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.

GORUCK Dublin 2015: Heavy After Action Review (AAR)

Heavy Class 062

It's been a little over a week since my first GORUCK event and, therefore, time for a little reflection. What is kind of funny is that when I returned to Vienna, I watched a short YouTube video by the GORUCK founder explaining the different event patches. When he starts to explain the Heavy patch, he says:

"This is not where you want to start. 24+ hours of the ultimate team event. If you haven't done a challenge I really, really, highly recommend that you NOT start here. We have more time with the heavy so we can expect more: teamwork, leadership, communication."

Well F%&K me... I definitely did not see this video prior to signing up for the GORUCK Dublin Heavy. It's a good thing I had the privilege to be on a team with some bona fide bad asses. Multiple people on the team have finished over 5 challenges. One beast (and I mean that as a compliment) finished 14 challenges. We even had a Selection finisher among us. Simply Amazing.

The Heavy

First and foremost, let me say that the GORUCK community is absolutely incredible. Even before the event there was so much camaraderie. I've never been around such an inclusive group before.

My ruck weighed in at 35.2 pounds dry and over 40# with liquids added. The team weight was a 50# sandbag and we had two flags (American and Irish).

All packed up and ready to go

35.2 pounds of Good Livin'

We started at 17:00 with roll call and there are 12 of us there. Many more registered but for one reason or another many did not turn up to the start. Perhaps they couldn't find the rugby pitch or CrossFit Fianna. Cadre Brian and Cadre Logan introduced themselves and provided some event background information (the ‘scare brief’) while inspecting our rucks. Then, they took all of our electronics and watches for the event. Good times.

Yes, it was as cold as it looked...and it only got colder!

I should mention that the Cadre told us that if we quit during the team portion of the Heavy we would have to first tell the cadre that we wanted to quit and then we would have to explain to the team that we wanted to drop. Wow, guilt is a powerful motivator to keep going. And when that fails, and you have a strong team, the team is there to support you.

Our first task was the "Physical Readiness Test". It's the only individual portion of the Heavy. This test consisted of 2 minutes of push-ups (US Army standards), 2 minutes of sit-ups (US Army standards), and a 12 mile ruck march in less than 3 hours with all the team shit. (Side note: I forgot that the standard was not chest to deck but rather chest to one fist above the deck…oh well I got a little stronger with the more rigorous standard.) Our ruck march ended up being 15 miles with about 5 miles at 40% grade up hill. Damn. Oh, and at the start of the ruck march the Cadres said "this is the individual component of the Heavy. No talking. No encouragement." Double Damn. We were sandwiched in between the two cadres: one was setting the ideal pace for the group and the other was pacing the cutoff time.

2 minutes of unbroken pushups. I got 43 with no warm up. That was a PR.

2 minutes of unbroken situps. I think i got 58. This was not a PR. I blame the tabata GHD situps earlier in the week.

The start of our timed ruck

For me, the timed ruck march was the most difficult task of the whole Heavy. I need to somehow learn how to walk faster with my short legs. While we were on level ground I was able to keep up by alternating between walking as fast I could and jogging. By the time we started to hike up the mountain it was clear that the jogging part of my strategy was going to be really tough. To make matters worse, at about 1/3 of the way up the mountain I realized that I already drank my 3 liters of water. Fuck! Thankfully the cadre allowed me to drink from a shadow's water bottle. During this ruck march we had a drop because his ruck malfunctioned. We were down to 11 people.

Somehow, I made it through that ruck march and to the top of the mountain. We had incredible views of Dublin along the way, but to be honest I couldn't really appreciate it as I was caught up in my own head:
• You ran out of water
• You’re only 1/8 of the way into the event
• You already have blisters on both feet
• You’re cold.

It was night time when we were there so this image of Cairn at Fairy Castle is from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fairy_Castle_Cairn_and_Trig_Pillar.jpg. 

I probably would have cried on top of that mountain if my tear ducts were not frozen (joking…sort of). If we weren't in the middle of nowhere, then I may have dropped and grabbed a cab back to the comfy and warm bed at the Gresham hotel. It’s a good thing we were in the middle of nowhere because once the team portion started the event actually became fun.

Before we hiked down the mountain, Cadre Brian pointed to this dark area in Dublin (we would later find out it's a Phoenix Park) that we would be hiking to. He also told us that from that point on it's about the team and we needed to tighten up. The rucks are not supposed to touch the floor and could not be supported by an inanimate object.

The hike down the mountain was a lot better than the hiked up. Yay for gravity! So glad i didn't drop!

As we marched to the park we found a gas station that was open and we were able to refill our water bladders. We also got our first PT session with jumping jacks, 8-count body builders, 7-count man makers, mountain climbers, and flutter kicks all with the ruck. I much prefer the PT sessions to the mountain hike.

After our PT session we continued to march to the park with a few stops sprinkled in to learn 1-person and 3-person buddy carries, do few sprints, and learn some commands:

• "straps" - the straps to our rucks could not be used and we had to carry the ruck by hugging it or by carrying it on top of one shoulder.
• "reach" - where within a 10 count you had to touch the person's ruck in front of you. I say a 10 count instead of 10 seconds because at times cadre would count really fast.
• "high boat" - walk with your ruck overhead with arms locked out.

