Credits: Article and images by Troy Barmore @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/panerai-navy-seals-experience/
Pushing beyond limits
The following morning at zero-dark-thirty, with our boots still wet and cold from the patrol the evening before, we gathered at a helicopter pad outside of our bunk houses for PT (physical training). This was the evolution that I was most dreading. We started gradually, with basic stretches to warm up. Gathering in a circle, one person was “voluntold” to lead the group in a series of coordinated burpees. All we needed to do was ten, in unison. All told, it took about 25 burpees to do so.
From there the morning intensified — push-ups, sit- ups, squats, counted off by a teammate. Due to the odd number of attendees, my partner was our Canadian medic. “You know I’m not going to go easy on you,” he said, with intensity and maybe a little glee.
“No, sir.” It suffices to say, he did not go easy on me. But we were just getting started.
Next up were the sandbags. Each weighing about 20 pounds, which were lined up on the far end of the field. “The goal,” our team leader informed us, “is for Red Team to carry each of those bags to this side of the field before Blue Team can carry theirs. You can carry one bag in each hand, or one at a time, but if you do that, someone is going to have to go back for an extra trip and carry what you couldn’t.”
This was a pivotal moment for all of us. The team formed up a line and prepared to sprint down the field one at a time. We exchanged knowing looks; even though we’d only known each other for a few hours, there was no way in hell any of us was going to make the next guy carry more. “Move!” I sprinted down the field as fast as I could run, grabbing two sandbags in each hand. The expanding fabric dug into my hands, and my arms screamed at me, already exhausted from the earlier exertion. My lungs were on fire. “Come on, Press, let’s go! Let’s see what you got” our team leader shouted.
I ran as fast as I could, dropping the bags at the line as our next teammate sprinted back down the field. We all cheered each other on. Blue Team did the same. There were several different iterations of these challenges. Red won some, Blue won others. We were told it pays to be a winner, as though winning might benefit us or spare us some future pain. It didn’t. One way or the other, we all ended up standing in line in front of an ice bath, a garden hose spraying freezing water in our faces as we were instructed on how to submerge ourselves. It was breathtakingly cold, in every sense of the word.
Credits: Article and images by Troy Barmore @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/panerai-navy-seals-experience/