Comprehensive Airman Fitness: A year in review Published Sept. 8, 2011 By Hailey Reneau 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Mental, physical, social, and spiritual health--these are the pillars by which Comprehensive Airman Fitness is achieved. Since CAF was first implemented, Fairchild Air Force Base has been making great strides in utilizing CAF grants to fund programs aimed at bettering the lives of both Airmen and their families in the Fairchild community. "Comprehensive Airman Fitness is all about improving quality of life," says Airman and Family Services Flight Chief Janna Keller. This past year, she oversaw the implementation of three grants, specifically aimed at the mental, social and physical pillars. One of the grants overseen by Keller was a $50,000 allocation to resurface the Youth Center's gym floor. Keller says that the gym provides many recreational programs that provide social and physical outlets for Fairchild youth. "This was a project that we had wanted to do for a while. Through CAF funds, we were finally able to make this a reality. Two additional grants allocated funds for computers for the Child Development and Teen Centers ($25,000 and $20,000 respectively). "These computers are a great asset to the community," Keller said. "In addition to providing upgraded systems for educational software, these computers will help facilitate enhanced communication between children and their deployed parents." Keller explained that by providing this essential link between families, Fairchild is providing a much-needed support system to improve mission readiness overall. Another distributor of CAF funds for Fairchild was John Gahagan, Fitness Center director. This past year his major activity was overseeing AMC approval of a $350,000 grant to construct a new football field and running track. Construction projects, athletic teams, and educational programs also received funding this past year, totaling more than $74,000. While final purchases are still in progress, 90 percent of the funds have already been spent and more items are on the way. Among these funds was a $7,200 grant to purchase additional bleachers for athletic areas. "The hope is that the bleachers will provide additional seating at events to encourage attendance," Gahagan said. Adding to the goal of increased athletic participation, Fairchild received $10,000 for the intramural sports program and $25,000 to expand the varsity sports program. The intramural sports funds were mainly used to ensure adequate sports equipment and uniforms. Gahagan explained that the ultimate goal is to have enough supplies to increase the capacity for varsity to include male and female soccer, volleyball and softball participation. "So, say if some airmen wanted to check out some softballs to throw around at a squadron picnic, theoretically we'd be able to provide that" he said. As for the varsity program, Gahagan says that while the funds would be used primarily to pay for uniforms and equipment, his goal is to ultimately expand the program to include more sports. "Right now, we just have varsity soccer and softball leagues. I'd really like to add a volleyball league as well. In the community, with our soccer league, we feel that athletics is an area where we could really strengthen both the social and physical aspects of CAF." Other CAF funds that have been implemented on the local level included equipment to improve the Fitness Center. Purchased items include new tibia machines, to help prevent shin splints (tibia machines are one prevention means, but do not prevent shin splints, only help to prevent them), new play mats and giant Lego sets for the family area and new fitness balls to checkout in place of traditional office chairs. "When it comes to CAF the goal of the fitness center is ultimately to promote a fitness culture to support and develop both physically and socially healthy individuals," Gahagan said. When it comes to Comprehensive Airman Fitness, Fairchild understands above all else that CAF starts and ends with the community as a whole. In other words, it's not enough just to strengthen the Airman, but to ensure they are provided with a support system that will sustain them while performing their jobs with all the excellence that the world has come to expect from the United States Air Force.