Kate Walkup

It was around 2012 in a recovery unit in San Diego, Calif., when Faustino Alonzo, a recovering Marine, recognized Melissa Alonzo, a recovering Navy Corpsman, after the two had met about five years earlier. 

Even though Faustino and Melissa—now business owners who are the parents to three beautiful kids—didn’t see each other much throughout those five years between deployments, the connection they made in 2012 led them on a life adventure that would take them to the place where they are today. 

Finding his passion for health and wellness 

Growing up, Faustino wasn’t very into sports. He was just a normal kid who liked to rollerblade and try cool tricks like jumping off curbs and railings. It wasn’t until his family moved from Los Angeles, Calif., to Woodburn, Ore., right around his fifth-grade year when he discovered a love for sports and a passion for a healthy lifestyle. 

By the time Faustino was in seventh grade, his family had found a home in Canby, Ore. He and some buddies from school thought wrestling seemed interesting, so they decided to see what it was all about. The seventh-graders didn’t know much about the sport, but what they did know excited them. 

Around the time Faustino was starting high school, his family moved again to Gervais, Ore. At that point, he didn’t have many friends since he was living in a new town and going to a new school, so he decided to follow one of his neighbors to football practice to see if he could make some connections there. 

From wrestling to football, Faustino had realized that being active and focusing on health and wellness was something that he was passionate about and wanted to continue after he graduated high school, entered the workforce, and began a career. 

A childhood before becoming a Navy Corpsman 

Melissa grew up all over Southern California. From Los Angeles to Riverside County to the Inland Empire, her family moved around the greater Los Angeles area throughout her childhood. Growing up, Melissa played mostly soccer, as her dad was a soccer player and her uncle had played in the World Cup back in the 1970s. 

By the time she graduated high school, the question arose of what she would do next. 

Joining the Navy became the answer 

Melissa originally wanted to become a Marine because her ROTC commanding officer was one, but he encouraged her to become a Navy Corpsman. 

As a Hospital Corpsman Second Class in the United States Navy, Melissa acted as a medic who served alongside the Marine Corps. The Marines don’t have medical providers, so the Navy makes sure they have a team of medics to travel with them. Melissa was fortunate enough to be stationed in Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif. She was stationed there for eight years. 

In addition to her training in emergency medicine and trauma as well as working as an EMT at Camp Pendleton, Melissa was also deployed three times—twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Throughout her time overseas, Melissa cared for many injured individuals and saw tragedies on a daily basis.  

In 2011, Melissa was medically retired for multiple reasons. 

The path to becoming a Marine 

Faustino transitioned to motor vehicle operations, which was the bulk of his career as a member of the United States Marine Corps, but his specific job title was a Recovery Operator. He was deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan in the early 2000s. 

When Faustino was first deployed to Iraq, he wasn’t prepared to be deployed that quickly, but being a risk-taker and up-for-anything type of guy, he accepted the deployment happily. 

Faustino’s 2007–2008 deployment was the most impactful and most taxing deployment on his mental health. Unlike the others, Faustino and his troops didn’t engage the enemy. During his first deployment, they never moved in the light—only under the cover of darkness. However, during this deployment, they moved in the presence of daylight. 

The third and final deployment for Faustino was from 2010–2011 in Afghanistan. By then, the fighting had picked up significantly. He experienced his first war, which was called Phantom Fury—the second battle of Fallujah. 

Becoming medically retired 

Melissa’s main reason for retirement was post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a common reason for retirement. In addition to PTSD, Melissa also suffered from several physical injuries, including injuries to her back and shoulders. 

During her rehabilitation process, Melissa was introduced to two things that would ultimately change her life. 

CrossFit and Gunner. 

Melissa started training with her therapy dog, Gunner, in 2011 before officially medically retiring from the military the next year. Freedom Dogs—a nonprofit organization that helps wounded members of the military—helped her tremendously throughout her recovery journey. From helping her start school, to going with her to classes, to assisting her during doctor’s appointments, Melissa credits much of her recovery to Gunner and Freedom Dogs. 

After training with Gunner for a while, Melissa eventually had to transition to life without him by her side. Although Gunner was Melissa’s service dog for only a short period of time, his impact on her life was significant and his name still lives on today in her personal and professional life. 

The alignment of their paths 

Although Faustino and Melissa had met around 2007 at Camp Pendleton, they didn’t really get to know one another until 2012 when Faustino saw Melissa walking down the hallway at Wounded Warrior Battalion West in Oceanside, Calif., where they were both recovering. She was walking a dog, which was unusual, as active duty military personnel rarely have service animals. 

