MIND POWER

Saltbitch · Post by **Saltbitch** » July 25th, 2003, 1:21 pm

This is a question that I pose to the BTDT crew, because I notice there are a lot of DEP's with questions about PT. Perhaps hindsight doesn't afford me the ability to think in terms of "What are the limits to___" or "what is the minimum required for_____". I guess BN changed my(our) mindsets to think more in terms of 110%. Always doing more, always going one step farther than you thought you could, etc. Does anyone have any examples that could illustrate the point that I think we all try to make?

When I graduated RIP, I thought,"Wheeew! the hard part's over." As we all know, I couldn't have been more wrong. My first morning of PT with my squad was utter hell. I would have gone through 10 RIPs instead of that torture. And guess what kids? IT NEVER GOT ANY EASIER. BN is all about pushing farther and breaking limits; even if that means breaking yourself. I knew guys who literally almost dropped dead on road marches because there was NO WAY they were gonna fall out. My squad leader was prepping to go to pre-scuba, which meant so were we

I was new and cocky and every time they smoked me they always asked "do you want to quit yet". My HOOAH motivated response was always,"you can smoke my body but you can't smoke my mind!" Well one day while at the pool, they came up with the idea of a challenge. The 'deal' was that if I could hold my breath longer than my squad leader, then the smoke would stop. We both went under and sat there for what seemed like an eternity. At some point I closed my eyes, and tried to relax. I held my breathe as long as I could; everything was riding on this one. What I didn't know was that my squad leader had surfaced VERY early on. When the pain of holding my breath combined with the fear of actually drowning, I thought that this was the longest I could possibly go. I exhaled my air and began to surface. Before I actually came completely up, my squad leader jumped on me and pushed me down to the bottom. He held me there, thrashing and panicking, for what seemed like the rest of my life. Finally he let go, and I came to the surface spittin' and sputterin'. Now here's the lesson kiddies:
He asked me why I had decided to come up. I replied that I couldn't hold my breath any longer. He simply shook his head and replied,"You THOUGHT you couldn't. Your BODY told you, through pain and fear, that this is it; this is the end. I held you under for an additional ten-count, after you had already exhailed. Your mind listened and gave in; essentially gave up. Throughout your time in BN, you will face fear and pain. Do not stop, do not listen; it will only give you excuses to quit."

From that day on I never listened to pain or fear. I essentially re-trained my mind to think in terms of "forward momentum" instead of stop and rest.

Creeping Death · Post by **Creeping Death** » July 25th, 2003, 2:52 pm

A similar situation from my experience:

My Pre-Ranger class. The day of the road march. They had us out on the PT field doing react to indirect fire drills for four+ hours that afternoon with full rucks, etc. Naturally, the biggest guy in the patrol was always killed first, and I spent the better part of the afternoon with either my 240+lb friend over my shoulder, or carrying his ruck on my chest (with mine on my back). They let us get three hours of rack before the road march started, but we spent it force hydrating because we were all dehydrated already from the drills.

The road march started, and we RAN the first six miles - not slinkied - RAN. At the halfway point, during the break to take care of your feet, I overheard the cadre that led the road march tell another cadre the he was about to fall out! Let me put it this way, of all the miles I've marched, this one was the worst.

On the way back home, I lost the feeling in my legs at the nine mile mark. At ten miles, I went blind, and I knew that I was in serious trouble. My feet were destroyed, and I couldn't see, other than through peripheral vision. I started falling back through the formation, but I never quit, and the cadre saw that in me. My Ranger buddy knew that I was seriously fucked up, so he got behind me and squared me away. Every time I would stagger too far in one direction, he would buttsroke me on the shoulder, so that I would know which way to go (roadmarching blind is an aquired skill!). My buddy knew I would die before I fell out, but he also knew I could not see where to walk.

I finished that fucking road march to standard. As soon as walked onto the basketball court, my buddies told the cadre that I needed a medic ASAP. The cadre stripped me down - butt ass naked - and sat me down on the steps leading into the barracks. As soon as I stopped moving, my body wanted to go unconsious. So, the cadre was standing above me, slapping the ever loving Hell out of me to keep me awake (Note to the cherries: If he would have let me pass out, my condition would have gotten seriously worse, possibly even reulting in death - depending on the severity of my condition, which was unknown at this point).

When the medics got me in there, I took the first IV like it was nothing. Then, the second was dissapearing fast, and he told me that if I had to have a third, that I'd have to go to the hospital (which meant me flunking Pre-Ranger on a medical). After the second bag, my vision started coming back. At the medics request, they let me eat an MRE (the rest of the guys couldn't eat for another three hours), and that did the trick. I came back to fully operational, allthough I'd seen better days.

The medic was seriously pissed at the cadre, though, for not pulling me out of the road march. The medic said that based on my body core temperature, if the cadre would have let me walk another mile, I very well could have fallen dead in the middle of the road. The cadre told him that he didn't pull me because I was doing whatever it took for me to stay in "the game", and he wasn't about to make me quit.

Other than walking funny for a day or two due to my feet being solid blisters, I pushed my body to the extreme edge. The moral of the story: no matter how bad it hurts, Rangers never, ever, under any circumstances, at any time, quit. Period. No matter what.

"With a Tab, or on a slab!"

Saltbitch · Post by **Saltbitch** » July 25th, 2003, 3:08 pm

Fuckin' A, Creepy, now that's what I'm talkin' about.

