The Murph

I won’t say I was nervous about being the Q today, but I wanted it to be good. I wanted it to be memorable. I wanted to say something that would be worthy of the reasons we gathered today for The Murph. I realized during my preparation, nothing I could say would be worthy of the lives of those we would be remembering today. I could, however, make sure it was worthy of your time getting up and coming out on a rainy morning to honor those men and women who gave everything so I could live in a country where I could put on a pair of clean socks this morning, stop by the Harris Teeter and get some water for this workout, and park my car in a parking lot with 30 + men who got out of the fartsack to bust their butts with me. A country where I can complain about having to wait in line for a drink and that is the worst part of my day, and hopefully I realize that waiting in line for a drink is really not worth complaining about. We have it pretty darn good here in the USA and every once in awhile we need something like The Murph to remind us of that.

I started by calling on Roadie to clarify the difference in Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day-look it up if you were not there. Roadie nailed it and I am sure there were others out there like me that maybe a week ago, may not have been able to tell you the difference. I talked a little about who Murph was, but really wanted the guys out there to look that up and learn on your own-there is plenty of info out there on the internet to fill you in on the details. I wanted to share the end of a book I got from Stroganoff called With The Old Breed. This book by E.B. Sledge describes his experience in the Pacific Theater during part of WWII. This book helped form the basis for the HBO mini-series “The Pacific.” Reading this book will open your eyes to a small part of what the military went through on Peleliu and Okinawa. To quote an article I found on the internet, “On Okinawa, Sledge and his fellow Marines fought in mud-mud that gave them trench foot and was often thick with maggots, rotting bodies, flies, and feces. Each battle was an ordeal, a fight against a fanatical enemy that was dug in and determined to fight to the last man.”

I read the last few paragraphs of the book this morning then gave the book to Roadie for him to read so I can’t quote everything I read. I did find part of what I read online: “War is brutish, inglorious and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other.”

As a non-military man over age 25, I don’t know that I will ever fully understand what the above paragraph means. I can, however, appreciate that it truly sucked worse that anything that I have ever gone through (including BRR). I can make sure I am appreciative of the sacrifice that others have made, and I can make sure my kids do the same. I was able to do this with my kids (thanks Mayor) this past week watching the Honor Flight return at the airport. If I can help some of my brothers down this road also, I will be satisfied.

We said the pledge. We did a (sort of) disclaimer. We did NOT do a warmup, then we did The Murph. We then joined the 6 on his final mile as a group, which was my favorite part. It was not planned-it just happened that way. Great way to end the workout guys-together.

We then named our 3 FNGs and went for coffeteeria after a quick prayer. Later this morning I taught my youngest 2.0 the difference in Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day while I waited in line for some food with a smile on my face.

thanks for being my brother and keeping me on track-Whoopee