Swamp Rabbit Memorial Murph – 2015

Aye, Memorial Day. I like to think that my respect for our military service members has deepened over the years, and, no doubt, it has. I’ll admit that I was one of the chief offenders for treating Memorial Day like just another holiday until recent years. I guess it takes spending time with brothers who have served to actually bring the realities of being in Harm’s Way home. Should we live it up and enjoy a beautiful early Summer day when we can? Hell yes, we should, but we also are beholden to honor those who make such a celebration possible. I’ve gained an ever deeper respect for our boots on the ground, but, as a person who never served, it’s easy to forget (or conveniently gloss over) those who didn’t come back. Honoring the bones under the ground and those never recovered or identified is something we all could do better.

We made an attempt to do it just a little better this Memorial Day. Swamp Rabbit Crossfit played host to 27 men (with 2 FNGs) for a Memorial Day Murph.

COT

Gotta hand it to Blue Hawaii. A few minutes before start time, he read this speech from Gen. John Kelly, USMC regarding two Marines from completely different backgrounds who were lost in a suicide attack in Ramadi.

YHC followed that up with a description of the Murph, who, Lt. Mike Murphy was, and why we were doing what we were doing. We followed this with a reading of For the Fallen, which was written after WWI to honor England’s casualties. I tweaked it for America, and it read thusly:

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
America mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond America’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

We then completed the Murph:

1 Mile Run

100 Pullups

200 Pushups

300 Squats

1 Mile Run

Lots of good mumblechatter and encouragement the whole way. Even had several crossfitters pull up chairs to heckle and be the Form Police. #Tclaps to all the guys, as the Murph is no joke.

Mary

As PAX trickled in, we did a couple rounds of Mary (LBCs, Flutters, Dying Cockroaches, Rosalita) until everbody was done.

COT/BOM

• Very solemn COT, as many brought the names of fallen soldiers to be honored. We had everything from WWII to present day covered, and suffice it to say, it was a bit dusty in there. Well done to the guys for remembering these men and women who gave it all. Padre in particular made a point about how Arlington is filling up rapidly, and we’d do well to remember that in our day to day lives.
• Prayers for Scuba Steve’s family, as his Aunt passed away suddenly at age 51
• Prayers for Pledge. Wedding in two weeks (#RyTy2015Forevah) and they are still waiting on the closing of their house
• Blue Hawaii is putting together a March Madness event for next year to help raise funds for children in Africa born with cleft palate.

That’s it. Get out there and be a Better American.