Tag: Spark Plug

What Again?! Celebrating 5 Years In F3

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3/29/2014 was the first time I posted at F3 back at Ascent in Area 51.  I wanted to celebrate my 5th year anniversary by Qing in NC and SC to honor all those who have led me throughout my journey.

Thursday we decided to cut loose, foot loose and this was what happened.

We did a little warmup thang and then headed over to the Methodist church drive way.

12 Days of  Christmas in March? Yep.

So this workout is simple and easy to Q, but not easy to participate in.  Just like the song, you repeat every number every time you go up the chain.  Here’s our 12 days:

1- Run (1 lap if you’re a clydesdale, 2 if you’re speedy)
2- Turkish getups
3- Jump squats
4- LBC’s
5- Diamond Merkins
6- Imperial Walkers
7- Rosalita’s
8- Slow flutters
9- Low slow squats
10- Lunges (each leg)
11- Merkins
12- Bupees

We made it to twelve and I could sense that mutiny might be brewing so I took it down a notch and we eased into COT.

We did a little stretching and a little Mary and we were out of there.

Thanks for the chance to lead.  The chilly temperatures must’ve scared away half the pax.

Please lift up Rick from Mint Hill in your prayers who has cancer.

Shout out anything I missed.

DT out.

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Light Pole Circuits & POW POW @ The Ballroom

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***Cobains now for the 2 PAX that I missed.   You weren’t in the video and my memory “ain’t what is used to be”.

Weather was near perfect for a “Pearls on a String”- inspired workout.  Dropped the disclaimer, checked for FNGs and we were off.

Circle Up for 10 of each :

SSH

Squats

Windmill

Stretches:

Downward Dog  to Honeymooner  x 3

Runner’s Pose

Warrior Pose

Grass Grabber/Cherry Picker (neither of which are in the F3 exercises, so I am sure this is officially called something else)

Imperial Walker

Mosey to side of the school.

Rotate 20 dips / Wall Sit  – Rinse & Repeat

Run out to end of bridge and back

Stretching with :

Cat Pose (which cracked Spitz up, Big Time! Nice of him and Lug Nut to join us ! )

Hip Stretches

Mosey to light pole closest to Pleasant Rd. , Start exercises there and run to next light. As a PAX, 20 reps each, various PAX leading the count

Merkins

Slow Squat (although I think it was led at a fast pace)

American Hammer

Shoulder Tap

Lunge

Grave Diggers

Wide Arm Merkins

Calf Raises (Kenyan nearly counted us to 50 on this one!)

Flutters

Monkey Humpers

Overhead Claps

Moroccan Night Clubs

Turn around and head back down the string of lights

OH Claps

Monkey Humpers

Flutters

Calf Raises (Seriously, we had to call off Kenyan on this one. I think he was going to 100!!!   Pretty cool that we had a semi-BOM group on this one)

Wide Arm Merkins

Grave Diggers

Several exercises for 5 minutes of Mary and we ended with Airborne’s brutal hip circuit, led and strongly advocated for by Change Order!

 

I asked the PAX to take a look at themselves and determine where they could GROW (theme of the month), relative to one of the three F’s.  Also cautioned them (& myself) against tending to one of the F’s too much, this neglecting the other 2.

Ended in COT, with multiple praise & prayers. Thank you, Short Sale for the opportunity. Always humbled to lead such a group of strong leaders. Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t forget, GIVE IT AWAY. Someone else needs it as much – or WORSE – than you did!

 

SYITG –

Beacon

 

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Footloose: Fancy Free and Moderate

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23 PAX gathered in the foggy gloom (24 at COT with Polaroid joining in after he hit his miles)

Started out with a VERY clear and complete disclaimer. See the full version at: Disclaimer

Mosey towards the Church of God parking lot. Sugar Bug fell about 30 yards in…..good thing the disclaimer was so thorough. Also good thing he popped right up and continued on. Went serpentine on the COG stairs to get the PAX all back in one place after the mosey spread us out.

Warm up:
SSH x10
Merkin x10
Held Plank
forced Bomb Jacks (TWSS – Kielbasa)
Mountain Climber (slow count) x10
Held Plank
more forced Bomb Jacks (TWSS – Kielbasa)
SSH x10
IW x10
HW x10
Spiderman Merkins x10
Hip Flexer stretch (Lizard Pose)
Al Gore
Al Gore + Moroccan Night Club x10
Hooneymooner–>Downdog combination

Thang:
Partner up: Dora
100 merkins
200 squats
300 flutters

Mosey to giant wall
Wall Sit while PAX performed 5 burpees down the line

Message synopsis:
What is Moderate? What do you moderate?

