Thank You for Honoring Their Sacrifice

Kendra and Cindi mid-way through the Carver workout

This week we celebrated Veterans Day the whole week by doing a different Crossfit Hero workout everyday this week. On Friday, I was honored to be asked to be a speaker for the SOMC Veterans Day celebration. My speech was short and I just wanted to remind everyone that we are still a nation at war and have been for 10 years.

Hard to believe isn't it? Maybe it isn't..because during this last 10 years, only .45% of the American population has actually served, sacrificed, and donned the uniform to protect freedom. During the past decade how much have you sacrificed? How many names of the over 6200 causalities from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do you know? The .45% statistic came from an article published by the good men over at RANGER UP. Please click HERE to read the article.

Even though only one half of one percent of the population truly knows what it means to serve and sacrifice, it's not all doom and gloom. That one half of one percent is a very special, rare, and elite breed that have learned some pretty important and valuable lessons over the last 10 years. Just as the "Greatest Generation" after WWII returned to America to volunteer, help, and build America , the "Next Greatest Generation" will be slowly returning to America's business and political arenas to correct and restore greatness.

Yes things are bad now, from our town to our country. That's because our current leaders have been too consumed with blaming one another instead of showing the courage and fortitude to fix the problem The .45% have no tolerance for such cowardliness.

I want to thank everyone at PSKC who came in this week to show their respect and honor some of those .45% by doing workouts in their honor.

Monday was the classic Murph:

Tuesday was Whitten:

5 rounds of:
22 swings
22 box jumps
400 m run
22 burpees
22 wall ball

Wednesday was "JT":
21-15-9
HSPU
Ring Dips
Pushups

Thursday was "Daniel":
50 pullups
run 400m
21 Thursters 95lb
run 800m
21 Thrusters 95lb
run 400m
50 pullups

On Friday, Veterans Day, we introduced the "CARVER" workout. CPT Derick Carver is a good friend of mine and big supporter of PSKC. To read more about Derick click HERE. The workout was sent to me by Derick and it was an example of some PT he would do with his platoon in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan. We had to make a few modifications like sub a 135lb barbell for the log and cap a 50 minute time limit, but it was wicked nonetheless and a "significant emotional event" for some. See the photo for details:

 Communication and teamwork were key for this workout.

Then finally on Saturday we had the chance to travel out to Cincinnati to go participate in a Wounded Warrior Fundraiser workout with none other than the man himself. The workout was great as we got a chance to try out some flexband training, then we ended with an awesome Strongman medley consisting of:
Odd object loading (sandbags, kegs, kettlebells)
Farmers Carry Course
Tire Flipping
Sled Dragging.

It was a great day as a good amount of money was raised for the Wounded Warrior Project. But the highlight was watching Derick do the odd object loading. See photos and video below:

Most of that stuff weighed anywhere from 100-150lbs. Pretty cool to watch him toss them around. To me, Derick is a classic example of the .45%. He has every right to be bitter and seek sympathy for the rest of his life and no one would blame him. He didn't and never will. Are things easy for him? No..but he doesn't give a shit and you won't hear him complain. He's too busy focused on doing great things. He's too busy being strong.

Continue to learn from him and draw strength from him. Everyday he draws strength and motivation from you all at PSKC.