09/12/2026
343 — NEVER FORGET
9/11 is personal to me.
I was already serving when our country was attacked on September 11, 2001. What happened that day would help shape the next two decades of my military career—where I went, what I did, the men I served beside, and the friends who didn't all make it home.
Twenty-five years later, I want my boys to understand why we still say Never Forget.
So today, the Settle family decided we weren't just going to say it. We were going to earn 343.
The number represents the 343 FDNY firefighters who gave their lives on 9/11.
My challenge was 34,300 pounds of lifting — 100 pounds for every one of the 343.
3×10 bench at 185
3×10 seated rows at 160
3×10 lat pulldowns at 140
3×10 shrugs at 225
3×10 leg press at 270
3×10 triceps at 100
70 dumbbell curls to finish it
34,300 pounds in about 40 minutes.
It kicked my ass.
Jax had his own version of 343:
100 push-ups.
100 squats.
100 sit-ups.
43 pull-ups.
343 reps.
And then, because apparently we hadn't suffered enough, we each went out—at different places—and ran 3.43 miles.
Mimi wasn't letting us have all the fun either. She put in 3.58 miles and 8,948 steps of her own.
It wasn't easy. That was the point.
Not because what we did today comes remotely close to the sacrifice made on September 11. It doesn't.
We did it because remembering should occasionally require more than typing and continuing to scroll.
Today, three generations of our family stopped what we were doing, pushed ourselves, and remembered 343 people who ran toward something the rest of the world was running away from.
I'm proud of my family tonight.
I'm proud of my service.
And I'm damn proud of this country.
343.
Never Forget.
Broken Together