Mosey back to FBC
Line up on a parking lot island:
Mike Tyson x10 –> bear crawl across to adjacent island
Rinse and Repeat

Lined up for called Lunges and Squats
Right Leg Lunge x5
Left Leg Lunge x5
Squats x5
Hold Squat w/ calf raise x5
Finished with Pigeon Lunge

NMM:

It’s an honor to lead. Lots of respectable PAX out there today. These men working on getting better in their 50s and beyond are an inspiration. They push YHC to want to be better.

Announcements:
Welcome FNG: Hardwood
Convergence: Baxter Harris Teeter 3/8
Joe Davis Run 3/9
Operation Sweet Tooth 3/30

Band Camp Dismissed

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The 2018 Fort Clave Boss 5k & Christmas Convergence

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0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.

Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.

YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.

0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.

  1. MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
  2. Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
  3. Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
  4. Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
  5. Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi

Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!

0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes

The Thang:

Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs

Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it

  1. Merkins
    1. Bearcrawl
  2. Leg Lifts
    1. Lunge walk
  3. Wide Arm Merkins
    1. Run
  4. Donkey Kicks
    1. Bearcrawl
  5. Spider-man Merkins
    1. Lunge walk
  6. Sumo Squats
    1. Run

3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps

The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable

Handoff to Maximus

Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon

  1. Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
    1. Burpees
  2. Pusher led Lunges
    1. Burpees
  3. Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
    1. Burpees
  4. Bubba Gump led SSHs
    1. Burpees
  5. 4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser

Mosey to front of school for COT:

Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!

  • 93 was the count with 4 FNGs
    • Bo Knows
    • Ferris
    • Gaylord
    • Doubtfire

 

  • We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
    • I’m honored to speak with you today;
      Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support
      Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol
      I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.

      1. I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
      2. I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
      3. I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
    • My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.

YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.

If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX

********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************

It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.

It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.

MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!

I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.

  • Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
  • 1stFQ = Royale
  • 2ndFQ = Wegmans
  • 3rdFQ = Gecko

I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.

Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!

BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.

Cake Boss

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13 at Footloose

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Good group at Footloose this morning. Got some burpees in and a few good stretches. Ran over to Church of God and found the stairs where we spent a good amount of time looking them over and examining the exterior of their fellowship center a few times. Got a good mile or so in this morning, for a Moderate group.

Spoke for a minute about finding Joy in the Christmas season. I heard Gekko’s sermon and it hit me hard that if we don’t have Joy at Christmas, when we observe the birth of our Savior, then we need to “get right.” I am HAPPY to talk to anyone who is struggling with this. The vulnerablity of the PAX at COT and BOM is an important part of F3, and why we are here.

 

Assassin

 

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Footloose for a Post 1/2 Marathon “no-running” Bootcamp

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15 PAX made it out for a not so moderate beat-down after I had a brief taper week from the Kiawah 1/2 marathon.  Went through the disclaimer and the don’t sue me stuff an off we went for a very brief mosey that lasted all but 100 yards at most.

Warmup: consisted of windmills, Imperial Walkers, SSH, Cherry Pickers and yes some Broga.  The broga turned out to be quite comical as we all tried various balance poses.  Not good.

I had everyone line up for a very long Indian run down to the COG parking lot.  PAX stayed together pretty good no stragglers or rogue running going on.

On to the thang.  I broke out a winkie from a year ago that I never used for my 49th birthday.  You can guess where this is going.  We set up 4 corners with 3 exercises at each corner.  PAX stayed together for fellowship until the pain started.  First round was 49 merkins, 98 LBC’s and 147 squats. See the pattern there?  Not good.  Slow mosey to the next corner. 49 CDD’s, 98 calf raises and 147 flutters.  Mumble chatter started getting quiet.  Corner 3 49 SSH, 98 shoulder taps, 147 LBC’s. Last corner 49 Mtn. Climbers, 98 Rosalitas, and 147 Freddie Mercuries.  Not fun.  Started with an Indian Run back to COT, but ended up being a jail break due to cars.  With 10 minutes left we did a couple of rounds of 10 count exercise and running the stairs at FBC.  More pain not fun.  Finished up with COT.

Great time had by all!  Thanks for the opportunity Beacon!

 

Bass-o-Matic Out!

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The Yard – “Is this a moderate?” In name only!!

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12 PAX and YHC arrived at The Yard for this gorgeous Saturday morning. Nothing like a double down beating early in da gloom!! At least among friends. 9 PAX for 10k run and 5 of those stayed for the double down……definitely a nap day!!

