Ordnance Company constructs a unit cross-training gym

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IRAQ

08.30.2010

Courtesy Story

103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - Making the most of their downtime within busy schedules, soldiers responsible for providing ammunition to units throughout Iraq built a gym in their motor pool to keep themselves in shape without taking time away from their important mission.

Soldiers with the 60th Ordnance Company, 110th Combat Sustainment Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), constructed a cross-training gym designed to support a variety of exercises that build up all of the important muscle groups.

Lead by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Richard Guinotte, a motor technician with the 60th Ord. Company, and a Chanute, Kan., native, the company’s mechanics began constructing the facility in the ammunition supply point’s motorpool bay when they arrived at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. They named it the “House of Shame,” a play on words from one of COB Adder’s other exercise facilities, the “House of Pain” gym.

“We used whatever we could find to make the gym and we manufactured the rest of the equipment ourselves,’’ said Guinotte.

The gym now includes pull-up bars, suspension rings, dip bars, jump boxes, and various other benches and bench press bars.

“It helps the time pass by quicker, and I am stronger now than ever before,” said Sgt. John Domanich, a mechanic and non-commissioned officer-in-charge of safety with the 60th Ord. Company, and an Oxford, N.J., native.

“[Training] is completely mental; your body can physically do it but your mind is telling you that you can’t,” said Guinotte. “I leave here every day feeling like I have accomplished something big, and that is what keeps me going.”

“The workouts usually last 10 to 30 minutes, but they are very intense,” said Sgt. Andrew Sanchez, the motor pool non-commissioned officer-in-charge with the 60th Ord. Company, and a Mojave, Calif., native.

Domanich said the soldiers prefer to do the workouts during their lunch break in their Army Combat Uniforms and boots, because it is more convenient and it’s another reason why they prefer this type of training regimen over a normal circuit training exercise program at one of the base’s other gyms.

Several soldiers have lost 10 to 35 pounds, and Sgt. Keith Kobylanski, the movement NCOIC, and a Buffalo, N.Y., native, has even exceeded that.

“I have lost 40 pounds since I began [training] in January,” Kobylanski said.

Guinotte and the rest of the unit’s mechanics and soldiers can be found working at their gym Monday through Saturday, and he welcomes anyone to come and join them for a unique fitness challenge.

• Date Taken: 08.30.2010
• Date Posted: 08.30.2010 14:48
• Story ID: 55416
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