Memorial Day event recreates Lone Survivor heros grueling Navy SEAL workout: Very moving

They’re a force to be reckoned with.Hundreds of military members and Long Islanders took part in a grueling, emotional event Saturday to commemorate the extraordinary grit of Navy Lt.Michael Murphy, a slain SEAL from Patchogue whose heroics were worthy of Hollywood.Participants of the annual Suffolk County gathering took on the punishing workout routine of the 29-year-old Navy SEAL, who was killed in action in 2005, deliberately sacrificing himself to Taliban gunfire to call in reinforcements during a famous mission portrayed in the Peter Berg film “Lone Survivor.”“It’s a 1-mile run followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, capped off with another 1-mile run,” said former SEAL Kaj Larsen, who was Murphy’s roommate during Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, or BUD/S, to The Post.“To do it at the full expression of the Murph, you do it wearing a 20-pound bulletproof vest,” Larsen said.Larsen and Murphy, who Taylor Kitsch portrays as a main character in the 2013 flick, first concocted the daunting exercise on their base in Coronado, Calif.

Larsen, now 47, re-enacted it Saturday along with nearly 350 other people at the LT Michael P.Murphy Navy SEAL Museum in Sayville, running his first mile with an American flag in hand in honor of his dear friend.“I know if Mike were down here, we’d be right next to each other, pushing ourselves, seeing who could win,” said Larsen, who knew many of the other 18 service members who perished along with Murphy during “Operation Red Wings” in Afghanistan in late June 2005.Since the museum opened in 2022, the annual Memorial Day Weekend event has exponentially increased in local popularity, according to Executive Director and former SEAL Chris Wyllie.He noted that one woman flew in from Italy just to do “The Murph” challenge.“My big focus is making this an emotional experience that’s so positive and fun that people want to come back and want the news to spread,” Wyllie said.For M...