Eric Noble has served this country for 12 years. After five combat tours he was medically retired with a traumatic brain injury due to a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2007. Noble requires physical and occupational therapy due to his orthopedic and head injuries but when he and his wife Laura returned home to Rome, he was denied access to the Coliseum Fitness Center at Griffiss which is run by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRl), Defense Finance and Account Service (DFAS) and  Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS).

Eric Noble
Eric Noble
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"We love this city. What we don't love is the treatment of our retirees at The Colosseum. Retirees are not allowed, we were told. How could this be? Only active duty, DFAS, and Research Labs allowed entry," says Laura. "I cannot understand how a soldier can dedicate his entire life to his country, deploy, shed blood, be left with an entire lifetime of debilitating injuries, but can't use the countless facilities at the gym." Laura has started a petition to allow all military veterans access to the fitness center at Griffiss after she was told the issue comes down to funding and where the money comes from. "I refuse to accept this answer," says Laura. "The Fitness center is full of top-of-the-line equipment, saunas, racquetball and basketball courts, rock wall, golf simulator, batting cage, yoga/meditation room, and many other amenities too numerous to list. Why are we sinking millions into a facility that sits nearly empty everyday? Every base gym in this country allows retirees. Not here. That is a disgrace." Eric Nobel has 5 deployments, a Purple Heart, and 12 years of dedicated service. "A disabled vet. A phrase that should evoke gratitude," says Laura. "There are others like him in this city who should be allowed the basic right to use a facility that will help them in their recoveries."

Laura Noble
Laura Noble
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Eric's therapy requires machines that are not available anywhere else and Laura says she refuses to sit idly by and accept an excuse like 'funding' as the answer. "Rome is a good city full of good people. I know once people see this matter is bigger than "just a gym," they will stand up and do the right thing." Noble is hoping people will sign a petition to allow retirees the use of the Colosseum Fitness Center, which is a decision made by the federal government.


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