My first Ruck woes

[NousDefionsDoc]

Well yeah, in one sense it is continuous and on-going. But what I was getting at is let's say it is a year. These aspirants can't go a year without trying to get over? What's is this constant questioning and trying to bend the rules? How hard is it?

Just follow THE FREAKIN' INSTRUCTIONS.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by stakk4

Until the Team Sergeant and the Team Commander decide to keep you?

Ruck woes? We got our 20K tomorrow. But, as has been stated elsewhere on this board, there is noone chasing you and there are no booby-traps on the trail. Embrace the PT like every other day.

I see the support units rucking on Bragg all of the time.

No big deal. The rucks I have seen and handled that belonged to them seemed to have been filled with balloons and air mattresses. They moved out at a pretty leisurely pace as well, kind of like my kids would do sightseeing while leaving Grandma's house after a large Thanksgiving dinner.

Do you have a weight requirement or a time limit?

Here is a tip. If you are going to stop for lunch, be aware that there is a safety fan around the ranges for a purpose, and the demo ranges have a circular danger zone that includes the highway. If you camp out in the shade by a demo range and are inside of that circle (or close to it), you may see some metal precipitation. Be careful where you stop.

Spray your feet with anti-perspirant. Be sure to put on a pair of dress socks under your cushion soles, unless you have a pair of lined socks like the Ingenius. Make the outer socks, and the spares you bring relatively new and thick. Make sure that you have good insoles. Wear the best walking boots that you have and bring spare laces. Lace them up properly. Bring some moleskin, spare socks, plenty of fluids, electrolytes, and foot powder. During the ruck, take care of your feet, stop for a few minutes every hour or two, dry feet and change socks, push fluids with electrolytes, and eat some carbs along the way periodically. Try to catch up to and pass people in front of you as motivation. Other than that, put one foot in front of the other and move out till someone tells you to stop.

Good luck.

TR

[stakk4]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I see the support units rucking on Bragg all of the time.

No big deal. The rucks I have seen and handled that belonged to them seemed to have been filled with balloons and air mattresses. They moved out at a pretty leisurely pace as well, kind of like my kids would do sightseeing while leaving Grandma's house after a large Thanksgiving dinner.

Do you have a weight requirement or a time limit?TR

Roger that, Sir! Sometimes truth is funnier than fiction. The unit I am with now has four hours to complete the 20K. The weight standard used to be fifteen pounds and was just recently upped to thirty-five. You should hear the bellyachin' since they put that out. Profiles have mysteriously tripled in the last week. Must be some kind of epidemic.

Edited to add: It was kind of funny until I thought about how many we have who fail to complete this event in the time we have. And not just the females. And how hard they complain about having to do this once a year. I need to get out of here.

[Razor]

Nothing against you, stakk, but if you convert your metric distance you'll see your roadmarch is only 12.4 miles. 20km sounds more impressive, but 12 miles is pretty much the standard distance for combat arms ruck marches.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Razor

Nothing against you, stakk, but if you convert your metric distance you'll see your roadmarch is only 12.4 miles. 20km sounds more impressive, but 12 miles is pretty much the standard distance for combat arms ruck marches.

In three hours, with a 55 lb. ruck, weapon, LCE, helmet, and pro mask. None of those Nerf Rucks.

Step on out!

TR

[stakk4]

Originally Posted by Razor

Nothing against you, stakk, but if you convert your metric distance you'll see your roadmarch is only 12.4 miles. 20km sounds more impressive, but 12 miles is pretty much the standard distance for combat arms ruck marches.

Razor:

I did not mean to come off as if I was trying to make it sound further, yes I knew the conversion. My apologies if I misled anyone. I actually agree with you and TR because, as you say, the regular infantry standard is an hour less for the same distance. And the weight was 15 lbs!

Tomorrow I will shoot for 2:45-2:55 w/45 lbs without running. We don't even have to bust any draws!

[The Reaper]

Find someone you know is slightly faster than you and try to keep up.

Of course, in your unit, you may quickly be at the front, but keep pushing, regardless.

TR

[Daver]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

How long is SFAS?

In ATRRS the course is 24 days......in reality, it's one event at a time!

