So the night has come…GORUCK Night! After 6 weeks of training, the event was here and nerves and excitement were setting in. The event was set to start at 2100 hours (9pm) at NOMA. Cowbell and YHC met up and arrived around 2030 hours. Heisenberg and Amnesty were already sitting around the fountain when we showed up along with about 30 other men that were prepping for the event. Triple Shift and Woz showed up next, followed by Jingle Vader and Hawgcycle. Outfit Note: JV was rocking his classic white tee and shorts, while the rest of the GORUCK crew were decked out in a dark color or camo. Such a Classic Jingle Vader. In total, we had a F3NOLA Pax of 8 along with 33 potential FNGs. As the event time crept closer, we were worried that the Cadres would be late, but right on time:
The Thang
NOTE: The time listed is based off of YHC’s internal clock as we were told to not have any watches, but it’s the easiest way to get all the details in. Also, one requirement of the GORUCK was to honor a Veteran by attaching a picture and bio to your rucksack. At each stop, a few people were able to honor their Veteran’s story. This was the best part of the event for everyone. The stories and memories that these heroes have are an amazing thing, and it was an honor to listen to their stories.
2100 hours: Cadre Brad & Cadre Mike (VQ) showed up and told everyone to line up five deep and get into formation. After some necessary safety announcements and instructions, we were told to pull out the following list of items that were required so the Cadres could inspect:
- ID Card
- Cab Fare
- Weight
- Water
- Reflective Bands / Lights
Good thing Heisenberg had 20+ reflective bands as he bailed out YHC and 10+ others who didn’t bring this. I think JV only had Weight & Water.
After the loadout check, we went from zero to sixty!
2130 hours: With rucks on, we did the following:
30ishx Merkins IC
50ishx Flutter Kicks IC
20ishx Burpees
“Ish” because rep wouldn’t count if we were not in sync.
Bear Crawl out 100 yards
Lunge Walk back 100 yards
Once back, Cadre Mike told us that whoever didn’t have one of the inspected items to come to the front. Let’s say about 10 people were up there, including JV. Cadre Mike explained how details matter, and a missed detail could result in a casualty at war. To hammer the point in, he had each person lead the group in more PT. We did various things like Kettlebell Swings, Squats, Overhead Press, Burpees, Merkins, and Russian Twist. Guess which one JV picked…
2200hrs: Cadre Brad prefaced the next exercises with a talk about how there are two kinds of fun: 1) the kind of fun that is great at the time, but temporary (e.g. roller coaster ride) & 2) the kind of fun that sucks at the time, but you will appreciate it later on (e.g. what we were about to do). He finished with saying “No one talks about fun #1 around a fire with some beers.”, then went on to explain the next thing:
Deck of Death: 52 cards – suites are exercises, numbers are reps
Hearts: 8-count bodybuilders (a.k.a. Hell)
Spades: Overhead Press
Diamonds: Flutter Kicks
Clubs: Squats
109 reps of each. As we were fighting through, mumble chatter by the F3 Pax were motivating the group. The only way to get through tough times is to help your comrades next to you. Mumble Chatter is a great way to do that when it sucks. Tclaps to the F3 members as we led the mumble chatter efforts. Once done, we got into formation and were off for our first ruck.
2300hrs: Rucked about a quarter mile and stopped next to a light pole (a.k.a coupon) lying on the ground. We were instructed by Cadre Brad to carry the coupon around the pond (approx. 1.2 miles) and bring it back to the same spot. There was nothing “light” about the light pole. Our team worked together to move the coupon, rotating in & out as members of the group needed a break. Almost back to the drop off location, we were stopped by some other people that told us we had to go back and use another way in. After some resistance (Cowbell tried to run the guys over with the coupon), we reversed our path, and headed back to find another way. A few minutes later, Cadre Mike stopped us again, and told us to go drop the coupon in a grass area and circle up around it. He went on to explain how orders are given and must be followed. We were instructed by our Cadre to return the coupon to the start point. We should have not listen to an outside person. Point taken.
2330hrs: We learned about how to make a deal with an outside person. There are signals used to identify the key person, and to protect yourselves from walking into a trap in another country. The mission was to return the coupon to the “outside group” and in return we would get supplies. Our team leads struck a deal, and we returned the coupon to them, then the team rucked about a quarter mile to gather supplies. Supplies included four water jugs (30 lbs each), 4 sand bags (25 to 60 lbs), and a concrete/sand filled 5 gal bucket with no handles.
0030hrs: Rucked 3 miles with our supplies to St. Bernard & Robert E Lee. We did a great job alternating people to hold the supplies while we rucked, eventhough we missed our time by 13 minutes. We owed the Cadres 13 minutes of PT, which included 8-count body builders and overhead shoulder press.
0200hrs: Rucked 2 more miles towards the Milneburg Lighthouse, and we made our time. Circled up again and learned about detecting IEDs in wartimes. Little did we know, this was a foreshadowing.
0300hrs: As we started rucking, we suffered a “casualty” due to an IED. We were tasked on carrying our casualty the rest of the way. About half way through, the casualty group was falling behind the others carrying the supplies, and the Cadres stopped us for an ass chewing. We were selfish, and we were not working as a team. We resumed our rucking, and finally figured out a way to manage our additional weight. This ruck in total was about 3 miles to Lakefront by Lake Vista.
0430hrs: Learned about tourniquets, and their importance on the battlefield. To make sure we took in the information, we split up into 5 groups for a relay race that included one person (medic) applying a tourniquet to another person (casualty) about 20 yards away. The medic had to apply the tourniquet to remove the radial pulse. This was checked by the Cadres, and once approved, the casualty could run back to the line and the medic became the next casualty. YHC team won, and our reward was to lead some PT for the other groups.
0630hrs: Gathered our items and rucked another 2.25 miles to West End and Filmore neutral ground. Here we learned about Bounding, which included two partners getting to an objective while covering one another. Both partners are in prone, Man #2 yells “Set”, and Man #1 yells “Moving”. Man #1 starts running 3-5 steps and gets back in prone while Man #2 applies covering fire. Repeat until you get to the objective (130 yards) and repeat on the way back.
0730hrs: Ruck over to Veterans & West End (1mile) for a short break. This is where we honored the rest of our Veterans.
0830hrs: Rucked towards NOMA, and attempted a shortcut through Lakeview. Little did we know, a train was blocking our shortcut, and we had to double back to get under the train tracks. This road block added some more distance, but we definitely got our money’s worth. Our last ruck of the day was 3.25miles.
0930hrs: Made it back to NOMA! Cadre Brad got us back into formation, and explained that it’s not a GORUCK if you don’t get wet. So our group went into the pond that was covered with 1 ft of duck crap at the bottom to honor each branch of the US Armed Services with a hydro-burpee.
1000hrs: We received our GORUCK Tough patch. Well deserved men.
Moleskin
A big thank you to all the men and women who are serving or have served in the United States Armed Forces!
It’s amazing how F3 trains us for an event like this. Whether it’s leading an exercise in cadence, or joking with another person when you are both carrying around 80-100lbs on your back; F3 is a great tool to train men in leadership. The F3NOLA Pax were all great leaders during the event.
