Fort Belvoir, Va. (June 26, 2014) - U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir's command team; members of Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation leadership; and construction contractor officials broke ground at Graves Fitness Center, Monday to mark the building of the Resilience Obstacle Course.
The project, coordinated by USAG Fort Belvoir Headquarters Battalion to support Fort Belvoir and the U. S. Army resilience centered fitness and training program, will be completed by Northeast Construction, Inc. under the leadership of David Cheon, NCi president; Scott S. Lee, NCi vice president; and David Lussier, project manager.
The obstacle course, which will include tunnels, a ledge walk, balancing logs, a climbing wall and several other challenges, is intended to enhance the resilience program on post by offering servicemembers a unique and challenging new way to stay Army Strong, according to Lt. Col. Brian P. Zarchin, USAG Fort Belvoir HQ Bn. commander.
"This is a great day because we're finally breaking ground on something that's been in the works for almost a year here -- the Resilience Obstacle Course," he said. "The intent and vision for this course is to have an outdoor classroom to get the resilience training that Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Tucker, Master Resilience Training program lead, does out in the open where you can reinforce those resilience skills with a hands-on experience, instead of just a PowerPoint presentation. The course is centrally located here (next to Graves Fitness Center) with MWR's fitness facilities all around us and we hope to get a lot of business.
"Maj. Geoffrey Earnhart, USAG Fort Belvoir HQ Bn. operations officer, came in some time ago, took our rough plans and sketches and made them into a reality, so he's responsible for making this happen," Zarchin added.
"The course has seven obstacles -- a combination of team and individual obstacles -- and it's accessible to pretty much all ages," Earnhart said. "It's not so physically demanding that Boy Scouts can't run it; it's there for Soldiers, civilians, anybody. It's there so Master Resilience Trainers can bring the skills they're teaching in a classroom setting out here, hands on, so people can run the course and feel those resilience competencies."
USAG Fort Belvoir Commander Col. Gregory D. Gadson and USAG Fort Belvoir Command Sgt. Maj. Scott E. Guillory attended the groundbreaking event and spoke briefly about the importance of the new course and how it will add to the already extensive array of physical fitness opportunities available on post.
"I'm glad to see this project come to light. I think it's going to be a great thing for resilience and I think the Soldiers are really going to enjoy it," Guillory said. "Civilians will be able to use it as well, so I also think it will be a great thing for the community as a whole."
"This is all about teamwork," Gadson said. "This has been a unique project and we've had so many of our directors involved and providing input. It's a testament to teamwork, but really to our commitment to the community here. We thought long and hard about what our community can benefit from. We weren't willing to simply fall in line and take the low ground, but rather push the limits and find out how to make a difference. Lt. Col. Zarchin and (USAG Fort Belvoir HQ Bn.) Command Sgt. Maj. (Carolyn M.) Reynolds, were really the horsepower behind this, along with the hard work of many more.
"It echoes what leadership with vision can do to make things happen," Gadson added. "It doesn't happen by accident, it doesn't happen just because someone wished it would. It takes dedication and our people have that. Everybody here should be proud of this and I'll certainly be around when it opens."
Bill Sanders, Directorate of Public Works director, and Christopher Landgraf, installation master planner with DPW, are heading the project from the installation's side, and Kim Mills, Fort Belvoir DFMWR director, and Sheila Edwards, Fort Belvoir sports director, will oversee its use.
For more information regarding the Fort Belvoir Resilience Obstacle Course, call Edwards at (703) 805-4382 or visit www.belvoirmwr.com.
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