Pops Hero WOD – 2022-06-06

AO: The Pulpit
QiC: Flathead
Pax Count: 15
Pax List: Beetle, Buttermaker, Credit, Deputy, Flathead, Gates, Ginger Bear, Jaws, Junk Bond, Lion King, MARTA, Martina, Purple Cow, WonderWall
FNG Count: 0
Downrange: Polo (not on slack)

The Thang:

AMRAP Pops WOD for 45 minutes:

19 burpees

29 big boy sit ups (Pops born in 1929)

34 merkins (nearly 34,000 Americans killed in Korean War)

50 squats (Pops and his wife / my grandma spent $50 on their wedding)

66 flutter kicks (they were married for nearly 66 years)

20 lunges

22 monkey humpers (died in 2022)

93 side straddle hood (93 years on earth)

400 meter run

CoT:

I shared some words by Pops himself:

I dreamed of one day being able to be involved in a Big Battle in a Big War. To have a claim to a “Guadalcanal” or to a “World War I” like Ronald Adams or Bill Turner. To get to carry with me the pride of having once been a hero. But my war was aptly named “The Forgotten War.” This war is not famous for its big battles. The biggest and most well-known battle of the Korean War was the Choisin Reservoir. And that battle took place before I ever arrived in Korea. Besides Choisin, the entire Korean War was just fighting over one little hill or another.

But when there is an enemy out there, someone shooting at you, whether it’s just a little hill or the biggest mountain in Korea doesn’t matter all that much. It all amounts to the same thing when you get down to it. It becomes a personal thing. I had friends killed in Korea.

As time would have it, I was never able to be a hero in a Big Battle in a Big War, but instead was involved in forgotten parts of the Forgotten War. I finally realized the best way to look at it was to not try and be a hero in the big battles. Instead, be a person that whenever we’re called on to do something for our country, no matter what it is or whether it is a Big Battle or a little hill, we get up and do the best that we can. When we are called to do something, to do what we are trained to do, we are to do it to the best of our abilities. And pray for peace.