“F3 Storms Bannerman Crossings and Killearn Lakes”
Q: Wiseguy
CSAUP: Ron Swanson, Little Debbie, Recount, Crab Legs, Cathy
PAX: FNG Craig Thomas, Pineapple (formerly known as Thomas McCall), Billy Madison, Jackie Chiles, Slowhand, Big Gulp, Iron Horse
Prior to the 0600 start, Little Debbie was wondering where his shoes went. We now learned how fast you can get from Southwood to Bannerman round trip (~ 35 minutes). But, he did not bother to bring us any coffee and donuts (#howrude). But, at least, this time he did not forget his shoes.
Lesson #1: Applicable everywhere, always have an extra pair of old sneakers and clothes in your vehicle. You never know when you are going to need them.
CSAUP began @ 0600
I make it a tradition to play the National Anthem at the beginning of every CSAUP. It will also serve as a last-minute refresher in case anyone did not do his homework coming into the event.
With the other four weirdos who did not forget their shoes, we proceeded to a bunch of legal safety mumbo jumbo, particularly for the newbie, Recount. The other three would probably still lawyer up against me if I hurt their feelings. No one had busted ovaries, but some may have extra breast tissue.
The Packing List
Required items on the packing listItems that will get you in trouble if you do not have:
Ruck
Appropriate ruck plate
Hydration bladder
Headlamp (for nighttime events)
Photo ID
$20 quitter cash
Any item requested by Cadre to bring (i.e. biography of a fallen soldier)
Team weight and American flag (amongst the team)
Items that could get you in trouble if you do not have them
Extra batteries for headlamp (you should have them no matter what)
Reflective bands (most newer rucks now have them built into the ruck)
Items that will likely not get you in trouble if you do not have them (but you should still use them as they can serve you well during the event)
Face mask
First aid kit (make sure it includes items for blisters)
Nalgene bottle
Windbreaker (weather dependent)
Gloves
Oral rehydration salts (definitely bring regardless)
Items that are not on the required packing list but can serve you well during the event
Daisy chain(s)
Carabiners
High-calorie foods (i.e. nut butters, energy bars)
Waterproofing gear – dry bag, Pelican case
Extra light source
Goggles (if anticipation for water events)
Recovery tool – (i.e. small ball to massage feet)
Ruck Dump
- Not typical for an event that is not Selection or Assessment
- More often used to get moving quick if you are falling behind on breaks in action
- Ruck plate then hydration bladder should be packed first
- Larger items at the bottom and smaller at the top
- Know what is in your ruck
Sandbag Transfers
Sandbag twist
- Can continue to move forward and prevent stoppages for transfers
- Helpful for light to medium weight sandbags
- Can be tricky to learn if you have not practiced them before
- The person giving up the sandbag should do most of the rotation and assist with getting the sandbag properly on the recipient’s shoulders
Limbo method
- Can continue to move forward and prevent stoppages for transfers
- Helpful for heavy weight sandbags
- Requires an additional two people with free hands to execute
- Once the two supporters grab both ends of the sandbag, the donor moves forward out of the bag and the recipient ducks under the receive the sandbag
Back-to-back method
- Likely requires at least a momentary full stop as one person will be facing in the opposite direction of the movement or both people will be perpendicular to the direction of the movement
- Helpful for all weights of sandbags
- If the donor is shorter than the recipient, the donor can attempt to stand on a curb to hand off
- Donor and recipient are back-to-back and the donor shifts the sandbag backward to the recipient’s back
For the remainder of the time, we practiced the sandbag transfers in the parking lot of Hangar 38. Overall, not a lot of work was done between 0600 and 0700.
Welcome Party @ 0700
Seven more PAX joined for the welcome party, including a first-time FNG. We gathered our weights to proceed to First Florida Bank (EXCUSE ME, Credit union #notabank). We did a very elongated Name-o-rama with every person in the group. I asked for their favorite exercise and I found a way to get a number somehow from any random follow-up question about themselves I can find out. After the reps were done, we did one lap around the CREDIT UNION.
Lesson #2: If a Cadre or Q screws up a rep count in your favor, do not correct him.
After the first half, we learned that Crab Legs and Ron Swanson have THAT kind of relationship. Iron Horse was featured in the month of May in a calendar. Crab Legs tried to tell us that he was born on 01/01/1901, and I was tempted to say that the rep count was 120 because that would be how old he would be. Since he picked burpees, that would take up too much of the remainder of the hour, so I decided against it.
Lesson #3: If a Cadre or Q asks you to pick a number between X and Y, pick a number just below the average of the high and low as it would most likely be the lowest number to be accepted.
We took an intermission. I asked the non-CSAUP PAX to write down the words to the Star-Spangled Banner. Each PAX took turns writing each line. It got hairy after the fourth line. I got the CSAUP PAX to fix the mistakes. When we ran out of chalk, we returned to the circle and proceeded to sing the entire National Anthem with our weights overhead.
The second half of Name-o-rama had more of the same shenanigans. The difference between a man-maker (push-up, right row, push-up, left row, plank to stand, press) and a bodybuilder (push-up, plank jack, plank to stand).
We traveled back to the Flag. I was last in the Name-o-rama and we did one of my favorite exercises, the getup.
