25 members of the Army for Good got after some #GoodLivin on a cold Saturday morning at WEP.  YHC and Private Ryan were there to provide an hour version of a GORUCK Challenge.  We talked about how a GRC is not about you but the brother to your right and the brother to your left.  We needed to think about that as we went through this exercise and try to find ways to truly live “I am Third” for more meaning and purpose in your life.  We also remembered our brother Cobra Kai who lost his grandmother this week and could not make it out to lead our group.

The Thang:

Partner up and grab one coupon per team.  Catch Me If You Can around the park (crowd pleaser!)

COP

IW x 10

Windmills x 10

Low Slow Squats x 10

Good Mornings x 10 (Pax Confused)

Mountain Climbers x 10

Parker Peters x 10

Peter Parkers x 10

Grab the remaining coupons and ranger run to the NW corner of WEP for further instructions.

First Movement:  Team Leader:  FNG  (Wait!  What?!?!  We’re really making him TL???)

14 blocks, 3 plates, and pallet.  1/2 mile to Veterans Park.  One casualty (Lil’ E – not so “Lil” when you have to carry him)

1/2 way – another man down

Almost there – another man down (Pax suddenly under heavy load)

Summary:  Poor.  Did not move together.  Missed time hack by a lot.  (You try carrying Lil E’ half a mile!)

Result:  Punishment.  Tunnel of Love and Team Bear Crawls

Second Movement:  Team Leader:  Lil’ E  (Thankfully we don’t have to carry him.)

14 blocks, 3 plates, and pallet.  1/4 mile to Church of God (shout out from Red Banjo).  One casualty

1/2 way – YHC down  (Uh-oh.  That’s a tough ask.  #HalfHippoHalfMan )

Almost there – another man down (Pax suddenly under extremely overweight load….literally)

Summary:  Slightly better than poor.  Missed time hack.  Struggled moving together.  Cadre reminds us the importance of constant communication in order to move as one team.

Result:  Luckily no time for punishment.  Need to double back to WEP for COT.

Final Movement:  Team Leader:  Can’t remember but he did a great job – sound off in comments!

14 blocks, 3 plates, and pallet.  3/4 mile to WEP.  No casualties (at the start).

1/2 way – 2 men down (luckily it was skinny people like MacGyver and Rooney)

Almost there – another man down (Pax under lots of weigh but finishing strong)

Summary:  Better!  Missed time hack by small margin but more communication and teamwork to carry the load.

Result:  Minor punishment with 3 Min of Mary.

COT

STRONG work out there by everyone.  Pax were stepping up left and right to carry the load and help out the men to their….left and right.  Constant #IamThird practice out there.  Special shout out to FNG – Road House for the HUGE step up to Team Leader on his FIRST (that’s right – FIRST) F3 Post!!!  Incredible work.  Private Ryan is an unforgiving Cadre or as the kids say these days he has “no chill”.  Another nod to the 4 brothers that were saddled with the no-so-great task of trying to carry YHC.  I apologized profusely for the toll the holiday season took on my waistline.  Welcome The Fort FNG – Poncherello.  Great to have you join us brother!

I can honestly say that gave you a fair taste of what a GORUCK Challenge would feel like.  Now just do it for 11 more hours, cover 12 more miles, in total darkness, under A LOT more weight, with a TON more PT/punishment, while getting yelled at A LOT more than you did this morning….and you’re there!  Sounds fun doesn’t it???

Announcements:  For everyone who missed Santini’s talk about Purpose in your Career yesterday – it was a great event.  The Pax are encouraged to reach out to the fantastic resources amongst your F3 The Fort/Indianland/Rock Hill brothers.  They can help you find purpose not only in your career but in your life.  They are ready and willing to serve!

Always an honor to lead such a great group of men.  Humbling to see what this Army for Good is doing for me personally and this community.  Aye!

This was not an undertaking that YHC was prepared for [sanbags]. Yes, Q knows how to lift a sandbag but no, [Q] he does not know how to teach others to lift a sandbag. After finding some internal motivation to Q this workout and mind you some blatent hesitation, YHC was also reminded of one of the greatest quotes from the battle of Normandy (also known as Operation Overlord).

“This operation is not being planned with any alternatives. This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success.” ― General Dwight D Eisenhower

The expression of “We” and not “I” held true as this quickly became a team effort when YHC introduced some new exercises, he himself was not prepared to encounter. However, there was a strong showing of men (13) prepared to do battle and came willing to undertake whatever YHC had to throw at them.

Warmup:

• 25 SSH
• 20 Mountain Climbers
• 15 IW
• 14 Windmills
• 14 Air Squats

And there off…

The Thang:

• 20 Rotational Deadlift
• 10-15 (Wherever you ended up – HARD!!!) Rotational Lunges
• 10-15 Rotational Power lunge Clean – EXTREMELY HARD!!! – Imagine picking sandbag up from your side, then going into a Cean and then stepping one leg behind the other into a reverse sideways lunge. UGH!
• 20 Squats
• 10 Overhead Press
• Maybe a few more i cant remember

Now onto the interesting part of the WO. On paper, the next idea looked to be something that the PAX would enjoy. On paper, i imagined maybe 8 PAX tops doing this – remember, 13 posted. But YHC went with it anyways because he had already planned 15 min in the WO for this.

• Stagger (diagonally) sandbags across field. Pax runs to each sand bag and snatches overhead. Ran through this twice, first time was kind of a bust because the PAX were literally walking through it. So YHC decided to COP, which included merkins, burpees, etc… to allow PAX to filter through the obstacle and not allow this to be a walking exercise but yet a running exercise.

Once that was over, the PAX grabbed their sandbags ran around Soccer field.

COP

• Forward lunges (CSPAN thought these were reverse lunges or he said something to the affect that his legs would not bend that way – old man excuse, but PROPS to him for leading the WO later that day for Run n Gun). FACT: Old men can recover.
• Squats
• Power Cleans
• Good Mornings
• Shoulder squats
• A few AB exercises with sandbags

COT – Run back to parking lot with Sandbags

There was alot of mumblechatter this day but just as General Dwight D Eisenhower said, “This operation is planned as a victory…” – and a Victory it was, no one was hurt but we all suffered TOGETHER! #f3brothers

Announcements:

• Murph this Saturday (1/31) at The Reservation
• 1/30 0600 – hear the words of the great Santini at Eternal Church – no chickin and wisdom

Prayers

• Many prayers that YHC unfortunately cannot remember but lifted up at the time