New sports lounge opens at Nellis Published Oct. 28, 2010 By 2nd Lt. Laura Balch Nellis Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Nellis celebrated the grand opening of the Timeout Sports Lounge located inside the Desert Oasis Club Oct. 25 Col. Steve Winklmann, 99th Air Base Wing vice commander, and other recognized personnel involved in the creation of the sports lounge performed a ribbon cutting ceremony and a beer tap pull as part of the grand opening celebration. The Desert Oasis used to be the home of the Enlisted Club, which was shut down last year in order to be transformed into the Timeout Sports Lounge. The sports lounge is open to everyone on base. It houses a fireplace, couches, 15 television screens, tables and restaurant-style booths, a bar, a popcorn machine and a game room with a pool table, air hockey table, and arcade games. The lounge also has Wi-Fi and is decorated with a variety of sports-related paraphernalia. "The inspiration for the sports lounge was to create a place for Airmen to get something to eat and to relax," said Senior Master Sgt. Bradley Behling, 99th Force Support Squadron sustainment services superintendent and emcee of the event. "So many organizations contributed in the effort to create this place. Personnel from Civil Engineering, Contracting and Communications all worked on the construction and setup of the sports lounge," he said. The Nellis Support Team and the Nevada Beverage company also contributed to the Timeout Sports Lounge in significant way. The NST donated the money that was used to purchase the television screens and Nevada Beverage donated the glasses, beer taps and neon signs for the lounge. In his speech to the crowd, Colonel Winklmann thanked all of the people and organizations who made this possible. "This project took a long time... but it was worth the wait," he said. Col. Winklmann also gave a special thank you to the two Airmen, Senior Airmen Joshua Wilkison and Robert Hicks, both radio frequency transmission systems journeymen with the 99th Communications Squadron, who set up the speaker system throughout the lounge. The Airmen volunteered to work on some of their own time in order to help complete the transformation of the lounge. "Setting up the audio system took about three weeks from start to finish," Airman Hicks said. "We wanted to get it up and running so this place would be a little more modern and sleek. Now that it's done, we will definitely come here." "When we came here with Col. Fox to begin the installation process, there was nothing, but this place has turned out so much better than we expected," Airman Wilkison added. The rest of the grand opening event included a raffle ticket prize giveaway, which occurred while attendees ate, tested out the refreshments at the bar, and watched lots of sports on the television screens. The lounge menu offers a variety of competitively priced items, from appetizers and wings to pizza, burgers, salads and sandwiches, and also offers a kids menu. Beverages include soda, iced tea, beer, and wine. The operating hours for the lounge are as follows: Monday to Thursday 4-10 p.m.; Friday 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
