The time had finally come for the Veterans Day Tough and we
were ready. I was thrilled to have my oldest son and my oldest daughter joining
me for the event. My son had just finished the Heavy a few hours ago and this
was to be my daughter’s first Tough. Our cadre were two of the best we’ve done
events with, Cadre DS and Cadre Shredder. My son and I did the LandNav Heavy
with this pair in June and all three of us had done the Veteran’s Day Light
with DS last year. We were excited to get to work with both of them again and
knew they had a special event in store for us.
TL;DR - It was a Tough with a log, miles, cold and a great service project. Hopefully you read on.
Our start point was
Military Park in downtown Indy and we
arrived maybe 30 minutes before the event to make sure we were not late. It was
in the 30’s and we knew it was going to be a chilly night. Other participants
rolled in, including quite a few from the Heavy. Team Ninja in Indianapolis had
quite a few people working towards their coveted “Bolts” for completing the HTL
weekend and it was great to see so many make it. We mingled a bit and then
lined up alphabetically just before the cadre arrived. Normally the first part
of any event is the admin phase with roll call, gear check and other
administrative tasks. We had a very quick intro from the cadre and then project
chaos started. They wanted us to line up in columns of 5 and while we were
sorting that out, they asked us to line up according to height. While we
scrambled to do that, they were unhappy with how long it was taking so they had
us run to some park benches a hundred yards or so away and run back. They then
wanted us to line up in a single line and were unhappy with that, too.
Hahaha – the whole experience put us all off
balance as the normal expectation was admin stuff, not this chaos. We
eventually were told to line up in 3 rows which we did and roll was taken.
During this IDs were checked and random bag weight checks were done as well.
The cadre had a full program for us and we didn’t waste any time getting to
work.
We formed a large circle and while Cadre Shredder talked
about chance and roll of the dice in regards to Veteran’s service a deck of
cards were broken out. I’m sure many of us have done a deck of cards but this
time the choice of the exercise was done by roll of the dice. Cadre rolled, we’d
roll and the higher dice would choose. We won two of the four rolls and
exercises were assigned to suites. Cadre selected 8 count body builders and
devil thrusters while participants chose burpees – yep, you read that right,
someone deliberately chose burpees. You can bet your bottom dollar he took a
lot of grief about that choice and the last exercise was sit ups. Cadre DS wasn’t
content with just normal situps so we did 4 count ruck press situps. This was
going to be a long night – LOL. The plan
was to work through 10 cards instead of the full deck but somehow two of the
team drew two cards each so it was really 12 cards of work. We cranked it out and had as much fun as you
could with it. To better forge the teamwork we’d need the rest of the event, we
lined up in a single row, interlocked arms and did group walking lunges,
followed by a body surfing/conveyor belt movement. We were not really body
surfing properly and a lot of us, me included, were bear crawling. Cadre
Shredder wanted us to sing “God Bless America” while we were surfing and I am
sure it sounded wonderful. After we butchered that song he decided that we
needed to cry like babies as we were crawling instead of surfing so I am sure
that looked hilarious to anyone out and about on the chilly night.
The cadre then asked us to take off our shoes and prepare
the enter the water in the canal the borders the south side of Military Park.
We all hustled down the embankment, took off our boots and were instructed to
take the flutter kick position. We did 4 count flutter kicks with a goal of NOT
getting our feet wet. We also did leg raises over the water, again testing
mental and physical fortitude. Soon we were told we had 4 minutes to get our
footwear back on and back into formation. We ended the welcome party with a
tunnel of love race which my group was thankfully not dead last. Small personal
note, I’ve been working like crazy to drop weight and this is the lowest weight
I have done any event – Spartan Race, GORUCK, 5K, etc ever. Still have plenty
of weight to go, but I wanted to make sure I was never the slowest person out
there and didn’t drag my team down. I think overall I met my goal and was as
asset to the team as best I could be at all times.
After the Tunnel of Love we were told to get ready to move
out. There was a MASSIVE log that they Heavy had brought back from their
service project sitting in the park next to the start point. It had been
sitting there, silently judging and waiting for us. We knew it wouldn’t be long
before it would be put to use and now was the time. We sorted ourselves into 3
teams based on size – large, medium and Smurf.
I didn’t pick the names so don’t blame me, shorter people. We picked up
the log, our coupons and the flags and moved towards the Indiana Statehouse
south lawn which was a few blocks away. We started to practice rotation of the
log and coupon duties by size. It was
cumbersome and a bit clumsy as people took the load and painful as people left
the load. We were shuffling and trying really hard not to step on each other's
heels, too. Communication about different arm placement tactics was flowing but
at the end of the day, a heavy log is a heavy log. We were slow and not communicating well so lost the use of the shoulder straps on our rucks for a bit. Here is a picture from the Heavy and was taken in the day so you can see this log in all of its glory.
