View Full Version : Is it safe to ruck with a army issue Duffel?
Decoy_Octopus
08-30-2010, 19:59
I've been rucking with a duffle for the past two weeks because my ruck is in a container headed out of country. It starts to hurt my back about one mile into the ruck march.
NoRoadtrippin
08-30-2010, 20:11
"Safe" would seem to be a shades of gray term in this context IMHO. I mean it has straps and it carries weight. There were likely generations of men who once carried more with less. There are still Sherpas in Nepal who carry huge baskets with a rope across their forehead.
As the RI's said, "Its a technique, but not the preferred technique."
I wouldn't go too far, or with too much weight.
Bettendorf
08-30-2010, 21:15
You're asking if it's safe and it's hurting you back? I've got nothing else.
Decoy_Octopus
08-30-2010, 21:41
"Safe" would seem to be a shades of gray term in this context IMHO. I mean it has straps and it carries weight. There were likely generations of men who once carried more with less. There are still Sherpas in Nepal who carry huge baskets with a rope across their forehead.
As the RI's said, "Its a technique, but not the preferred technique."
I wouldn't go too far, or with too much weight.
I was thinking the same thing. People used worst equipment and had to go further distances.
I've been rucking with a duffle for the past two weeks because my ruck is in a container headed out of country. It starts to hurt my back about one mile into the ruck march.
Ask "Why?"
Oh, not why are you rucking with a Duffle Bag - but why does it hurt your back?
Most rucks have some sort of external or internal frame. Assault pack still have some sort of "soft frame". All allow a load to be packed flat.
Look at your duffle bag. What have you packed in it for weight? How does the weight sit in the bag? The bag was made to carry a large volume a short distance - somewhat slowly. Not go 12 miles at Mach 1. Fill it up and the sausage swings from side to side. Put a sandbag in it and it sits at the bottom. Try and bungie cord/tie it up and now you have ropes against your back.
While it may have straps - getting a load packed right would be very hard to do.
Get a good heavy duty assault pack and use it when your ruck is on the road. Besides - you can use the assault pack as a carry on.
Decoy_Octopus
08-31-2010, 11:26
I put a big piece of cardboard in the duffel and after I pack I wrapped it with bungie cord. It felt 10x better. Thanks all.
craigepo
08-31-2010, 12:24
There is a fine line between hard and stupid---don't cross it.
The reason so many "old guys" limp around is because they did/were forced to do STUPID SHIT when they were young and thought they were immortal.
Go get a rucksack that is set up right.
x SF med
08-31-2010, 14:24
I've been rucking with a duffle for the past two weeks because my ruck is in a container headed out of country. It starts to hurt my back about one mile into the ruck march.
No kidding?
Uhm, are you serious?
Apparently, yes, he's serious
You're asking if it's safe and it's hurting you back? I've got nothing else.
Nor I.
I put a big piece of cardboard in the duffel and after I pack I wrapped it with bungie cord. It felt 10x better. Thanks all.
Wow. Just, Wow.
18D advice - get a friggin psych eval, stat. You are either psychotically cheap or you are a masochist.
You are either psychotically cheap or you are a masochist.You say that like those are bad things...
But to the question at hand...it seems like you need to modify your routine for the next couple of weeks...if you've been rucking for some time, your body could use a change in routine...if you've just started, you aren't going to drop back very far...
ZonieDiver
08-31-2010, 14:58
You are either psychotically cheap or you are a masochist.
Or both!
On a serious note, besides this thread there are two other threads you have started in your one month here at PS.com. Both generated some "corrective action" responses from QP's.
Your profile states that you are an E-2 ,and that you are "interested in a career in SF and beyond".
Although an E-2 should be "cut some slack" - you don't seem to be "getting the hang" of PS.com. I doubt in your month here that you have taken the time to thoroughly read many of the threads - let alone most of them. You should remedy that situation asap.
In the future, if you feel the urge to start a thread, do me a favor: PM me first. I'll be polite and let you know if it is "good to go" or will make you look like an E-2 with little chance of ever making SF, or maybe even E-3.
Snaquebite
08-31-2010, 15:22
In the future, if you feel the urge to start a thread, do me a favor: PM me first. I'll be polite and let you know if it is "good to go" or will make you look like an E-2 with little chance of ever making SF, or maybe even E-3.
ZD you are a getting soft....I was going to post a little more stern warning....:munchin
ZonieDiver
08-31-2010, 15:25
Sorry about that. Old age does that sometimes. :D
Maybe he calls himself Tequila for a reason. :D Tequila you are not hydrating your self with a couple of shots before, during and after are you? Listen to what is being said here. The search button is incredibly friendly.
And how exectly does a duffle bag provide the training and experience of the correct use of the most overlooked portion of a ruck ... the waist strap. It's important to learn when to put a load on the hips and take it off the shoulders, if only for a while.
