GORUCK has created a new “style” of Challenge and Light events called the All Branches of Special Operations Challenge (acronyms: ABSOC and ABSOL). The idea here is that there will be one Cadre from each area of Special Operations bringing the suck to the collective group. The first set (Challenge and Light) of these events will occur on February 28th, 2014 and March 1st, 2014 in San Diego, CA.
According to Bert (on Facebook) the ABSOC Challenge will feature a special patch that is different than the normal GORUCK Challenge patch. GORUCK has been known to do this in the past with their green St. Paddy’s Day patch and special 9/11 patches. The ABSOC patches don’t disappoint either and I’m very excited to earn mine!
The following Cadre will be at the first ever ABSOC in San Diego:
- Big Daddy aka John Croft (Marine Recon)
- Geoff Reeves (Navy SEAL)
- Tyler Grey (Army Ranger)
- Michael Stewart (Air Force CCT)
- Bert Kuntz (Green Beret)
Cadre Bert’s Advice
Cadre Bert has been throwing out advice here and there relating to the event and this is my attempt at capturing it all in once place. The following are a few things that people signed up can do between now and February 28th to get prepared:
- Practice some breath holding techniques. 90 seconds is a good goal. Start by practicing while you are sitting stationary at a resting heartrate. Once you got that down, you can practice while jogging or sprinting or just after finishing a sprint, basically doing some anaerobic activities. DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH UNTIL YOU PASS OUT YOU MEATHEADS. You don’t need to hold your breath for 90 seconds for this Challenge, but it is a good goal and it will help.
- Practice hanging from a pull-up bar, any grip you want with NO ruck. Just a straight body weight dead hang. 2 minutes plus is a good goal.
- Get used to being cold and wet. As Cadre Geoff said…..”better start practicing taking cold showers.” Keep in mind Geoff also said “practicing for this Challenge would be like practicing for a car wreck….”