Even though many commercial health club owners have slowed construction and expansion projects, the United States government continues to invest in physical fitness facilities for members of the armed forces.

“We probably haven't seen the same decline [in funds] as commercial facilities,” says Lisa Sexauer, fitness, sports and deployed forces commander, Navy Installations Command Fleet and Family Readiness.

For instance, the Army recently awarded a $23 million contract for construction of a new fitness facility at Fort Carson, CO. The design-build project will host multiple fitness areas, a gym, an indoor pool, locker rooms and administrative space. In addition, a $92,000 contract for fitness equipment was awarded for the facility. Funding for the project was approved in 2008 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year (FY) 2009, which ran from Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009.

Fort Carson was one of 10 fitness center military construction projects contracted in FY 2009 (see related sidebar at www.clubindustry.com). Another 71 fitness center construction projects are programmed through FY 2014, according to Arthur Myers, Department of Defense (DoD) principal director of Military Community and Family Policy, who testified at a House Subcommittee on Military Personnel hearing in July. Myers also said the DoD has long-term plans to modernize its fitness infrastructure.

Last month, the military's Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Policy Office announced plans to work with service fitness program managers to improve DoD fitness facilities, programs and services. The long-term effort will work to accurately capture costs for fitness facility sustainment, modernization and operations so they can be included in annual budget requests.

The MWR office also contracted the Council on Accreditation to help review and summarize research and best practices for DoD, public and private physical fitness standards, including those for programming, training and staffing, in an effort to improve military fitness programming.

BUDGETS AND BILLS

As part of a military-wide effort to better support troops and their families, the FY 2010 DoD budget has baseline funding allocated for family support projects, which include funds for fitness centers through MWR programs.

“Our nation is understandably weary after six years in Iraq and eight years in Afghanistan,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a gathering of the Association of the United States Army in early October. “Easing that strain and getting the troops what they need drove many of the changes reflected in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget. The base budget we submitted earlier this year includes $9 billion for family support: child care, spousal services and housing, among others. Perhaps more important, we shifted funds from supplemental war bills to the base budget.”

Of the $9 billion requested for family support in the FY 2010 budget, $1.2 billion was earmarked for MWR programs.

At the Congressional subcommittee hearing in July, Myers requested an extension of a law authorizing funding for minor, quick construction on quality of life projects, such as fitness facilities and day care centers. Since the original, temporary funding authority expired in FY 2009, Myers requested that it be extended to FY 2012.

Even though money is budgeted for military construction projects during one fiscal year, it doesn't necessarily mean funds will continue to be available in following years, Sexauer says.

“As of right now, in 2012, 2013 and 2014, we have five new construction projects on the list, but the budget is also subject to change,” Sexauer says of Navy fitness projects. “Things can get pushed aside as priorities shift.”

For now, though, Sexauer says the chief of naval operations indicated that the Navy's Category A programs, which include fitness facility upgrades, are core programs that will be preserved within budget allowances.

Other sources for military fitness funding include the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was signed into law in February. It provides for more than $4.3 billion in funding for infrastructure improvements and renovations to DoD facilities, including family housing, barracks and other quality of life buildings, such as fitness facilities and day care centers.

Another law currently under consideration in Congress also would fund fitness facility construction. The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act of 2010 would allocate $132 billion in funding for veterans' benefits and military construction projects. Construction projects include new barracks, fitness facilities and day care centers.

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 415-3 during the summer and awaits a final vote in the Senate.

The veterans' act would continue funding from 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) report recommendations, which provided billions of dollars for base closures, as well as structural improvements to bases scheduled for troop increases.

AGING INFRASTRUCTURE

So why have domestic quality of life facilities become a focus for a military engaged in wars overseas? Building age is one reason, Sexauer says.

“From a Navy perspective, we have a much greater hill to climb than commercial fitness facilities. Many of our buildings are 50 plus years old,” she says.

Next Page: NAVY, MARINE CORPS INVESTING IN FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

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