Sorry about that. Old age does that sometimes. :D
ZD, let's be honest with the young man, we have all rucked with a duffle bag. It's most often carried across the top of a rucksack between the bus and the C-130, C-141, or C-17 on our way to somewhere else. Distances varry for this task, maybe as fa as 300', with 150' being the average. I once had to carry a duffle bag in my left hand, only because my right hand was busy holding a weapon. Once I boarded an OV-10 and the truck parked next to the aircraft, I carried the duffle bag 20', I made that movement twice, once to return to get my ruck.
Dozer523
09-07-2010, 13:31
Your profile states that you are an E-2 ,and that you are "interested in a career in SF and beyond". Zonie, turn in your FOG card right now. AND you should refrain from any and all corrective counseling postings on PS.COM during the 24 hours following a dose of TJ.
Back to you, Tequila . . . What Could Possibly be "Beyond" Special Forces!!!??"
ZonieDiver
09-07-2010, 14:07
Mea culp, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. :D
Tequila,
Theres certainly other forms of lower body endurance building PT that you could be doing without rucking with a duffle bag. They call it 'Rucking' for a reason.... not duffling.
That was a joke-not necessarily at your expense.
I'm sure you're a smart dude who can think of a couple ideas that would benefit you just as much, without causing half the problems, or injury a duffle bag would.
Though sometimes its great to do exercises are just as much a mental workout as a physical one, it's not the kind of thing you do everyday just to c*ck yourself, let alone get fit.
Any PS's disagree?
Tequila,
Theres certainly other forms of lower body endurance building PT that you could be doing without rucking with a duffle bag. They call it 'Rucking' for a reason.... not duffling.
That was a joke-not necessarily at your expense.
I'm sure you're a smart dude who can think of a couple ideas that would benefit you just as much, without causing half the problems, or injury a duffle bag would.
Though sometimes its great to do exercises are just as much a mental workout as a physical one, it's not the kind of thing you do everyday just to c*ck yourself, let alone get fit.
Any PS's disagree?
Na, we're done. He has his task, performance at this point is what we're looking for.
We called it work.
Shoveling 100# of coal into sacks. The gradation of the coal was key (pea coal was small, nut coal was -um- nut size, and stove coal was orange-size. The smaller the gradation the easier the tote was on the clavicle) The sacks were mostly duffel bag sized. If they had straps (or not, since we usually carried them on a shoulder) at 18 I could have carried one of those, plus beer, wherever. Especially if the destination might have included wimmenfolk. And at 18, I was 125# wet. $10.00 per ton cash was the wage - 1984 dollars - and shoveling/bagging 5 tons per shift (5 hour) day was the goal. $10/hr for a HS student in 1984 was good cabbage. OTOH I dunno what the prevailing wage in a Soviet gulag salt mine was back then... A ton per hour might have rated an asswhipping?
The central point for you, grasshopper, is probably figuring out a smart way to train up w/o inducing your own injury(ies?) You can't kill bad guys (if that is your goal) from the TMC. That is a station I regretfully failed at, when I had my chance...
And the Waist strap... Knowing when to tie in and keep the tick tight... or when to slack away. Priceless... Search man Search. And ruck some more too.
The waist strap has two major functions:
1 - From time to time, you can "hitch" the ruck up off your shoulders, placing most of the weight on the hips instead of the shoulders. This allows added blood flow* to clean out lactic acid and replenish oxygen to those muscles on the shoulder/pectorals. After perhaps a quarter mile to one half mile, loosen the waist strap and let the load settle onto the shoulders again.
2 - The waist strap helps stabilize the ruck, keeping it from shifting, especially left and right but also front to rear. That is important on sloped terrain, when snow skiing, or when jogging (which should only be done for VERY short distances).
* Nothing grows, and nothing heals, without a plentiful supply of blood.
Sounds like you realize the benefits of using the waist strap, a lot of young troops don't know how to properly adjust and use it, some even disconnect it.
CB
From a PM I sent to an inquiring trooper regarding this thread.
Quoted here so it will appear on a search ... (as if most of the young pups here actually used the SEARCH function).
Decoy_Octopus
09-07-2010, 21:02
From a PM I sent to an inquiring trooper regarding this thread.
Quoted here so it will appear on a search ... (as if most of the young pups here actually used the SEARCH function).
Good Info. Lately i have been squatting for strength. 3 sets 15 reps after I run. I squat really deep to get all the muscles.
Utah Bob
09-08-2010, 08:30
What's that Interweb abbreviation they use for something like this?
ROFLMAO. Is that it?:rolleyes: :D
From a PM I sent to an inquiring trooper regarding this thread.
Quoted here so it will appear on a search ... (as if most of the young pups here actually used the SEARCH function).
Thank you, sir. Just started rucking last week. This info will be of immediate aid to me.
I've been rucking with a duffle for the past two weeks because my ruck is in a container headed out of country. It starts to hurt my back about one mile into the ruck march.
Don't.