We made our way to the statehouse lawn and were instructed
to set the log down and line up. Cadre Shredder had done some research and
shared some great information about the significance of the statehouse and
Indiana in general. I'm truly appreciate the effort both cadre put into each
of their events and small details like this make it all the more
memorable.
While listing to Shredder,
Cadre DS counted us off into two group and after our history lesson, the first
group laid on the ground in a circle facing each other and the 2nd group lined
up. We were getting ready to execute a new activity for me called the
"meat grinder".
The group on
the ground would roll to the left while keeping in a circle formation and the
2nd group would enter the "grinder" one by one and do a burpee to get
over the rollers. It was a bit of a complicated movement and we started
grinding away. We finally got the hang of it and we started rotating the first
group with the 2nd group so we could all enjoy the burpee fun.
After we ground around enough the cadre had
us get up, line up and get ready to roll to our next objective, the
USS Indianapolis memorial along the canal.
We collected our coupons, the log and moved out. Along the
way we had our first "cop stop" wondering what in the world this
group of 45 people were doing at 11PM(guessing) at night in downtown Indianapolis.
I was under the log and we didn't stop moving while the cadre talked with the
police. A few rotations later of log and coupons we were approaching the
memorial. We had the memorial in sight but there was a lot of confusion about
where we should be and at some point the log was set down. Cadre Shredder was
not happy with this development and he gave us very clear instructions as to
where we needed to be, down the hill much closer to the memorial. Once the flag
and team gear was situated we were placed in a stress position of a forward
leaning rest with our rucks on and feet up on a stone wall. While in this
position he reminded us of the importance of team work, communication and a
pretty detailed history of the USS Indianapolis. Cadre are experts at sharing
details in a nice, calm, steady voice and really excel in this regard when you
are in a stress position. If I hadn't been struggling to stay in place I would
have cracked a smile at this skill. Afterwards he had us stand up and read
about the USS Indianapolis and the horrific situation that so many of the
sailors found themselves in after their ship, on a secret mission to deliver
the first working atomic bomb, was struck by Japanese torpedoes and sunk in
shark infested oceans. Many of the sailors were lost to the sharks while they
waited days for rescue. It painted a horrible image and fit into the theme of
"Chance" for those who sign up to serve our country. We moved a bit
further down the canal, got into formation and sang the "Star Spangled
Banner" under the bridge, next to the canal. It seemed very fitting. Cadre
Shredder then had us prepare for flutter kicks. We did 309 flutter kicks for
the sailors and Marines that survived the USS Indianapolis, broken down into
manageable sets.
We gathered our gear started moving out to work on our
service project. We continued to carry the log and rotate around. We had people
driving by asking if we were OK and as we walked by some houses, the comments
from the inhabitants were hilarious. I'm guessing many of them had been talking
to their friend Al K Hol (read it out loud if you don't get it) and in general
they thought we were crazy. Haha! We
carried the log a bit further and I think our pace was suffering to the point
that the cadre had us leave it in a green area along the road. I figured we'd
see the log again (spoiler alert - we didn't!) but the cadre said they both
mentioned its location in their AARs to HQ for future events.
Cadre Shredder and DS had coordinated a really cool service
project that would benefit the local community. Our team weight was a bag of
axes and hand saws that we would use to help clear the overgrown shore along
the western side of the White River. The river runs through Indianapolis and
where we were working had become a bit of a de facto barrier between affluent
communities and those with fewer resources. Our work would re-open the bank to
access for fishing and a better sight-line to downtown. The Heavy had done a
lot of work here earlier and we continued where they left off. We split into
groups that would cut the brush and wood, those that would stack it and a third
group that would carry it up the embankment and pile it in designated spots
near the curb for the city to collect. I lost count as to how many trips up and
down the embankment I made as we ripped through this work in a timely fashion.
After we policed the area and made sure it looked great, we gathered back on
the sidewalk and lined up for the next movement. Here is a before picture and after for some context.
The cadre led us to another area that was maybe a half a
mile away and we were tasked with clearing what seemed like an old road that
was covered with logs and debris. The city has plans to turn this area by the
water into a greenway and an area where they can have pontoons and kayaks for
people to use. Another part is slated for public concerts and they needed us to
do some of the clearing before they could get some of the machinery in there to
do the work. Luckily for them, we seemed to have some good experience with
moving logs and working together as a team. We worked together to clear the
area and sometime during this process my left knee and lower quad really
started hurting. I don't know what it was but my knee was more or less locking
up and any bending of it really hurt. It was maybe 3 or 4 AM and I was doubting
my ability to complete the event. I brushed the negative thoughts aside but
could feel my lower quad swelling. I
continued to work and hydrate and focus on something other than the throbbing
in my leg. We finished the work and one of the HTL participants had a birthday
on Sunday. We of course celebrated in GORUCK fashion with some flutter kicks. I was
able to get down but unable to stand up as I couldn't bend my knee. I took my
ruck off and someone helped me get up (thank you!). I was mad as hell and
didn't want to drop. I put my ruck back on and I went inside my head, committed
to doing everything I could to finish as strong as I can and be a good example
for my kids. We started moving back out and luckily for me walking didn't seem
to really hurt my knee. Here's a screenshot of a video that showed the area we cleared in the daylight so you can appreciate the work we did. Note the big logs to the left and right of the trail - those and many more were moved by our team.
