Normandy GORUCK HCL 2015: The Heavy

The Normandy GORUCK Heavy 2015 AAR

Omaha Beach D Day Monument - Heavy SP

Disclaimer: this is a long post as the event was so epic i want to document as much as i can remember.

The Heavy (Heavy Class #073) started at 17:00 4 June 2015 at the Omaha Beach D Day Monument. We started with roll call: 39 people, two 50 pound team weights (sandbags), 6 flags (2 US, 1 UK, 1 French resistance, 1 French, 1 POW MIA, and 1 GORUCK), 1 bike, 1 stretcher, and about 60 1.5 liter bottles of water.

Roll call

My pack weighed in at 43 pounds. This included 6 bricks, 4.5 liters of water, extra clothes, food, and a med pack. Because we had some team members who did not pack according to the packing list, we had to do some PT.

Pro tip: Carefully listen to the instructions and don't fuck up or you'll do more PT. Sorry guys! I forgot how many reps we were supposed to do :/

After roll call, Eisenhower's speech was read to us:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: 

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.  

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. 

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. 

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

One of our British teammate's grandfather stormed the beach 71 years ago. He shared with the group, family anecdotes about the training and storming the beach. He mentioned that his grandfather was in a unit that rode in on bicycles. Hence the bicycle that we pushed with us during the Heavy. 

Enemy Defenses

Cadre Aaron then briefed us on the defensive position of Omaha Beach. He explained 4 lines of beach obstacles (estimated 1 trap per 2 square meters) that consisted of:

• Belgian gates with mines attached to the uprights (anti-tank obstacle)
• Line of logs driven into the sand capped with anti-tank mines
• Hedgehogs

The gentle crescent curve of the shore line allowed for interlocking fields of fire against any landing troops.

Offensive Position

Cadre Dan then briefed us on the coordinated effort of the Allies to land on the beach at 06:30. The assault force to execute the plan was over 30,000 men and over 300 vehicles with additional naval support. The Allied forces were launched from several locations in Great Britain. Large ships, called LSTs, transported troops, vehicles, and tanks across the English Channel. 

There were 4 days in June that the Allies were able to launch their attack (June 5 and 6 or June 18 and 19--if my memory serves me well). Interestingly, the Allies were going to attack on June 5 but because of weather they were called back. The Allies remounted the attack on June 6. Once reaching ashore, the Allies had to cross 1000 feet of exposed beach during low tide.

The large ships were too big to make it to shore, so the troops were loaded onto smaller boats, nicked named "Higgins Boats". Interestingly, Higgins was a small business owner from New Orleans who built small boats to navigate the swamps of Louisiana. At the time, the Navy was not interested in small boats. They wanted to build large ships made out of metal. Not small boats that were partly made out of wood.

We formed our own "Higgins Boat" by forming 3 tight columns (Shoulder-to-shoulder and nuts-to-butts as the Cadre described it). 

Our Higgins Boat

 

Yes, the water was cold. Cadre Jason reminded us that if we thought we were cold to think of those men 71 years ago. When those men landed on the beach, they were cold, wet, and sea sick. By comparison, we had it easy.

After some time on the water and beach, we started to move out with all of our gear. We reached this location up the beach and were told to stack the flags and place all of our rucks and team weights around it.

Then we lined up on the beach and were told we had to complete a 5 mile beach run as our physical readiness test. Our time hack was 45 minutes.

I think about 10 of the participants made the time hack. I missed the time hack by two minutes. (I'm definitely not a runner and the run was made worse with the chafing under my arms. Damn salt water! I was, however, the first woman to finish the run. Woot woot! We took the time to hydrate and i changed my shirt.

Salt water and a 5 mile run = chafing :(

After about 75 minutes, the Cadre told us to ruck up, form two ranks, and march to our teammates who were still finishing the 5 miler. The Cadre must have told them to start to low/high crawl to us because as we reached them they were face down in the sand and crawling towards us.

After retrieving all of our teammates and picking up a huge stone we started the 2 minutes of push-ups and 2 minutes of sit ups. I got fewer reps this time compared to the Dublin Heavy in March but i can't recall how many exactly. I think i got in the low 40s (push-ups) and high 40s for (sit-ups).

