was told, is used by about 1,000 people each day. As many as 500 were working out there when Banks left in 1992 after spending his spare time working on the project for about seven months, he recalled. His orders were pretty basic. “The camp commandant told me, during Operation Silent Watch, to build a gym to give our Soldiers something to do. He gave me $250,000 to order the equipment, to make it happen,” said Banks who knew how to order the equipment because he was one of the logistics NCOs at the camp. “I’d work eight hours at my job. Then I’d work another eight hours at the gym,” added Banks who said two other sergeants helped with his additional duty. He wound up spending about $400,000 for the gym and he oversaw the construction of the basketball and volleyball and racquetball courts, explained Banks who believes the money was well spent. “Back then there was nothing for the Soldiers to do but work. I can’t believe how much these camps do now to care for the Soldiers, Banks said. “Some of the exercise equipment I ordered did not arrive until a year or two after I left,” he added while standing amidst dozens of blue manual machines designed to strengthen legs and arms and chests. “Look at it. It’s 10 or 12 years old. It’s not as high speed as some of the stuff they have now, but it’s still good stuff.” He also savored the satisfaction of having had the last word. “When we started this, we didn’t have running water or bathrooms or air conditioning,” Banks related. “All we had were ice chests for water and portable toilets outside. And people laughed when I put in a requisition for air conditioning. ‘That will never happen’, they told me. “Well, you know what?” he added. “They put in air conditioning a couple of years after I left.” Last 10 Stories |
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2004 National Guard Bureau |
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