I mention friends because when I look at F3 and especially the 2nd F, I don’t think I ever had as many Friends as I do in the PAX. Grade school, high school, college and career combined can’t touch the number of guys and families I can call “FRIEND” today from the PAX.

God said Abraham was a “Friend” of his. That is powerful when you think about all the things we do as friends together and for Abraham to be called a friend of God’s. In the PAX we workout, eat together, laugh together sometimes cry together. We do crazy CSAUPS we go to church together some of us work together and we are living life together. God calls each of us Friend that choose to be his friend.

Remember everything you do Sky Q is there and wants to share in the highs and the lows and goes before you in all you do. He is your friend and is constant! Never Changing!! Always!!

The Thang:

Little mosey to see if Football field was open, but no dice. The sign with “Private Property” on it was interesting considering each of the men is paying for the field if they own a home in Ft Mill. Anyway…..

Some shuffles, high knees, butt kckers, mosey again to COP

Wind Mills, Squats, Merkins, Freddy Mercurys, Moroccan Night Clubs, 5 burpees OYO

The meat and potatoes:

2 exercises alternating between them completing the reps and going for 3 min

Here they are:

  • SSHs-10
  • Burpees-5—-3 rounds
  • Merkins-10
  • Jump Rope-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Mtn Climbers-10
  • Dips-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Squats-15
  • Curls-10
    • 5 burpees
  • Lunges -10/leg
  • Calf raises -20
    • 5 burpees
  • LBCs-10
  • Donkey Kicks-5
    • 5 burpees
  • Freddys-10
  • Partner Wheelbarrow-curb2curb
    • 5 burpees
  • Big boys-5
  • Partner Plank Hand Taps – 10

With all the burpees mixed in we ended with 55 burpees

Great work by all the PAX. The encouragement and hard work was inspiring.

Thanks Hasselhoff for the Q……as always I am humbled and honored.

Cake Boss

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Parking lots, Stairs, 4 Corners & a Couple of Thoughts

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19 Showed up to take the DRP.  After a quick disclaimer and Q check for FNGs, we were off on a slow mosey.

Warm-Up 

Slow mosey to upper portion of back parking lot of FBFM.

Windmill x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Low Slow Squat x 10

Imp Walker x 10

SSH x 15

Cherry Pickers x 10

Merkins x 10

The Thang

Mosey down to lower part of parking lot

Overhead Claps x 10

Lunge x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Squat x 10

Flutters x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 10

Overhead Claps x 25

Wall Sit , Arms High, Several 10 counts

Mosey across street, down stairs to lower lot.

4 corners with a stair climb and descent after each round

Round 1 x 10

Round 2 x 15

Round 3 x 20

Merkin

Flutter

CDD

American Hammers

Mosey to COT for Mary

Mary was Dealer’s Choice (5 minutes)

Windshield Wipers

Weezy Jeffersons

Freddy Mercurys

Flutters

Hello Dollys

NMM 

YHC asked everyone to consider whether they have a relationship with their Lord and Savior….or just their Savior. A lot of us (YHC included!!) forget the Lord part of the relationship. For Him to truly be your Lord, you must surrender all to Him and be willing to have your life disrupted for His purpose. Easier said than done. Based on the response from the PAX, this is a topic that should be discussed often.   Also, touching on the monthly theme of Presence, are we really present with our M and 2.0s?   Are we just “there” or do they really feel our “presence”?

Honored and humbled, as always, to lead such a great group of leaders.

SYITG

Beacon

 

 

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The Encore at Slowburn

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What is the Al Girdle reference? Maybe I heard it wrong, my hearing is a bit sketch (metal shows). I googled the heck out of it, and crickets … someone help a brother out next time I see you.

Lets get to it, 2 days, 2 what I hoped were moderish/noterate work outs, but it’s possible that my 100% is 50% from Gilmore-esque PAX. Either way, it was keep’em moving and mix up the exercises, I guess I’ll just keep doing it until there are no invites.

