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February 1, 2020
Grand Rapids to Farnsworth Metropark: 0500-0800
Farnsworth Metropark to Village Idiot, Maumee, OH: 0800-1130
Qs: Isosceles, Mercy
PAX: Stark, Whispers, Slurpee, Van Gogh, Red Ryder, Billy Bob, Lonzo, Ponzi, Ticket, Huckleberry, Thai Guy, Flo, Bongo, Otto
Started at Grand Rapids public library at 0500. 5 PAX (Van Gogh, Isosceles, Mercy, Billy Bob,) rucked approximately 9 miles with 3 60# Sandbag coupons.
The PAX crossed the bridge over the Maumee, and were EH’d by Billy Bob who lives in Grand Rapids, as he was driving to the beatdown and ruck at the Battlefield. Switching the sandbags and flag, the group was making good time.
Around mile 3, Red Ryder’s shin splints started flaring up, and he chose to turn back. He took a sandbag with him. We didn’t want him to turn around, but he was in pain and it was his call.
The 5 left pushed forward with the flag and sandbag, stopping once for a bathroom break. There was not much time to do anything else, as the group pushed hard to make the 0800 time hack. It was a good time, and it was a hard time. There was good conversation, as always, but there’s not much more to say other than it was just a hard ruck. The group arrived at the end of Leg 1, right on time with nothing to spare.
At 0800, the rest of the crew met the group at Farnsworth Metropark after most did the normal 1 hour ruck and 1 hour beatdown at the Battlefield. Before starting the 8 miles trek to Maumee, the group did 5 sets of 10 burpees, with rucksacks on.
We headed out and rucked 1.5 miles to Waterworks park and did 2 rounds of the following PT:
We rucked through Waterville and headed to Sidecut metro which was approximately 4 miles away. We traded coupons every 5 minutes and made the guys join new conversations. We made it to Sidecut by 1015. The PAX did a quick relay race of bear crawls and coupon carry. We crossed the road and started the team evolution.
The team evolution was to take the following items and create a “cart” that would carry the coupons approximately 1.5 miles.
Time Hack was 15 minutes to build cart. The PAX did a great job of delegating tasks and working together to make a wheelbarrow type cart that was mobile. After a little trial and error, the cart was moving. Guys traded off and everyone pitched in. There were a few attempts to just carry the cart, but it was decided that less energy was used pulling the cart and using the wheel.
The final push was up a hill through Isosceles yard…everyone was spent! Walked to St. Joe’s parking lot to hand in our winter/spring workout clothes to Cherry Street Mission and snap a quick photo.
Finally, we strolled into the Village Idiot for some 2nd F over pizza and beer….man they both tasted amazing!
What a great group of PAX on this ruck. The mood was light, the effort was great, and everyone finished strong. It was an honor for Mercy and I to lead this group. Thank you for making it a solid event.
2nd F Attendance:
Stark, Huckleberry, Ponzi, 2Pac, Flo, Thai Guy, Mercy, Isosceles, Slurpee, Whispers, Bongo, Otto, Ticket
May 18, 2019
0600-0900; 0900-1200
May Monthly Ruck: Legs were made for rucking
Shops at Fallen Timbers
First half: Wake, Isosceles, Huckleberry, Mother Rucker, Flo, Tupac, Bluto, Patriot, Billy Bob, Huffy, Mailman, Scrooge, Cousteau, Mercy
Second Half: Tupac, Billy Bob, Casper, Mercy
Before diving into this, I want to express gratitude and appreciation for everyone that showed up. It means a lot that you trusted me with 3 -6 hours of your Saturday am.
We started at 0600 with a few guys coming in hot. Rain and construction on the best exit to get to Fallen Timbers slowed up the process, but we started the ruck with 11 and ended with 14. No one dropped off, and it was nice to add to the group.
In the introduction, Mercy gave the core principles of F3 and the mission, a brief over view of our 3rd F component – Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Braedan’s Bridge, and off we went.
