Endurance

Pain is Irrelevant

That all too familiar adrenaline feeling started to creep into my stomach. I shook out my arms and legs one last time. In my mind, I knew what I was about to experience was not going to be fun at all. Nor was is going to take a short amount of time.

A Lieutenant standing by the beginning of the obstacle course looked at his watch and clip board, then back at me and Lt. Texas. We both stood in position to start. The steel bars and arrangement of logs were wet with morning dew. The walls were dented and scratched from boots and knees. The 20 foot rope at the end stood still. The air was cool this time, unlike that last time we did this when the humidity nearly put half our platoon in medical for heat exhaustion.

"10 seconds" The Lt. said to the both of us. I Looked over at Texas. His weight was shifted off of his right foot. Tendons in his foot had been bothering him lately. You would never know from his stare down the course. He was going to run it despite the injury.

"GO" He said clicking his watch.

I launched myself over the first log and up to the first obstacle. I swung my self up the first 8 foot single bar and over, then to the next obstacle, gripping the wet steel bar and pushing myself up the logs. I scaled the wall, then jumped over a series of low lying logs to the double parallel bar. After stumbling over them, I finally reached the rope and pulled myself up to the top to finish. Lt. Texas was not far behind as we both slapped the top log.

As the potential for injury is high, and the obstacles take quiet a bit of energy to maneuver over, the majority of my resolve and strength was used to get through this 2 minute course.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning.

I ran down the gravel path way along the course to my gear. I Threw on my 25 pound pack, my load bearing vest, slung my rifle around my back and headed for the trail leading into the dense forest. Several other out of breath Lt.'s did the same. Texas wasn't too far behind.

Mile 1

The path was uneven. Jagged edges of roots and rocks disrupted every step up every hill. Starting the run out of breath took a toll on my lungs and heart. My clothes already started to soak through, and the heat that I generated from my own body heat made me dizzy.

Mile 2

Log obstacles were only 4 feet high. Due to the weight that we carried, launching over the log was not easy. A Lieutenant in front of me attempted to get over. You could see in his face and hear in the grunts that his muscles were cramping. He fell over as he got to the other side. Slow to get up, he did not even bother to brush himself off. He continued to run as if he never fell

Mile 3

Sweat dripped from my helmet as I looked upon the 30 foot rock cliff. The frayed rope soaked with grime and sweat hung off of the jagged edges. Despite how intimidating the grey wall of stone looked, I gripped the rope and pulled up. Getting to the top, I felt triumphant that the hard part was over.

Then I looked ahead and saw 6 more rope obstacles to climb and descend.

Mile 4

The barbed wire caught onto my pack. I lowered myself further into the mud and water and dug my finger nails into the ground to pull myself forward. The contrast between the cold water and my skin sent shivers down my spine and made it hard to breathe momentarily. After crawling several meters, I stood up and began to run. I tripped over the low rocks, as my water logged boots made it hard to lift my feet completely off the ground.

Mile 5

Old injuries began to resurface. Shin splints from cross country throbbed. The tops of my knees creaked. My right ankle pounded with each rock that I press my heel into. The pack and rifle sling dug into my shoulders and pinched the nerves. I heard a rustle behind me. Another Lt. fell on the ground. He pushed himself up and kept going. His Knee was ripped and bleeding.

Finally the last log by the finish line was there. I gave the last of whatever strenght I had and fell over the log and onto the finish side.

"65 minutes, 55 seconds" Said an officer at the end with a stop watch.



I have long thought about what makes a Marine the person that he/she is. You have asked yourself the same question when you see one; they have a completely different composure than the rest. You can pick them out in a crowd, even among other military members. So what is it that makes them so different?


One element that I realized is that accomplishing a mission or task becomes more important that the physical feeling of pain. During that course, every marine there was not thinking about how much pain they were in; they were focused on getting to the end in a particular amount of time. It is this kind of conditioning that trains us for war. No matter how much discomfort is brought, whether heat exhaustion or wound, the only thing that matters is completing the mission.

It is this mind frame that Marines carry. Although that mentality is not always on the tip of their decor, you can see it. Its there.


I walked around in the cool down circle. It had been some time since I had been there. Finally, Lt. Texas came walking over to the circle. I look at him. He knew what I was going to ask. He shook his head in the affirmative. He made it just under the time he needed. I pointed at the deck to his foot. He shook his head in the negative.


Pain in irrelevant. It is inevitable. Mission accomplishment is the only thing that matters. It is what we are trained to do.