Civil Engineers save Air Force thousands winterizing fitness center

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Robert Barnett
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  The Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, is preparing for winter. As always, one of the major concerns is minimizing the financial costs while keeping military members comfortable and healthy. To do so, the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron is working a winterization project.

"This project is costing around $17,000," said 1st Lt. Austin Fritzke, 376th program manager deployed out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and a native of Dayton, Ohio. "We estimate that it'll be saving anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 annually. It'll pay for itself within winter, which is nice. It just makes fiscal sense."

The main benefit will be keeping everyone warm, he said.

"We're putting up fiberglass insulation," said Airman 1st Class Chad Chapman, 376th structural engineer deployed out of Altus Air Force Base, Okla., and native of Shelton, Wash. "It will keep it warm in there; last year you could see your breath inside the building. In the annex, we had to put Alaskan insulation liners on top of it for protection from the volleyball games. We may do the same for the basketball area of the main gym."

The project is scheduled to be completed sometime next week.

"It's going to raise the morale and well-being of all the users of the fitness center," Fritzke said.