The day began as all days should, stepping off into the night for a long distance foot march through the woods……
Just kidding, a lot of people actually give me dirty looks when I mention depriving them of their precious sleep hours. But for me, I enjoy the early morning hours of each day, its peaceful silence and blatant laziness provide me comfort for what I know will be a trainwreck of a day later on.
PRE-Ruck began with a pack of 3, Grayson(Anklebiter), my Ranger Buddy Jonathan, and myself stepped off into the darkness, armed only with a headlamp. We regaled of times past, compared stories of being privates in Regiment, answered questions from AB about life in the military(he’s enlisting soon), and we enjoyed the darkened landscape that surrounded us. We took some breaks, we had some laughs, and all-in-all we walked 16.5 miles and made it back in time for the convergence.
Convergence:
I was unsure as to how many people would show up to the Convergence, especially since people knew I was the Q. I have not been silent in my opinions of how a certain Memorial Day traditional Hero WOD has been diluted, so i assume some people stayed away because of that. I completed my last Murph in the company of good friends over 4 years ago, it was then I realized that I could no longer complete the workout to standard. But it also unveiled something else, that even though I completed the work and honored our fallen, it still didnt comfort me. So i decided to come up with my own Memorial Day workouts, with meaning that I could understand. If you have had a chance to join me for a Memorial Day workout, I hope you too found meaning in it. If you didnt, I challenge you to find your own way to acheive it. This year was no different. I have thoguht about this convergence for some time now, and wanted to create something very unique and impactful to the entire effort. Thus, the 7500 was born(thank you Mr Hand for helping me name it).
The 7500
Three Teams to represent the 3 major areas of conflict in the GWOT(Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria)
Complete 5 rounds of three stations/exercises(5 to honor the branches of service involved in the GWOT)
- Flutterkicks to represent the bound hands of bureaucracy and the anguish it creates to those affected by it.
- High Crawl 50 m, Airsquats – high crawl 50 m – to remember the current and constant combat we face today, both at home and abroad.
- Buddy Carry/Bear Crawl 50 m – Raise the roofs to represent always lifting our brothers and sisters up in spirit and in action.
18 reps of each (for the number of years we have been in continuous combat)
I knew that if 30 people showed up, we would do enough reps to equal 7500(The current total of KIA for GWOT, rounded to the nearest 1/2)
we had 100 PAX.
Needless to say, we blew that out of the water. With the help of two other veteran brothers Short Pump and Lt Dan, we flawlessly* executed the mission, and paid homage to those who have spilled their blood in the name of freedom. If you were there, you know. If you werent, then I hope you found your own way to honor the fallen service members of our great country.
Once we complete the mission, we circled up for a moment of silence for the fallen, Spit Valve broke the silence with an amazing TAPS on the bugle. Short Pump and Myself sealed the event with a recitation of the Ranger Creed(I smoked myself later for messing it up).
Prayers were lifted up.
FNG’s were named.
Coffee was had.
Thank you to everyone who came out and joined me for a memorial day to remember.
I would like to dedicate this workout to my friend & ranger brother Augie Gonzalez, whos life was tragically ended on Saturday night when he collided with a parked tow truck on the highway, killing himself and his two daughters. He was a great Ranger, incredible father, and it is a tragedy that his life is over. Please pray for his wife Melissa, and his two sons Nick & Gabriel as they will need our love and support more than ever.
Oh yeah, and happy birthday to me.
Fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession,
Darby
