Acting Army secretary gets a workout at Fort Benning
After more than a half hour of clawing his way through a demanding 12-obstacle course on Fort Benning early Monday morning, Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick J. Murphy stood in front of more an 100 Officer Candidate School students and admitted he was “smoked.”
“It has been a decade since I have been here doing an obstacle course, so I am smoked,” Murphy said. “Thank God I didn’t eat breakfast before PT this morning.”
But the 42-year-old acting secretary and former soldier told the current class he would be back to climb the walls, ropes and other barriers that offer functional physical training.
“I will come back and I will pass that obstacle course, every single one,” Murphy said as the soldiers completed their workout a good 42 minutes before the Georgia sun rose.
Also working out with Murphy were Brig. Gen. Eric Wesley, commander of Fort Benning and the Maneuver Center of Excellence, and Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy L. Metheny.
Wesley gave the acting secretary an A-plus.
“He is a civilian, and he didn’t have to be here,” the general said.
Murphy was seeing an important part of the Army’s work ethic, Metheny said.
“More battles are won between 0600 and 0800 than at any other time,” Metheny said, stressing the importance of physical fitness.
The acting secretary, who is at Fort Benning to be the speaker at the Best Ranger Competition award ceremony later today, briefly talked to the soldiers. He told them they are at a defining moment in U.S. history.
“I know the Marines have a great commercial, but the bottom line is this: if there is a national disaster and a governor in our country calls 911, he calls the Army; the president of the United States has an issue with Ebola in Africa, he calls the 101st Airborne Division. ISIS, Al-Qaeda, North Korea, Russia — the world is volatile and thank God the world has the U.S. Army to answer the call.”
Murphy made it clear where the Army stands in the nation’s defense.
“We are America’s varsity team,” he said. “... We don’t choose what fights we get in, we just finish the fights. They are sending us to Iraq; they are sending us to Afghanistan. No matter where we go here or overseas, we make a positive difference.
“Look at Afghanistan. It is not perfect. It is not like the Jersey shore or anything like that. But there are millions of girls that go to school right now that never went to school before in Afghanistan.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 8:29 AM with the headline "Acting Army secretary gets a workout at Fort Benning."