At the time, this little command game was a sucky kind of fun. But in retrospect, it kept our minds active in the middle of the night so there was a method to the madness.


After the command game, the cadre assigned a team leader and told us who the "casualties" were (meaning they could not carry their ruck and the team had to carry them). The team leader a certain amount of time to formulate a game plan (on the order of 1-2 minutes). We continued to march throughout the night with the cadre rotating the team leader and casualties. We, of course, had more PT along the route with bear crawls and reverse bear crawls up and down steps. That got spicy fast!


We finally arrive to the park around sunrise and had a nice PT session. There's nothing like some bear crawls, crab walks, duck walks, lunges, seals/walruses, and monkey f&$kers to start the morning. After the PT session, the two Cadre switched off and Cadre Logan assigned a new team leader. This time, only the team leader knew our destination. We had to get to this location within a certain amount of time (I think we had 1 hour 25 minutes but I can't remember exactly). In fact, we really just had to move as fast as possible because we didn't actually have a watch to check our progress. We were 11 people and we had 3 casualties to deal with. So that's 8 people left to carry the 3 casualties, their rucks, the team weight, and two flags. Good times. This was a character builder and tested our team strength. The team was strong and did not waver at all.

Needless to say we missed our time check. Cadre Logan asked the team leader how much time would we need to get to the target. Moving forward we would now "only" have two casualties. He said "part of being a good team leader is knowing what your team is capable of at any given time". We had to pay for the extra time in reps of PT. We were also told that if we missed the next time check, the cost of more time would be more expensive. The team leader settled on 55 minutes and we were told it would be 5 reps per minute. We did a mixture of seated military press, squats, and flutter kicks to pay for our time. We made the next time check with a few minutes to spare. Go team!

Cadre Logan had to leave us at that point due to a family emergency and Cadre Brian was back to lead us through some more Good Livin'. At this time we also learned that one of our teammate's IT band was flaring up and the only way he could walk was with his leg in full lock out. This guy is a real badass and so mentally strong!

In the park, Mother Nature gifted the team a water soaked log. Joy! When I say this log was heavy....I mean this log was fucking heavy! Cadre had us pick the log up and told us 1) the log had to stay up and 2) he has a distance in mind so it doesn't matter how long we are carrying it for. Thankfully part of the rotting tree broke off so it made it a little lighter. It was lightER...it definitely wasn't light. We carried that log through the woods and even around this little gully near a road bridge. I thought we were going to fall into that gully! This was an extreme test for the team. We kept getting to this point where some of us would be hunched over so that our muscles were absorbing most of the weight. Cadre taught us how, in a coordinated fashion, we could all pop the log up and stand up so our bone structure could take more of the weight instead of our musculature. We needed team work for this because no one person was strong enough to stand the log up on their own.

"I'm up....he sees me..."

"...i'm down"

That damn log! So heavy!

Low crawls...

After the log exercise we start to march back towards the start point. Cadre took us through more PT, walking lunges, more casualties, and command games along the way back. Honestly most of the long walk back to the start location was a blur to me.

The start of the long walk

90 degrees...wow my hamstrings were tight!

6 inches

That moment Cadre tells you to push your rucks away...

I do have a few lessons-learned from my first GORUCK Heavy:

• Sip your water; don't gulp it as you don't know when you'll have an opportunity to refill it. 
• The body can accomplish a lot if the mind is committed to the task. In the event your body fails you, there is a team that has your back. 
• "Suffer in silence" - this is a new favorite motto of mine. At my gym, people tend to get caught up in grunting, panting, talking about how 'hard' their workout was, etc. What I learned during the Heavy is that that kind of talk is a lot of wasted energy. You have to embrace the suck and suffer in silence because everyone is suffering. Vocalizing the pain, difficulty, and frustration doesn't help the team. Energy is contagious: Both positive and negative. As cadre says, you have “find a reason to win”.

At the end of it, the 11 people who started the team portion finished. Normally, the GORUCK Heavy has a 50% drop rate. That speaks to the strength of this particular team. We went 52 miles in 21 hours. We got stronger together. We tackled different challenges together as a team. 

The look of victory! (or exhaustion)

We started the event as strangers but left as friends.

Here's a map to give you a sense of the distance traveled in 21 hours. Our rough path was: start at CrossFit Fianna then hiked along the water before going to Fairy Castle. From Fairy Castle we hiked to Phoenix Park and stayed there for a while doing PT and rucking to different points. Then we headed back to CrossFit Fianna.

My feet took a beating!

But it could always be worse...

I'm definitely hooked on these events. I survived the Dublin Heavy in large part due to the strength of the team. As I look forward to the HCL in Normandy (that’s back to back to back Heavy, Challenge, and Light events), I want to do more than just survive it. I want to excel by being more prepared mentally, emotionally, and physically.


Pictures taken by Marie Louise Brand, David L Thomas