Normandy GORUCK HCL 2015: The Light

Light start point. Omaha Beach D Day Monument

The Normandy GORUCK Light 2015 AAR

After the Challenge wrapped up, Steel had the great idea to get these amazing French donuts (the most amazing chocolate filled eclairs) before making our way back to the team house. Outside of the 50 km ride back to the house I didn't nap (or shower) before the light. I figured I only had another 4-6 hours before the completion of the HCL so i would just suck it up. I refueled with a protein shake, some peanut m&ms, and Pringles. Clearly food for champions 0=)

Good news about the Light: (1) we're almost done with the HCL, (2) i got to remove 2 bricks from my ruck sack (leaving me with 4 bricks), and (3) our two team weights are now only 15 pounds.

The atmosphere of the Light is...well...light. Cadre Montreal did a great job setting the tone and we were all smiling by the time roll call was complete. I'm sure the beers en route helped some of my housemates keep it light.

Roll call.

Cadres Aaron and Dan briefed us again on the defensive and offensive positions of Omaha beach. Great speeches the first and second times hearing it. But by the third time....it was struggling to stay awake. 

The struggle is real. Trying to stay awake during the briefing.

The beach PT during the Light was, by far, my favorite. Perhaps it was the sun. Or perhaps it was because my ruck was lighter. Either way, i had a lot of fun with the beach PT despite it being the longest beach PT session of the HCL.

Lined up in our Higgins boat

Pee break....i'm mean the start of beach PT.

We stormed the beach a few times. The first time we had to make our way down the beach and back with "i'm up, he sees me, i'm down".

The second time we stormed the beach we had to high crawl once we reached the beach. The next few times we stormed the beach we had to low crawl until we heard the cadre say 3-5 second rush. With that command we had to do an "i'm up, he sees me, i'm down".

A few people lifted their head during the low crawl. (During the low crawl your face is down in the sand.) So those people who had they heads up got sniped. The rest of the team had to drag the casualties while low/high crawling.

Buddy drags through the sand

After the beach PT we were told to fill up 14 sandbags with 20 pounds of sand. We learned from the Challenge and we counted the bags on the beach. After we filled the sandbags, Cadre Montreal had us do 5 fireman burpees to clean off. A fireman burpee is where you go chest to deck, roll over to the left, then roll over to the right and then get up. Apparently i didn't get the memo where you can keep your face above water. Oh well, my face got 'clean' too.

I was the dumbass to submerged my head each time. Can you spot me?

We rucked up into the hills where we saw some big ass German gun. Then, we made our way to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. En route Cadre Montreal yelled 'reach'. Our line spread out too far some people were not within reaching distance of the person in front of them. As a penalty we had to do some bear crawls and crab walks prior to being briefed on the Cemetery/Memorial.

Cadre Montreal had a mini scavenger event set up for us in the Cemetery/Memorial. Our first task was to find the tombstone of our teammate's relative who fought in Normandy and was killed in action. Our second task was to find a fallen soldier from the State that we were from, and our final task was to find a headstone that is a Star of David. Cadre Montreal assigned us these three tasks, specifically, so we can take the time to reflect on the enormity of D Day and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

There are 9387 souls buried in this cemetery. Some of the headstones are for those that are 'missing in action'.

"Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God."

Light Endex

The 2015 GORUCK Normandy HCL was an incredible experience. Of course being active and meeting great people is always a good time. But this event, in particular, was remarkable because of the history. Cadres Aaron, Dan, Jason, and Montreal were all really passionate about D Day and the history. Their passion was definitely contagious. I'll be back next year for some more Good Livin'.

HCL #014