PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The 244th birthday of the United States Marine Corps was observed Sunday by civilians, veterans and active duty military honoring the occasion with a 12-hour endurance challenge.

GORUCK, an outdoor supply company founded by a former Green Beret, schedules challenges all around the country throughout the year. Their purpose is to simulate what military cadres have gone through in combat.

GORUCK community manager Christopher Goad served in the Marines. He shared some memories of his service, which the overnight challenge simulated.

“They put us through 12 hours of PT, a welcome party for a couple hours, we did some team building exercises,” Goad recalled. “They actually put us in the river, so we stripped down, got in the river, slicked the water off, got dressed and then moved a lot of really, really heavy stuff.”

One of the active duty cadres leading the event explained why the event is so important.

“It gives us a platform for where we can kind of come out, tell the story—where we’re from, what we did, victories, losses, fallen comrades that you’re not gonna hear about on the news,” he said.

The challenge started at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and ended at the historic Tun Tavern marker, said to be the birthplace of the Marines. More than 100 people traveled the route, where they took part in a ceremony and additional physical challenges.

During the ceremony, the oldest Marine present passed on a slice of cake to the youngest Marine to symbolize experience and knowledge passing on to a new generation of Marines.

For this Philadelphia challenge, however, cadres improvised with a donut.

This article was originally published by KWY News Radio.