Photo By Maj. Bryant Wine | The Armis Gym at Clay National Guard Center in Marietta, Georgia, hosted a Memorial...... read more read more
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Soldiers, Airmen and civilian employees with the Georgia Department of Defense participated in a Murph Challenge in memory of fallen comrades May 21, 2021, at Clay National Guard Center in Marietta, Georgia. The base’s Armis Gym hosted the event to kick-off Memorial Day activities.
“The Murph Challenge is something we do every Memorial Day,” said U.S. Army Capt. Erica Morin, the officer-in-charge of Armis Gym. “We use it as a way to pay tribute to the sacrifice of so many who have fallen.”
The Murph Challenge is a functional fitness workout consisting of a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats and another one-mile run. Some participants wear body armor or a 20-lb. weight vest throughout the five events.
The exercise is named after U.S. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, who died in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, during a reconnaissance mission to find a Taliban leader. Today, the Murph Challenge has become a popular exercise regimen, especially around Memorial Day when service members and veterans put their living bodies to the test in memory of their fallen comrades.
“Sergeant Major Ryan Sator is who I run and workout for,” said U.S. Army Capt. Guy Serapion, the company commander of the 165th Quartermaster Company, 781st Troop Command Battalion, 78th Troop Command. “We lost him in Afghanistan; We were the two old men on camp, so we were close and I do it [Murph Challenge] for him.”
Clay National Guard Center’s memorial wall is within eyesight of Armis Gym where the Murph Challenge occurred.
43 plaques are enshrined on the wall in memoriam of Georgia National Guard personnel who died while supporting combat operations after 9/11. Many of the Murph Challenge’s participants knew at least one of the Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers enshrined on the wall.
The Murph Challenge is the Georgia DoD’s first of a series of events for Memorial Day.
The Georgia DoD will have a ceremony to observe Memorial Day on May 27 at Clay National Guard Center’s memorial wall.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Tom Carden, The Adjutant General of Georgia, is scheduled to speak at a Memorial Day event on May 29 in Summerville, Georgia.
The Georgia Army National Guard is scheduled to make appearances across the state on Memorial Day itself. The 116th Army Band is scheduled to perform at Memorial Day ceremonies in Smyrna and Senoia, Georgia. UH60L Blackhawk helicopters with the Marietta-based 78th Aviation Troop Command will flyover a parade in Dacula, Georgia.
The first official Memorial Day was celebrated in 1971 after becoming an official federal holiday through the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. The American tradition of holding springtime tributes to fallen service members began following the Civil War. Generations of Americans observed Decoration Day every May 30th before Memorial Day’s founding.
“Memorial Day is one of the most important ways to remember those who have gone before us and the sacrifice they made, their families have made and their teams have made,” said Morin.
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2021 11:38 |
| Story ID: | 397130 |
| Location: | MARIETTA, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 178 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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