December 16th, 2016 By Buckwheat

8 men weren’t skeered of the cold and posted at Tradition for a RED Friday beatdown honoring Naval Special Warfare Operator 1st Class SEAL Jason Dale Lewis who was K.I.A. on 07/06/2007 while conducting combat operations near Baghdad when an IED exploded under his humvee. Lewis was survived by his wife and three children. Also killed in this incident were Master Communications Specialist First Class Robert McRill and Cryptologic Technician First Class Steven Phillip Daugherty.

It was….. COLD. 20 degree start temp. No FNG’s were present, but one #kotter deemed FOG (Friendly Old Guy – Thanks Guinness!) named Gazebo was present. Great to see you back out this week, brother. We’ve missed you! Thorough disclaimer made with the caveat that today’s beatdown would be simple, but effective. Here’s how things went down:

Short mosey around the lot, parking lot shuffle, to warm-o-rama COP.

Warm-o-Rama
SSH X22IC
IST X22IC
Mericans X22 (single count) The pax sensed a pattern. More to come on the symbolism of 22 below.
Windmill X10IC
Cotton Picker X9IC (meant to do 10, oops).

Let’s get after it!

Almost 1/2 mile run down to Prosperity Crossings Office Park. Grizzly and Guinness crushed the run. #1 also got after it here. Grizzly and Guinness did a loop around the office park waiting for the six while #1 did 1/2 of the loop.

The Thang:

100 Air Squats
5 Muscle ups
75 Air Squats
10 Muscle ups
50 Air Squats
15 Muscle ups
25 Air Squats
20 Muscle ups

That’s all…… While it doesn’t appear to be a lot, doing 100 Air Squats right out of the gate was ROUGH. Everyone concentrated on form this morning and did nice, deep squats. Grizzly destroyed it, with Jelly close behind. Everyone got through it, with our legs wobbly at the end. The almost half mile mosey back to Tradition was… difficult as our legs felt like jello.

Once we arrived at Tradition, we did 20 incline mericans on the curb followed by 22 LBC’s. 22 decline mericans on the curb followed by 22 W’s. 22 3 o’clock mericans followed by a quick breather. 22 6 o’clock mericans were last up. We were all SMOKED after this. Grizzly called me a jerk for adding the mericans. Thanks, Grizzly, I’ll take that as a compliment.

Brief conversation about Petty Officer First Class Lewis was held. YHC then explained the symbolism for 22 reps today. According to research conducted by our F3 Brothers in Greenwood, SC, 22 military personnel commit suicide each day. Prayers were lifted to all servicemen and former servicemen and their families who are dealing with PTSD, depression, and other mental illnesses that lead to suicide. Prayers were lifted for our VA system to improve the quality of services available to our soldiers. Prayers were also lifted for our community to end the senseless violence, particularly all of the shooting incidents around town yesterday. YHC got so caught up in this discussion, I forgot to count off and do name-o-rama. My bad, men!

It was a pleasure to lead this morning. I like the purpose behind these RED Friday beatdowns and hope we sustain this on the regular.

Have a great day, men! Think of me when you get up and down from your chairs at work ;-).

#REDFriday, Tradition

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