 | Alex tries to be a hot shot; God punishes him. At my leadership lab this Thursday, we were all told that on Friday morning, instead of doing regular Army PT, we'd be going on a 4-mile ruck march. Instead of wearing PT gear (Army t-shirt, shorts and running shoes), we'd have to wear our BDUs (fatigues). I've never gone on an extended march, let alone a ruck march, so I was pretty excited despite having to get up at 4 am to be able to get to the earlier start time.
So I get to the Reserve Center and it's raining. Not a downpour, but not a drizzle either. So pretty substantial rain. One of the sergeants informed us we'd all be getting wet that day and chuckled. So I show up with my ruck, and as I was told by an MS IV cadet (senior), I made sure I had at least 25 pounds in it, which consisted of my PT gear and 30 pounds of gym weights I had at home. I figure that 30 pounds will be nothing, I'll be able to handle it. 30 pound weights plus PT gear? No problem.
I was wrong. For the first time ever on a ruck march, going above and beyond my means was very stupid. I know the Airborne have an average between 80 to 100 pounds in their rucks at all times, yet I'm no where near Airborne standard. I thought I'd be fine with 30. One of the MS IVs told me he had 85 in his ruck, so I thought I was fine. Most of the people in my year, MS IIs, have 20. Let me tell you now, that 10 pound difference is huge.
So we are given our orders to put on our rucks and begin the march. As I put it on, I can't find one of the chest straps to position the weight on my back, when I know it's there as I had it on when I left my house. So I'm fidgeting with my left shoulder strap, trying to find the cross section that goes across the chest and connects with the right, when I actually untie the entire left shoulder strap. My ruck swings out entirely to my right side and the only thing I can think of at that moment is, "Well....fuck." I wasn't even pissed, I was just dismayed. I walked for about halfway around campus just holding my strap before a fellow cadet who is more experienced than I figured out what happened. So we get permission to break rank and fix my ruck. This leaves two problems, one of which I won't find out until much later. The first is, while we're fixing my ruck, the others continued to march (as it should be). So when we finish, we get to sprint with our rucks on and fall back in.
I fall back in next to a cadet in my year, but he happens to be 6'4. Now, I'm not short, coming in at 6 feet even, but the differences in the strides between the two of us is huge. For every step he takes, I have to take 3, but I need to keep up with him and keep the ranks intact. This basically requires me to jog the entire time. He's got monster legs and a 20 pound sack, and I'm scurrying beside him like a derranged turtle with epilepsy. A few times they told him to slow down and shorten his stride, which he'd do for about 10 steps, then he'd forget because he was concentrating on his own shit and start walking what was normal for him. I know it's not his fault, he was doing it unconcsiouly, but at the time I could have punched him in the face. I was feeling so shitty I thought he was doing it deliberately to piss me off, and damn it, it was working. I started cursing under my breath at him to no avail. At this point I'm not sweating, I'm dripping. The sweat is pouring down my face in steady streams, not driblets, and the rain didn't help.
Now, the second problem comes into play around the second mile. I realize that my buddy who fixed my left strap made it significantly tighter than the strap on the right. This causes the weight of the ruck to favor my left shoulder considerably and causes a large amount of pain in my upper back. So then I start favoring my right side to redistribute the weight. I try to hold the right side with my hand to try and fix it that way, but that just threw me off balance too much and I'd eventually stop. The dance of favoring my right side and then stopping to use my hand to redistribute the weight continued for the rest of the march.
The bad part about favoring my right side was that my right foot developed a blister the size of Texas, right on the bottom of my foot, smack dap in the middle so I couldn't even walk around it. So I'm stuck shuffling to keep up with my buddy who's walking fast to piss me off, with a lop sided ruck and a fucking huge blister on my right foot.
So far, that's the only moment I ever thought about quitting. It was fleeting, but there comes a time when your body takes over your brain and says "Come on, man? What the fuck are you doing? It's 6 o'clock in the morning, it's raining, you're sore, dripping with sweat, and in pain. Fuck it man...all you have to do is break rank and it is all over. All you have to do is take two little steps to the left and you're done." My brain had this discourse with my body at around the 2.5 mile mark. I still had a long way to go.
I cursed at my body for being a bitch, I cursed at my brain for thinking of quitting, and then I cursed at the bastard taking long strides beside me just for good measure. Well, my body's failed me again, looks like good ol' Willpower will have to get me through this one.
I manage to make it to within a mile of the Reserve Center before the cadet in charge of the march noticed I was limping. It wasn't much of a limp, but I couldn't help it.
He comes over to me: "Are you ok? You're limping."
"I'm fine. Just a blister, sir. It's nothing I can't work through."
"You don't want to fuck up your foot, fall out and fall in at the back. Walk at your own pace."
"It's not necessary, I can do it."
"Go to the back now. Trust me."
So he forced me to go to the back, which my body loved but my willpower hated. I was within a mile of home, I had made it. Unfortunately, part of being in the military is taking orders, so it wasn't up to me.
When we get back to the Reserve Center, we drop our rucks and begin doing cool down stretches. I felt like I was walking on the moon to have that weight off of me, but I was still in pain because of my God damn foot.
Whatever, I have the weekend to recover. Then Monday morning, I get to do it all again.
To quote the movie Patton: "God help me, but I love it so." |
6 comments:
Hey man,
I just did my first "ruck" march Monday for training purposes and to shape up. I lost my fitness after a severe knee injury and gained weight. Needless to say, it sucked beyond comprehension. I got two blisters the size of pancakes on each heel, broken swollen and painful.
What I kept on telling myself was though just a bit further, just over that hill. When I got there, i puked up all the water I had consumed and some chunks.
Fun stuff, the blisters are a pain but I padded them up with moleskin, cotton and powder. Actually, I'm heading out the door again right now (in BDUs now).
regarding your fascinating and entertaining story, loved it and I love your writing style. lots of humor goes a long way! I stumbled across this SSG and he just kept on saying tough it out on the blogs "you bunch of pussies."
Boy, if I ever come across that SSG as an officer, he'll have it from me.
- J
you do realize that, that Staff Sergeants must hear the whining of LT's all the time. You LT's have no idea how easy you all have it and to top it all off you cry all the time. Buck up and set the example. Leadership!
you call your upperclass cadets sir?
I am an MS1 and a female. I weigh 120lbs and I have done four ruck marches this year alone. I get blisters every single time, my ruck has had at least 60lbs in it every time. What you need to do is sack up and stop thinking you have some great accomplishment and a hard plight because you finally did a 4 miler. I did 12 miles two months ago, and 6 miles two days ago. Suck it up. You're an MS2. Act like it.
Hi there! It was really awesome reading your post, I am in OCS right now and completed my first 5 mile ruck this summer and am doing a 7 mile next week. Really inspiring, knowing other people have gone through it, had the same thoughts I did, but got through it. :)
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