U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) headquarters is encouraging eight subordinate organizations to take part in the 17-day Pushup Challenge along with them.
The number comes from the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual report which show the national average of suicides per day is 17. While that number dropped from the average of 22 per day in 2016, one suicide is too many.
On Sept. 9, 2024, ATEC kicked off the challenge. Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) marked the start of the challenge by steaming live from the YPG headquarters to the workforce via Teams.
YPG Commander Col. John Nelson and Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Millare kicked off the challenge by doing the first set of 17 pushups which motivated several others to get down and do those pushups. Nelson told those watching live and online, “Let’s do this and let’s raise awareness for suicide prevention.”
The challenge goes on until Oct. 2, 2024. The challenge is among ATEC subordinate organizations. ATEC is tracking the total pushups from each organization on its internal SharePoint visible to its workforce. From the home page, scroll down to the FY24 Push-up Challenge to view the current numbers.
YPG is challenging its workforce to compete against each other and group the numbers by test directorates. YPG has its own internal tracker to see which test directorate is ahead. YPG’s winners will be announced at the next mission townhall on Oct. 3.
Millare told crowd and viewers, “Always stay connected and watch out for each other.”
YPG’s workforce can get involved by scanning the QR Code on the flyer and inputting the numbers of pushups they did each day. Participants can do pushups at any time during the challenge, however, to boost participation and enthusiasm, YPG is hosting weekly push-up challenges at the ROC Atrium.
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