[Daver]

Originally Posted by Razor

Nothing against you, stakk, but if you convert your metric distance you'll see your roadmarch is only 12.4 miles. 20km sounds more impressive, but 12 miles is pretty much the standard distance for combat arms ruck marches.

Thanks razor...you wrote the words right out of my hands...ever hear a team guy say..let's do a 20 k'er?
That's funny......


When I was a team sergeant, we would ruck around GAAF at Ft. Lewis...and then piss off many folks by stopping at the espresso shop by the bus station..and......after finishing our Mocha's and Latte's, ruck up and hustle it up and get back....we didn't run..but it was close to a run..and we still made it back by 0830...what's the point..our motivation was to quickly get to the coffee shop..take a quick 10, and get back, before many other teams that didn't go as far. It was my selfish way of saying "HA" to other teams all while keeping my team motivated. The funny thing is that other teams started doing this and it still happens to this day from time to time from what I hear. I won't take all the credit though, my old team sergeant gave me the idea and I just ran with it.

[Monsoon65]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I see the support units rucking on Bragg all of the time.

No big deal. The rucks I have seen and handled that belonged to them seemed to have been filled with balloons and air mattresses. They moved out at a pretty leisurely pace as well, kind of like my kids would do sightseeing while leaving Grandma's house after a large Thanksgiving dinner...

When I was in Germany, my section had the chance to do a 20KM ruckmarch with the German AF. We got loaner medium ALICE from the nearby Army post and loaded them up. I think we had 40LBs in them (remember, I'm a wingnut).

Anyway, we were out doing our thing and the GAF guys were flying by us. We stopped one and checked his ruck: A canteen and sweatrag.

[Peregrino]

Originally Posted by Monsoon65

Anyway, we were out doing our thing and the GAF guys were flying by us. We stopped one and checked his ruck: A canteen and sweatrag.

Don't they have a union? (Or was that the Dutch?) Peregrino

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by stakk4

Razor:

I did not mean to come off as if I was trying to make it sound further, yes I knew the conversion. My apologies if I misled anyone. I actually agree with you and TR because, as you say, the regular infantry standard is an hour less for the same distance. And the weight was 15 lbs!

Tomorrow I will shoot for 2:45-2:55 w/45 lbs without running. We don't even have to bust any draws!

So, how was the weather? Not too warm, I hope.

TR

[Monsoon65]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

Don't they have a union? (Or was that the Dutch?) Peregrino

I believe that was the Dutch. They got to vote on which exercises they participated in.

[shadowwalker]

Orginally posted by Peregrino

Don't they have a union? (Or was that the Dutch?) Peregrino

Yes, the Dutch are unionized, I was a Plt Sgt for a multi-national MP unit in Germany. It drove me and the British Regimental SGM crazy. We were only aloud to work them 40 hours a week. It was always fun completing a DA-6 for the week.

Union? That sounds funny, since I just wrote a bunch about it at a different site with PSD. I am not one of them, but I weighed in on it. For the sake of counter points, when you think about it, most of the time you train, and beg for enough budget to do so. It sort of makes sense to a point then to have a civil life with predictable routines and family time, until you are needed. I will spare you all of the learning studies, brain function studies that would agree, since I would need to research it. The Dutch, and Europeans are aware of this, so don't let them fool you. They seem to understand earlier, that their time is short, and self is part of it. No need to make up stuff to consume time, if the budget isn't there. I saw in one place where after enough training over the years, the British thought it a good idea to play sports throughout the day. I agree. It teaches you more skills than almost anything you can talk about. It also lets you know who is alert, has better timing, clever, devious, etc. Also lets you know who is there everyday to win. Still sounded funny to me, then this British thing came to mind. British usually make me think of hardnoses that are not capable of getting in from out of the rain, especially when it is snowing.
I watched the British Army treat frost bite cases twenty four seven through a short 7-10 day operation in Norway. I am positive the Norwegians didn't treat one case, during that mock battle period. Harder isn't always better, but I used to appreciate that more as well. For what it is worth the Brits won it by decision, and they created real world casualties to do so. That commander would have killed his own mother to beat the Norwegians. The Norwegians drank moonshine. I would not attack the Norwegians on the ground in the real world though.