We moved to the hotel parking lot, circled up, and did some warm-up exercises in cadence, then moved out around the parking lot and to the trailhead of the Wabash-Cannonball’s South Fork. Around this time, the rain started to pick up.
We took the South Fork to the North Fork of the Cannonball trail, onto Jerome Road to the Fallen Timbers Battlefield trail. With us, we had some sandbags and water jugs. The jugs were lighter than the sandbags, but the movement of the water, and the shape of the jugs, made the carrying awkward and difficult, as it should be during a CSAUP event.
We also had a weighted shovel flag, just to add to the difficulty.
When we exited the Fallen Timbers Battlefield trail, we were able to gather the last person of our group. We found out that we have a fugitive from Oklahoma among us. The fugitive also found out about his wanted status in the State of Oklahoma since he’s never been to Oklahoma in his life, but the situation did not bring around any more trouble than that.
We rucked over to the Fallen Timbers Battlefield Monument, and planted the flag and grounded our coupons.
At this point, Mother Rucker took lead for a segment. In two lines, we raced against the clock to dump our rucks completely, and hold them above our heads. Of course, we were not fast enough, and as a group we did some PT. There were crab walks, lunges, lunges as a group, bear crawls, and other exercises as we failed a few times to dump our rucks quickly enough, and then failed to shove it all in our rucks again.
(Pro tip on this exercise: after the initial dumping, don’t worry about putting things back in their specific pockets. Just shove it all in like a winner. This makes the dumping easier, and gives you time to help the rest of the team.
Also, at some point, even if you do things perfect as a team, the cadre will find issue with something if he wants to kill more time, so there’s the other aspect – something may get nitpicked as an excuse to do more PT that was already planned.)
After we successfully dumped and shoved it back in, we had a few minutes to pack up our rucks, and we moved out, down through Side Cut Park, down to River Road and along the Maumee River. We made our way back up to the footbridge that stretches over the Anthony Wayne Trail, and we rucked back to the starting point. While waiting to cross a street, we did some squats until the light turned. Some of us were lucky enough to do some squats with the coupons.
When we made it to our start point, we were lucky enough to have 20 minutes or so left. The standard for monthly rucks proscribes the length – 3 hours, and I wanted to be sure everyone got their money’s worth.
We circled up and did a version of the Robbie Miller WOD in cadence. The full WOD is 12 rounds, 6 reps of each exercise. Rucks were optional for this. The 4 exercises: bent over rows (instead of pull-ups), burpee squats, 4 count mountain climbers, and ruck getups.
This was work, and after 2 rounds, ruck get-ups were switched out with overhead ruck presses. We pushed through one more round with this modification, and we had a few minutes left.
Wake was kind enough to let me know that I did not need to worry about anyone feeling shortchanged if we stopped at that point. By this point, the reason for our 3rd F component had arrived, and I knew we had 1 more round in us. So we persevered and finished strong.
My face when I’m wore out.
We put in a lot of work. It was a solid 3 hours, and I was proud of the work the PAX put in. We had rucked just over 6.5 miles, with a tough amount of PT. But this work was about to be put in perspective.
While circled up doing the WOD, Tammy and Braedan arrived and watched. Tammy and her son Braedan were the 3rd F focus, and I was thrilled Tammy wanted to come speak to us at halftime. Tammy told us about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It affects mostly boys. When we workout, we breakdown muscle. Our bodies produce Dystrophin to help us build back our muscles. Braedan’s body does not produce Dystrophin. As you know, our hearts and lungs are important muscles. So beyond the impact of walking and physical activity, this form of muscular dystrophy threatens breathing and living.
Tammy painted a raw picture of this disease, with Braedan, 13 years old, standing there with her. However, Braedan and his family are inspiring. When they received this diagnosis, they decided to make the most out of life. Braedan is an avid hunter, and hunts everything. From hunting turkey to big game in Africa, Braedan and his family have refused to be victims.