After reaching out and getting to know Melissa, the two started dating. However, Faustino was still trying to return to full duty after being placed in the recovery unit after suffering a brain injury.

Two traumatic brain injuries and still reluctant to retire 

After being sent to a hospital and getting assessed, Faustino was recommended for medical retirement, but he didn’t want to take it. He wanted to keep fighting, so he convinced his doctors that he could run and shoot—the two things you have to be able to do in order to be approved to return to the armed forces after injury. 

In 2015, Faustino was medically retired due to two traumatic brain injuries. 

Discovering a new sport 

Although one door was closed, another one opened when Melissa was introduced to CrossFit and Faustino eventually got roped into the sport as well. 

Through her time as a Navy Corpsman, Melissa spent hours and hours training in a CrossFit-like atmosphere, but instead of lifting barbells and kettlebells, she carried around ammo cans and dummies. 

Immediately, Melissa fell in love with the style of CrossFit after being introduced to it during her time at Wounded Warrior Battalion West and started to enjoy barbell-lifting more and more. She saw CrossFit as a way to keep the military part of her alive even though she had closed that chapter of her life. 

After a while, Melissa decided it was time for Faustino to be introduced to CrossFit. 

CrossFit gyms all over the world take pride in programming “hero” workouts. These workouts are named after and dedicated to individuals who lost their lives while serving their country. Hero workouts—which are only performed on certain times of the year such as Memorial Day—are designed to be more intense and make the athletes doing the workout focus on the sacrifice that hero made. 

Eventually the soreness went away and Faustino went back to the CrossFit box. And he kept going back. 

Heading north to start a new life together 

Around 2015, Faustino and Melissa made the move from California to Oregon and called Hillsboro home for a few years. At that point, they decided that it was time to start planning to open their own CrossFit gym, so they started small within their own home. 

Once Faustino was about to become medically retired, he and Melissa started talking seriously about opening their own gym. They’d already converted their garage into a home gym and were inviting friends and family over every weekend for a community workout. The Brig is what they called their garage gym, which means “jail” in the military. 

After both Faustino and Melissa graduated from George Fox University, the reality of opening their own CrossFit affiliate started to come together. They first started by looking for the perfect location. Originally, they wanted to open their first gym in Woodburn because they wanted to reach and serve the bilingual community there. However, they seemed to always fall short in their search for a location in Woodburn. Something was always in the way, whether it be the wrong type of floors or the neighbors not wanting loud music and slamming barbells next to them. 

After so many nos, Faustino and Melissa started to doubt that they’d ever achieve their dream of opening their own gym. It wasn’t until they experienced a slight detour in the road that they could finally see a future for their plans. 

After many setbacks, it was finally time for Gunner CrossFit to open. Melissa and Faustino decided to name the gym Gunner after Melissa’s service dog who had helped her to recover from her time as a Navy Corpsman. They hosted a soft opening in December of 2019 for all of their friends and family to work out in the new space, but they officially opened their doors in January of 2020. 

Every business owner’s nightmare came true when Covid shut the world down

The couple was living their dream of owning their own CrossFit box until March hit. At the time, they had nine paying members. However, as each day of the pandemic came and went, Faustino and Melissa saw their dream that they had newly made a reality start to disappear. 

With every new safety precaution being announced and the days of isolation turning into weeks and then months, Faustino and Melissa thought that the dream they had finally built would crumble. 

From the highs of opening their new space to the lows of being shut down and everything in between, two things stayed consistent: their determination to keep their business afloat and their dedication to serving their members.

At one point, the two worried about their decision to make the gym twice the size they’d originally agreed to, but now—after being open for over three years—Faustino and Melissa have realized that they are beginning to outgrow their current space. 

When Gunner CrossFit officially opened up over three years ago, Tristan—their second child—was only a few months old. Today, as Faustino and Melissa are in the process of expanding their gym, they are also adding to their family. The Alonzos just welcomed a new baby girl into their lives, and they also recently announced that they will be expanding their gym across the parking lot to include other aspects of fitness that will be new to the McMinnville area. This extension of the gym will be called Wrecker Factory, in reference to the vehicle Faustino drove in his position as a Marine. 

From reconnecting just over 10 years ago as two wounded warriors to building a gym and a family, Faustino and Melissa Alonzo have conquered what many would say to be impossible.