We were headed back towards downtown and the cadre gave us a
pretty aggressive time hack to get to
Monument Circle. We took a bit of a wrong
turn and the cadre corrected us by taking us across a train trestle. I am SO
happy we did this at night so I didn't have to look down at the ties and see
the river below. This was a total mind over matter thing and I just took it one
step at a time and before long, we were across. One of the team really wasn't a
fan of heights and was literally crawling on their hands and knees across the
trestle. This slowed us down quite a bit as we waited but since I'm not a huge
fan of heights, I wasn't as upset as some of the others. It is what it is. Once
everyone was across we worked to make up time and were covering some pretty
good distance to get downtown. We still had all of our coupons but luckily, the
log wasn't to be seen again. We rotated many times, hustled through lights and
the city was starting to wake up with a lot more traffic. We had another
officer stop and ask what we were doing but sent us on our way quickly. Sun was
starting to break and I don’t know what the deal with light is, but it *always*
helps. We were in a bit of a race with Shredder to get there and the last block
or so we were running. He's like Michael Myers - he can walk faster than you
can run - hahaha!
We arrived at Monument
Circle and had missed our time hack by almost 30 minutes. That's gonna hurt. We
found a port a potty that had been tipped over but luckily wasn't too gross so
we set it up and I think most of the team took advantage of the facility. They
had had us walk around the Monument and read the inscriptions and admire the
craftsmanship. It is very cool if you've not seen it before. We formed back up
and had to pay the piper for missing the time hack. The dice were broken out
and we would multiply the number of exercises by three to the number on the
dice. This could get really UGLY if our team leader rolled a 6. Thankfully she
rolled a 3 and cadre decided that ruck presses were the order of the day, so we
had 90 to look forward to. We started and the team leader was having a hard
time completing the activity. Honestly, most of us were too, but since she was
up front it was hard to miss. The cadre changed the activity to 4 count arm
circles. Laugh all you want, but after the night we'd experienced they were
harder than they sound. Nobody cares what you can do fresh, right?
We shared some of our veteran stories and they all were
poignant. So many different perspectives and reasons why people were there for
this event. My kids and I were prepared
to share our stories as well but with 45 people we'd probably still be there
and the cadre had to do last call before we were to move out. As we formed up
and were told to head towards the starting point, Cadre DS decided we needed
some casualties. This created some more chaos as people broke out webbing to
improvise carriers and someone even had a portable stretcher they had with
them. We had people doing buddy carries and starting to walk off towards the starting
point. It was bad. Cadre DS appointed my son the team leader and he started to
organize the group and eventually we moved out. Traffic was still pretty light
and I am sure we got some interesting stares. My knee held out and I was able
to help 3-man carry one of our casualties in addition to carrying someone’s
ruck on my chest.
Along the way to Military Park we passed a 9/11 memorial.
Cadre DS had us stop and do a round of memorial pushups. That was a very nice
touch given 9/11 was a big reason many people joined the military. We collected
our gear and finished the march towards the start point. When we arrived we
planted the flag, piled the coupons and were patched as having successfully
completed GORUCK Tough Class 2876. All told we did more than 12 miles and a ton
of great service work for the community. I had planned on doing the Light later
in the day but after hitting the hotel, resting and refueling my knee was still
not willing to bend a lot and was swollen maybe twice its normal size. I ended up
sitting it out sadly. I knew I would not be an asset to the team and didn’t
want to be a drag just gimping and grey-manning my way through it. Overall, a
fantastic event and exactly why we were excited to sign up for a Cadre DS and
Shredder combination. My son crushed his first HTL and my daughter did stellar
in both the Tough and the Light. I couldn’t be prouder of their
accomplishments, grit and determination to finish this weekend in some very
cold conditions.
Gear List:
- GORUCK Java GR-1
- CamelBak Crux 3L Bladder
- 30lb GORUCK Expert Plate
- Rocky RKC050 Military and Tactical Boot
- DryMax Knee High Hiking Socks
- Woolx Merino Wool base pants and top
- Grunt Style Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt
- Russell Athletic Dri-Power Performance Crewneck Shirt
- Columbia Silver Ridge Convertible Pants
- Marmot PreCip Jacket
- GORUCK Beanie
- UnderArmour Infrared Balaclava
- Mechanix Covert Tactical Gloves
- Vitchelo V800 Headlamp
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