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » August 15th, 2003, 11:29 am

I popped a hernia in week 4 of basic training (feb 97) and didn't actually get it operated on until october 97. I had been in batt since july 97 and we were on squad ex-evals (oct 97), where I was the AB for a 240B team. After the hernia had grown from mere half inch in feb to almost three by October and actually started causing me some REALLY intoloerable pain, I told the medic. The Platoon Sgt told me "Go back to the rear, get it fixed and I'll DX you. Stay the rest of the field problem, do your job and you stay in my platoon." So guess what? I stayed the last three days' of the field problem. That wasn't even the worst pain I felt during my stint in Batt. Hell, wasn't even the worst injury! But walking around with your nuts in a sling for two weeks' really endears you to your buddies and makes nicknames really easy to come up with.

Double Edged Blade · September 13th, 2003, 6:10 am

The Holmchicken · September 13th, 2003, 11:06 am

Wow! Shin splints? That's about the worse injury I've ever heard of and I'm sure many of the Rangers who post here would tell you the same. It's horrible and tragic what you have to endure in gym class when your 17. Smell that? It's sarcasm. Get used to it. Now, since I've belittled you and your "problem" allow me to offer a solution. Besides the obvious (which is stop being a pussy and deal with it), try putting mineral ice on your shins before running. It's like icy hot, only it doesn't heat up. When your done running, wash up and put icy hot on your shins. Most of all, stop whinning. At 17, your body can have limbs removed and they'll probably grow back over night.

Double Edged Blade · September 13th, 2003, 11:52 am

BadMuther · Post by **BadMuther** » January 26th, 2004, 1:14 am

Good posts...had to resurrect this one......

During basic I was petrified of going to sick call...I thought I'd get recycled and somehow lose my RIP slot.

I remember doing a required road march and feeling an intense pain in my foot...I sucked it upfor another 5 miles....Next day, went to sick call, had a stress fracture...Hobbled for two days then just sucked it up.

I also remember being in the "field" at basic being sick as hell......having a big temperature and feeling like I was going to pass out...But I didn't say anything, I just sucked it up....

I don't really remember much about RIP except for pain, fear and misery.......and knowing I would never quit.

Currahee 3-4 · Post by **Currahee 3-4** » January 26th, 2004, 7:10 pm

When i arrived in korea,my first duty station,as a cherrry private,my LT. made it very clear what he expected form us.There wasnt one particular thing that was impressive about him,but he would never ever quit ata anything,no matter his condition.I always used him as an example.

Unfortunately at the time i was there,desert storm was still going on,and we had a severe shortage of NCO's,and eventuallyy i was put inthe position of team leader,as an E-2.Luckily,again,my LT had set a great example,forced us to learn quickly,and made sure we knew what the hell we were doing.He was the only Ranger qualified person in the platoon,most of us really lookwed up to him as we had NCO's coming in from Ft.Benning that had been working as range cadre for years and were prettty hopeless.

So as time went on,i learned to lead by example,and sick call was a no-no.I was at beautiful camp Liberty Bell,and if youve ever been there you know it was a long trip to Camp Greaves for sick call....so why bother????Well somewhere along the line i developed an infectionthat settled into my jaw.I more or less developed lock jaw.

Wel its tough to eat with your jaws not working,and having an infection, the fevers werent helping either.I still was at PT every day,weel;y road marches,received my EIB,but was not doing real well.People noticed my weight loss,and they knew about my jaw,but i wasnt talking about the fevers which were taking their toll.It all became a blur,we went to the field for about 11 days and when we got back i was in bad shape.Luckily my roomate was the platoon medic(our medics and FO's lived with us)He walked in to our room and i was under a blanket sweating and shivering and somewhat delirious.He tok my temperature,i told him there was no need i was feeling better.Well when it said 103 he went through the roof,threatened to pack me in ice.A half hour later i was in an ambulance headed for Seoul.

When i arrived i found out i was at 120lbs. from my usual 155 or so,they had to stick me 13 times to get an IV in me because i was so dehydrated,had to feed me what amounted to baby food,and gave me a solid ass chewing for being stupid.They told me how close i had come to getting really fucked up,but i just figured it was a mind over matter thing and eventually would go away.

During all of this i still took care of my guys,was present for everything the platoon did,made every run,every road march,every task in the field.In hindsight it wasnt my brightest moment,but the guys never forgot it,and respected me for what i had put up with to help the platoon.Luckily i was scheduled for leave,and went home for a few weeks to recover after a week in the hospital.

The only vivid memory i have of the whole thing was that hot ass day when the CG pinned on our EIB's.When he pinned it on then buried it in my chest i thought my knees would buckle...i think i truly wanted to die that day...lol.I beleive it was 2 days later when they shipped me to the hospital.

Not a real hooah story,but an example to any DEPs,never quit,never let your men down,and lead by example.

Red Manchu · Post by **Red Manchu** » March 27th, 2005, 5:54 pm

I was reading the back posts in this forum and came upon this. I thought the rest of the DEPs/Newts would benifit from these stories. Thanks for the motivation Ranger Saltbitch, Ranger Creeping Death, Ranger The Holmchicken, Ranger BadMuther, and Veteran Currahee 3-4.

Kilted Heathen · Post by **Kilted Heathen** » March 27th, 2005, 7:47 pm

Red Manchu wrote:I was reading the back posts in this forum and came upon this. I thought the rest of the DEPs/Newts would benifit from these stories. Thanks for the motivation Ranger Saltbitch, Ranger Creeping Death, Ranger The Holmchicken, Ranger BadMuther, and Veteran Currahee 3-4.

Shut the fuck up