My GoRuck Challenge
By John A. Thompson, Submitted
Twenty-one of us stood waiting in the parking lot and watched a cool customer exit a car. “Form up on me”, he said. He waited patiently as we all hurried to get into two lines. “Sound off as I call your name”. After he was done reading roll call, he had us sign our “Death Waivers”, and then he introduced himself, “I am Cadre Jerad. You can call me Cadre or you can call me Jared, but do not call me sir, I earn my paycheck. I am active-duty Special Forces (Green Beret) here to give you some “good livin’”, follow me”, and he took off on a run. My GoRuck Challenge had begun. The GoRuck Challenge was the brainchild of an ex-special forces soldier who had gone into the business of manufacturing rucksacks, more commonly known in the civilian world as backpacks. The Challenge was his way of testing and marketing these packs to show that they were the best in the world. He signed up a few of his special forces friends and has them lead groups of people (teams) through various tortures similar to special forces training and/or combat, all while carrying four bricks (if you are under 150 pounds) or six bricks (if you’re over 150 pounds) in your rucksack. “Eight to 10 hours and 16 to 18 miles of good livin’”, but these guys always “under promise and over deliver”. It’s their tagline.