The Thang,

Mosey to the far side of Lowes, circle up, OH Claps x 15, LBCs x 15, Windmill x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Mor NC x 15, Shoulder Tap x 15, Weed Puller x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Dying Cockroach x 15, LSS x 15, Travolta x 10, 2 burpees OYO

Mosey to the other side of Lowes, circle up, CDD x 15, Richard Simmons x 10, Arm high 1/2 situps x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Scorpion DD x 12, Imperial Walker x 12, Flutter x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Mahktar N’Diayes x 10, Hillbilly Walker x 10, Heels to Heaven x 10, 2 burpees OYO

Mosey to the lot in front of Empire Pizza, 4 stop suicides, 10 reps at each stop
Scorpion DD
Scorpion DD, LBCs
Scorpion DD, LBCs, Donkey Kicks
Scorpion DD, LBCs, Donkey Kicks, Bombjacks

Line up and move from one end of the lot to the other side: Karaoke L, Karaoke R, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Moset, 50% run, 75% run, 100% run

Another round of suicides, 4 stops, 10 reps at each stop
CDD
CDD, BB Situps
CDD, BB Situps, Mahktar N’Diayes
CDD, BB Situps, Mahktar N’Diayes, Burpees

Circle up: Dog Petter x 10, Jump Squats x 10, Freddie Mercury x 10, OH Claps x 21, 3 burpees OYO, Rosalita x 10, 3 burpees OYO, Monkey Humpers x 10, Hand Release Merkins x 10 OYO, Flap Jacks x 10, Back to COT.

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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SlowBurn Send-off For Rooney

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47 pax of TheFort posted this morning to show support for #HIM Rooney, who is moving to Seattle.  Rooney has not only impacted his brothers in F3, but many of our kids through his tremendous servant leadership as a principal in our school system.  There is no doubt he will be missed here, but that sadness is somewhat offset by the knowledge that he’ll be positively impacting families out west.

In anticipation (accurately) of a large crowd, it was decided the launch point and COT would be the Empire Pizza parking lot behind Chick-fil-a.  CakeBoss opened up with a few words about Rooney, then handed off to YHC.  We started with 25 side straddle hops, then moseyed up around Chick-fil-a (to pick up any twitterless pax that didn’t get the message).  We landed back at a parking lot near our launch point.

Warmup-O-Rama

  • Windmills (10)
  • Hillbilly Walkers (15)
  • CDDs (20)
  • Flutters (20)
  • Chopsticks (20)
  • Seal Jacks (20)

Mosey to parking lot in front of Lowe’s where a few cones had been set-up. Pax asked to partner up and told we’d be doing a Dora 1-2-3.  This was the same exercise Rooney had done during his VQ, which I had the privilege of posting to (was my 3rd post, I believe) at WEP back in November of 2014.  The turn-around point for the running was about 50 yards.

  • 100 Merkins
  • 200 LBCs
  • 300 Squats

After a 10 count, we moseyed to the parking lot on the west side of Lowe’s.  Cones were set up there for some “4 Corners” action.  Each cone had two exercises listed for each round.  Pax were instruction to alternate between the 2 exercises for the appropriate round (to 10 reps of each exercise).  They were told to move to the next cone when the group at the previous cone reached them.  No count-off by 4s done…pax could just pick a cone to be their starting point (lazy pax like YHC took the closest cone). Here were the exercises:

Cone 1
  • Round 1 – Flutters <-> Freddie Mercuries
  • Round 2 – LBCs <-> Heals to Heaven
  • Round 3 – Dying Cockroach <-> American Hammers
  • Round 4 – Chopsticks <-> Plank Jacks
Cone 2
  • Round 1 – Side-step lunges <-> Imperial Walkers
  • Round 2 – Bomb Jacks <-> Lunges
  • Round 3 – Monkey Humpers <-> Squats
  • Round 4 – High Jumps <-> SSH
Cone 3
  • Round 1 – Plank Punches <-> Dips
  • Round 2 – Merkins <-> 10 second Elbow Plank
  • Round 3 – CDD <-> Moroccan Nightclubs
  • Round 4 – Alternating shoulder taps <-> Parkers Peters
Cone 4
  • Round 1 – Box Cutters <-> 10 second Superman
  • Round 2 – Toy Soldiers <-> Speed Skaters
  • Round 3 – Donkey Kicks <-> Peter Parkers
  • Round 4 – Big Boy Sit-ups <-> Inchworm Merkins

We got through 3 rounds before time ran out and we headed back to COT

Naked Man Moleskin

After the workout, a couple dozen men gathered at Chick-fil-a to share with Rooney how he has impacted us (except for Dark Helmet, who served as a one-man roasting machine).  It was beyond evident that Rooney had a deep impact on many men, their kids, and their family, as a brother and a principal.  Rooney is an inspiring individual, and his courage to respond to God calling him across the country will undoubtedly also be an inspiration to those wondering if they should act on words from the Sky-Q.

Rooney, you have been an amazing example of “giving it away” everyday here in Fort Mill.  And now we have to let you give it away to another community (on the west coast, no less!).  But one thing is for sure: the world is a better place because of who you are and what you do.  No man, student, or family is left behind, nor are they left where you find them.  Strong work, brother.  Strong work.

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