Georgia Tech ROTC Dedicates New Fitness Facility

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera joined representatives of Georgia Tech’s ROTC and other members of the campus community on Nov. 8 to dedicate a new fitness facility for cadets and midshipmen.

The Lt. Tyler Brown Fitness Facility, located in the O’Keefe Building, is part of efforts to provide future military leaders with the facilities they need to prepare them for the military’s unique physical demands.

“We are, as a community, vigorously committed to honoring the legacy of Yellow Jackets who have served and continue to serve our country,” Cabrera told the gathered crowd. “We're committed to supporting our student veterans and ROTC cadets, midshipmen and airmen. We're committed to strengthening our relationships with the armed forces and growing our ROTC programs. And this new facility will help all of those commitments.”

ROTC cadets have physical conditioning needs similar to elite athletes, said Lt. Col. Bradford Morgan, professor of the practice and commander of Georgi Tech’s Army ROTC program. But existing facilities have proven difficult to use in a team context or to provide the kind of workouts future military officers need.

“ROTC started at Georgia Tech in 1917, and we really haven’t updated the physical training regimen for cadets a lot since then,” Morgan said.

“Our cadets and midshipmen are in fierce competition for the top occupational specialties with other cadets from around the nation, and physical fitness is a significant component in the rating system that determines who gets what jobs,” Morgan said.

The goal of the facility is to provide cadet-focused facilities meant to enhance functional fitness – the kind of fitness that doesn’t necessarily make you look buff at the beach but sets you up to haul 70 pounds of gear or more up the side of a mountain.

“With the Army and ROTC putting a heavier emphasis on physical fitness, this gym gives us a new place to work out other than a busy Campus Recreation Center, Stamps Field —which has minimal equipment  — or an outside gym that obviously comes with its own costs,” said Cooper Clairmont, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student.

The facility is open to all members of Georgia Tech’s Army, Air Force, and Navy ROTC units.

It is named after Tyler Brown, a 2001 Georgia Tech alum. While here, he served as president of the Student Government Association and was an outstanding Army ROTC cadet.  Following his graduation, he became a U.S. Army Ranger. He died during combat in Iraq in 2004. 

Brown spearheaded the creation of the Pi Mile campus running trail, which was later named in his memory. The College also awards the annual Tyler Hall Brown ROTC Endowment Scholarship to an outstanding cadet who exemplifies Brown’s spirit of service and commitment.

Brown’s former company commander, retired Lt. Col. Daniel Gade, was among those in attendance at the ceremony. 

“I'm laughing a little because now we have two fitness facilities here — the Pi Mile Trail and this gym dedicated to Tyler, who, according to his friend, Pete Peters, was not a natural athlete,” Gade said. “While he was athletic and tough, he had to work at those things. He had to work harder than some people, but he was strong and dedicated and made it through the very rigorous Ranger program. He would have loved the opportunity to do it here in this beautiful facility.”

Clairmont said the facility demonstrates the support of ROTC leaders and the Georgia Tech campus.

“That leads to buy-in by every level of cadet, down to the first years,” Clairmont said. “This can produce better leader and show the Army the quality of lieutenants that Georgia Tech is able to provide.”

The project was supported by a generous gift from the B and B Stern Foundation.