Personally, I think every American citizen should know all the words to the Star-Spangled Banner. We have generations taking our freedoms for granted. To me, looking at these lyrics, it emphasizes the point that our freedoms are not free.
Here are the lyrics:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
We named Thomas McCall, Pineapple, as it is our reserve nickname in case we were in a pinch and could not come up with anything more embarrassing.
Sandbag Worm
The CSAUP PAX drove to Epiphany Church to continue the remainder of the event. I grabbed my coupons. For 6 PAX, I brought out one 65#, two 80# (ish), and one 100# sandbag. I had a carabiner on every sandbag and we would first practice maneuvering a log. Unfortunately, I am not blessed to have a log lying around near me, nor do I have a method to safely transport it. We had to play a little pretend.
Lesson #4: Never drop any of the coupons, especially a log, on the ground. Place them on the ground. Not only can it be unsafe, but the Cadre will not look at that favorably.
We proceeded to take our sandbag worm to my house in Golden Eagle. Recount was our TL. I proceeded to STFU and try to be the gray man. I basically agreed to do whatever I am told to do. There were some bumps in the road to figuring out the best way to get the coupons to my house. Eventually, there was a strategy in place.
Once we made it to my house, I proceeded to continue the exercise with the neighborhood loops. Recount proposed a time hack to get the sandbag worm through the entire loop without wearing our rucks. He asked for 20 minutes. I agreed and we moved forward with the exercise carrying the sandbag worm. Looking at my watch and seeing the time that had elapsed, I gave out the bonus time hack of 18 minutes to remove 100 pull-ups from the next activity. By the way, the PAX have no clue how much time had elapsed. The lap was completed in 12 minutes 40 seconds (about 0.75 mi in distance).
I added one more time hack to the next round. If the PAX can beat the previous time to complete the same lap with both the sandbag worm with their rucks on, I would remove 200 push-ups and 300 squats from the next activity as well. If the PAX do not finish in 15 minutes, however, I put back the 100 pull-ups that I took away. In discussing the strategy on how to complete it faster this time, I hinted at using the tools that they brought. Daisy chains and extra carabiners were used to connect the sandbags and give more space to move and change sandbags. All I asked was to have all the sandbags connected to each other. In retrospect, the daisy chains could have been used at the beginning. This strategy proved to make things much easier and the PAX completed this lap in 11 minutes 21 seconds.
Lesson #5: If you brought extra tools to use during the event, such as a carabiner or a daisy chain, utilize them as much as you can, until the Cadre says you cannot.
Team Murph
The sandbags were put back and we proceeded to the pull-up bars for the Team Murph. The Team Murph is, as advertised, done as a team. The one-mile run is done as a team. All the pull-ups must be done before the team can move onto the push-ups, and then the squats, etc. All of these were done without extra weight. I got rid of one person’s complement of reps so the totals for the reps were 500 pull-ups, 1,000 push-ups, and 1,500 squats. The entire Team Murph was completed in 1 hour and 6 minutes. Doing the Murph in order this way is way harder than being able to break up all the exercises in smaller chunks (i.e. 5, 10, 15). Thankfully, no one asked me about a time hack or if we should be wearing rucks because it was in my notes to agree to those “requests.”
Lesson #6: Don’t give the Cadre more ideas on how to make the event harder #bluefalcon.
Pool Work
Once that was completed, we proceeded to the pool. Even though it was in the 80’s outside, spoiler alert, the water was very cold. We “warmed” up with some easy water PT to get the breathing underwater warmed up.
Then, everyone placed their rucks in the shallow end of the pool. I mixed them up. Everyone proceeded to the deep end of the pool. I assigned each person, one at a time, to grab another PAX’s ruck. All I hinted about this activity beforehand was to make your ruck distinguishable somehow. Although, I should have switched some patches around to make the activity harder next time. If there were more rucks to select, this obviously would have been a much harder activity. We got them all correct.
Next, three of us dropped the rucks at the deep end of the pool. For twenty seconds, the PAX treaded water with arms up and then when I said go, they retrieved their ruck from the pool. After this, we treaded water at the deep end of the pool while singing the National Anthem.
Lesson #7: Practice applying basic skills to real-life scenarios. When it comes time for the real-life scenario, you will be ready to take on the challenge.
Sandbag Twist Practice
Once we dried off, we headed back to the SP with just one extra 80# sandbag. We practiced changing the sandbags with a reverse shake-and-bake consistently for the entire distance. It seemed like we got the technique down.
After thoughts
I designed this CSAUP to allow everyone to make some mistakes and solve the problem. Communication amongst team members is key and thankfully Rogue Region has 20% of the total participants in the F3 HTL. The better you know your team, the easier it is to figure out nuances such as strengths and weaknesses so that you can use them to the team’s advantage.
I was hoping for more people but this was the beginning of Spring Break. I was thankful to have the five guinea pigs at hand. I actually have more ideas on how to make a similar activity better in the future. Good job and thanks to all the participants (even the 0700 post PAX).
We will certainly find out if we made headlines in the NextDoor app tomorrow…
Next CSAUP will be the Murph marathon on Memorial Day. Stay tuned.