With amazing perspective, Braedan once told his mom that he didn’t like Duchenne, but it was kind of a good thing he had Duchenne. Taken aback, Tammy asked why – Braedan said that then he would not have been able to meet so many people were it not for Duchenne.
Braedan lives life to the fullest, and is an inspiration to me, and I hope he inspires the rest of the PAX.
We have an opportunity to serve and help find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. On October 5, the 7th Annual All In for Duchenne casino night is being held at Tam-O-Shanter in Sylvania. We have opportunities to volunteer, attend, or donate items to be auctioned off. I asked the PAX to consider these things, and I will be posting more information, along with a calendar event on GroupMe.
We closed out in ball of man, as Braedan joined us.
As the circle disbanded, Cousteau was awesome and thoughtful enough to give Braedan an F3 patch. Tammy was thrilled with our response to her and Braedan, and I look forward to coming through for her and Braedan for their casino night.
The second half of the ruck started up as Casper joined up with Mercy, Tupac, and Billy Bob. We dumped the coupons and weight on the flag, focusing on keeping up the pace. We headed back over the footbridge over the Anthony Wayne Trail, past the Battlefield Monument, down to Side Cut’s paths along the Maumee River. This time we rucked through to the Silver Lake area, looking for to get some elevation in. We had some patches to earn via GORUCK’s monthly ruck club callout. We needed 1,500 feet of elevation, or 1,500 stairs climbed. We rucked through an outdoor event that was being held in the Silver Lake area with our American flag.
We thought the sledding hill was going to be an option to earn the elevation, but there was an archery activity taking place, with arrows being shot towards the hill. We reconsidered and moved on.
Along the way, Tupac EH’d several people and ate wild Asparagus
Planting the flag, we found a flight of 15 steps. With some quick math, we figured out we needed to go up and down these steps 15 times. We split it up into quarters and pushed. It was not easy, and Casper who co-Q’d the beatdown at the Fortress just a few hours before which happened to skew heavy toward leg work, was blessed with more leg work.
A lot of people were in Side Cut while we earned our patch. Again, this was not easy, and it was hard-earned. I was proud of the push we made as we earned this patch together.
We stopped a short second, ate some Gushers, and headed back to the starting point. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, and it was wonderful weather.
We got back to the starting point, hitting 7.5 miles for the second half, 14 miles total for Tupac, Billy Bob and me.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to lead this ruck. I’m appreciative of all those who came out. I’m glad I was able to present a cause that means something to me.
Legs were made for rucking, and one day, Braedan might have that opportunity because of the money raised to help end Duchenne.
Final Four Pub Ruck
April 6, 2019
AO: South Toledo
QIC: Geppetto
PAX: Klinger, Mayor, Rhonda (Hate), Thumper (Hate), Bambi, Stark, TuPac (Respect) Geppetto, Jimmy Dean, Bob Vance-Vance Refrigeration, Ticket
No FNG’s so right into Mission and Principles:
F3 – Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission – Plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it must:
We circled up in the parking lot of Shawn’s Irish Tavern at 2pm sharp. Weather was absolutely perfect. Low to mid 60’s with a very light breeze. The SkyQ blessed us today!
Pax were organized 2×2 with the flag at the front left (more on that later) and our two coupons directly behind the flag. Two pieces of the F3 Ohio steel were used as the coupons. PAX were paired up as follows:
These pairings would remain constant throughout the ruck.
We headed out of Shawn’s parking lot with Doc Watson’s as our first way point. We traveled northeast on Heatherdown’s Blvd and Klinger and Mayor set a blazing pace! The PAX didn’t miss a beat and our formation stayed tight. As we approached the intersection of Heatherdowns and Byrne we passed Flo’s (respect) insurance office and took a photo as the PAX rucked by. We missed Flo today and hope he gets better soon as he was under the weather and not able to attend the Pub Ruck. YHC instructed the PAX to turn right on Byrne Road and was quickly corrected by Stark that was not the correct direction. YHC was reminded of his directional deficiency numerous times by Bambi throughout the remainder of the ruck!
