My CrossFit Friends & Family,
First, I would like to apologize if I unduly alarmed anyone regarding the closing down of CrossFit Camp Pendleton's Warehouse. I should have listened to my intuition and collected the facts first, before I made, or accepted, any suggestions that it had been unceremoniously shut down.
I just got off the phone with Maj Mike Fitts, who I left in charge of carrying on the CrossFit legacy at the School of Infantry (SOI), Camp Pendleton, California. Mike has been involved in all the leadership decisions at SOI regarding the future of CrossFit Camp Pendleton. Here is what he told me about what is going on with CrossFit Camp Pendleton and the closure of The Warehouse:
• We knew all along that The Warehouse was a condemned building and that it would be shut down one day. Before I left SOI in June of 2008, I made Mike promise that he would ensure the survival of CrossFit Camp Pendleton.
• The time has come, and The Warehouse is about to be demolished. All the original CrossFit gear/equipment from CrossFit HQ at Santa Cruz was carefully placed in two large Quad-con's for safe storage and moved near the new Martial Arts facility at SOI.
• The current Commanding Officer of SOI, Col Byrne, made a decision to use $75K in MCCS discretionary funds that were awarded to SOI in order to build an outdoor functional fitness pavilion. To his credit, Col Byrne could have used this money for any number of initiatives, but he recognized the importance of CrossFit training to the Marines at SOI. Maj Mike Fitts was involved in this decision.
• The new functional fitness pavilion will be built on the site of an old basketball court on the west side of the enlisted barracks at SOI and near the new Martial Arts facility. This pavilion is expected to be ready by the end of January 2010, and is where hundreds of Marines will continue to benefit from Coach Greg Glassman's generous gift of CrossFit equipment from the original CrossFit Santa Cruz.
Maj Mike Fitts will stay on top of the transition to the new facility and ensure the continuation of the CrossFit Camp Pendleton legacy at SOI. I appreciate everyone's concern. Let me assure you that The Phoenix will rise again and help prepare Marine warriors for combat for many more years to come!
Semper Fi,
Daniel Hunter Wilson
LtCol USMC
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CrossFit Camp Pendleton's Affiliate Team | 2010 CrossFit Games