2 minutes of pushups

Marching in a wedge formation

Omaha Beach during Sunset. Amazing!

At around sun down, the cadre gave us 14 bags and told us to fill them up with sand. They must have weighed 80 pounds or more. It was at this time that we had our first and only drop of the heavy. We had to carry these sand bags and two metal pipes through the night as we made our way up the cliffs and to Pointe du Hoc. 

For those that may not know, Pointe du Hoc is the highest point on the cliff that separates Utah and Omaha beaches. The plan here on D Day was for three companies of Rangers to land by sea at the foot of the cliffs, scale the cliffs using ropes and ladders while under enemy fire, engage the enemy at the top, and take out the German 155 mm guns. This needed to be accomplished before the main beach landings. The slogan, "Rangers, lead the way!", was first coined on D Day.

Little historical fact: when the Rangers scaled the cliffs and tried to destroy the guns pointed at Omaha beach they discovered that the casemates and gunpits were empty. They continued to the next objective which was to secure the road between Omaha beach and Grandcamp. Enroute, they discovered the guns that were facing Utah beach. The Rangers were able to destroy the guns.

As we rucked through what are now wheat fields and (judging by the cuts on my legs) thorn bushes. We were told to count pillboxes along the way. I think we ended up counting 10 pillboxes. The original plan was to use the sandbags (our explosives) to destroy pillboxes along the way, but I think we were moving too slow so the Cadre allowed us to empty the sandbags. 

Once we made it to Pointe du Hoc, we made our way around and to the bottom of the cliff. We were told we had to make it to Pointe du Hoc at a pace of 20 min/mile. This was nearly impossible as the ground was slippery and uneven. We were basically walking on rocks covered in moss the whole way.

Pointe du Hoc in the distance

The moment when Cadre tells you that you can put your ruck down...

Not many people get to experience this point from sea side.

Many people visit Pointe du Hoc and look down. Not many get to see the view from the beach.

We reached this point with a series of ladders and ropes secured to the face of the cliff. The Cadre asked if everyone was willing to climb the ladders. (Previously, one of the Cadre tested the route to ensure safety). Everyone was willing and it became a team event, where all flags and people were moved up the ladders.

Once back on top of Point du Hoc, we went to all the gun casemates.

Note to self: stop standing next to tall dudes during photo opps

We made our way back up to the Pointe du Hoc visitors centre. The Cadre Aaron briefed us using a sand map (basically sand and rocks) on the last objective of the Rangers on D Day--to set up blocking positions on the road leading away from the beach. It was their last objective and it was our final objective of the heavy.

During our brief, I noticed this older gentleman walking towards the visitor center. He stopped and asked Cadre Jason what we were doing. I don't know exactly what Cadre Jason told him, but I imagine it was something like paying respect to all the solders that fought in Normandy on D Day. It turns out this gentleman is PFC Apple. He stopped and asked what he could do for us and described how much he appreciated our interest in WW2 history. There are not many survivors of the D Day landings that are still alive today. Most of those alive today were Privates during D Day.

PFC Apple

After we made it to the road, we then made our way to a soccer field for some PT. Here we had to clear the field with "i'm up, he sees me, and i'm down". We were told to hold our rucks like a rifle and continue down field. Let me tell you that was a heavy-ass pretend rifle. We were told to maintain a line and if people got behind, people had to crawl their way back to the line. During this drill we had a communication break down and half the line advanced. The Cadre said all of those people were now casualties and we had to first clear the field and then send a small team to get them. For those left behind, we were stuck doing more PT.

After we left the field we started making our way to the Endex location: Museum des Rangers.

Some lessons-learned and observations from this Heavy:

• If you're not used to eating bread, don't eat it before the event or else your GI tract will hate you.
• Imodium is amazing. I think i took 5 during the heavy.
• Enjoy the moment.
• Wear compression or else you will chafe.
• The men that stormed the beaches on D Day are heroes and badasses!

Thanks to the shadows for the awesome pictures and the support all weekend.