Big news out of GORUCK HQ that service components are no longer required at GORUCK Light, Tough, and Heavy events. In May of 2017 GORUCK made service components mandatory at all Challenge events. There were people on both sides of that decision but in the end GORUCK committed to it.
We saw a TON of amazing service projects come from this requirement. Indianapolis, in particular, dedicated an entire HTL around a service component and did something amazing for their community.
Video Announcement
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnbdd2OG9mY[/embedyt]Do you prefer video? Get all of the details related to this change above!
Service Component No Longer Required
Nearly two years later GORUCK has announced that service components are no longer mandatory at GORUCK Challenges. The news trickled down through cadre and the rumor mill went wild.
I’m not the biggest fan of rumors especially when they’re easy to get a solid answer. I sent an email over to GORUCK to see what was up. My question to them was: “are service projects no longer required at events? I know there’s the whole be a good person thing but is there an official response on service projects?”
Their response?
Based on participant feedback we have decided to not make the service component a requirement, BUT we strongly encourage participants to look for service-related opportunities and work with the cadre on it .
GORUCK HQ
And that’s the official word on the service component.
Quitters Cash for Donations
Shout out to Year of the GORUCK for quoting Cadre Fagan‘s post in a recent GORUCK Tough Facebook Page. I headed on over there and took a screenshot on the “quitters cash” update.
There you have it on the quitters cash side of things. I know in the past we raised a lot of money for charity that way. Cadre Fagan does make a good point (in a comment on the event page) that you don’t know for sure where the money is going when you hand it off to a participant.
Your Thoughts?
Service components are no longer a requirement but they’re strongly encouraged. Quitters cash can no longer be collected at the end of the event. Is this good news? Bad news? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments!
Thanks for posting this, I wasn’t aware of it. I have mixed feelings on these two things. First, I’m not happy they are dropping the service component for H, T, and L events. I was not a big fan of the addition of the service component initially, but I very quickly warmed up to the idea and then became a huge proponent—ESPECIALLY after I completed the 2018 Veteran’s Day Heavy in Indy (which you highlighted above), which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date, with essentially the entire H (and T and L) weekend being dedicated to a MASSIVE service project that really made a serious and long-lasting impact for a community in Indy. I hope that GORUCK re-considers this and finds a way to include the service component back into the Good Livin’ events.
Regarding the new rules on Quitter’s Cash, I think this is a totally good move. Even though I always trusted the folks I was handing over my $$ to, I’ve felt pressure myself at the end of events to give up my Quitter’s Cash. Good call on this.
Agree so much with your comments. The quitters cash is something I’m happy to see go. I really hope they use what they’ve learned to create Service Action Events. Could bring a lot of good press to GORUCK and can absolutely change communities. A lot of good has happened from these… Maybe by strongly encouraging them (but not mandating) we’ll still see the Indy style events but won’t see the last minute put together ones? Only time will tell!
I think they’re good changes. The events that were going to have meaningful service components will continue to have them, but I’ve seen some events with very minimal service (bring some canned goods or a bag of dog food, etc.) which are fine, but I don’t think just checking the box with a little service action like that was what the service requirement was originally envisioned as.
That makes a lot of sense. I know some events spent time on their service actions and integrated them into the events while others treated it more like a checklist item.
Team Weight? Check. Flag? Check. Service Component? Check.
That’s how the majority of the events I went to were. It’s not a terrible thing but you’re right it doesn’t embody the spirit of the service requirement that was probably originally envisioned.