As we approached Doc Watson’s we passed the bar to cross at the intersection and avoid playing Frogger across five lanes of Byrne Road. This added a little distance to our ruck but at the pace we were setting we needed more miles in order to stretch the event to the three-hour minimum. It also gave us a little extra time at each stop, which no one had an issue with. We entered Doc Watson’s parking lot and planted the shovel flag in a small mulch island near the entrance. We would have about 40 minutes at the bar, again due to our blistering pace and Bambi and Rhonda continued to ruck and get some miles in.
After some initial stares from the bartenders and patrons we settled in at the bar area. We took off our packs and sat down for some rehydration. Waters all around and beers that ranged from Thumper’s “Can of the month” Miller High Life ($1.14 – it is the Champagne of Beers!) to IPA’s. TClaps to Stark for picking up the tab on the beers! Rhonda and Bambi joined us after getting their extra mile in and we had a few minutes remaining so a round of Miller High Life was ordered and drank quickly in order to get back on our route by 3:15.
We circled up outside Doc Watson’s and YHC did a quick Count O Rama to make sure all were accounted for. We grabbed the flag and headed south on Byrne towards our next stop, Earnest Brew Works. We continued our fast pace and covered the 1.8 miles to Earnest in under a half hour again giving us some extra time to enjoy, in YHC’s opinion the best craft brewery in NW Ohio.
We planted the flag, took off our rucksacks and were warmly greeted at Earnest by smiling faces and wagging dog tails as Earnest is pet friendly! Mayor picked up the tab for the beers at Earnest which ranged from the easy drinking and aptly named “Easy” to the flavor packed double Oatmeal Stout “Big Oatis”. Bambi and Rhonda put in some extra miles and joined us after for a quick beer before we headed out towards our Endex.
We now made our way back to Shawn’s and YHC again sent us in the wrong direction. Instead of the shorter 2.3-mile route we ended up taking the slightly longer 2.4-mile route back up Byrne Road to Heatherdowns. Again, this ended up being OK as we continued to move at a very quick pace, regardless of which pairing was at the front.
We debated heading to The Distillery for a final beer however this would have put us over our official end time of 5pm. So, we decided to head back to Shawn’s and wrap up the ruck portion of the day and transition into the Winter Challenge Patch and awards presentation.
Ended with:
Count-O-Rama – Eleven
Name-O-Rama
Sharing of the six – TuPac. EH’d by Casper at Starbucks. Posted to give F3 a try and has literally not stopped posting since that day. Got his name because during his naming at the first workout he told everyone that he was going through some “changes” in his life. Doesn’t really like to exercise but loves coming out for the fellowship and for everything that F3 has done for his life. Aye!
Ball of Man – Prayers for Bambi’s father-in-law, for Patriot and those going through job and career changes and for our F3 brothers dealing with marital and relationship issues. Thanks and praise to the SkyQ for the great weather, fellowship and this group of HIM’s who continue to amaze with their dedication to each other and to the community.
Spreadsheets from the Gloom:
Service Project: Sports equipment donations were collected for Uplyft Toledo, a non-profit organization which aims to give all children in NW Ohio the opportunity to participate in fitness activities and enjoy the associated benefits.
Items collected included basketballs, soccer balls, athletic shoes, baseball helmets and bicycle helmets from the awesome gals at FiA Toledo!
It was an honor to lead the monthly ruck!
Event: Mock Star Course in the Burg
Date: Saturday, March 9, 2019 – Sunday, March 10, 2019
Location: Bar Louie, Levis Commons
10 PAX: Geppetto, Bourbon, Huckleberry, Houdini, Billy Bob, Casper, Bambi, MudVayne, Rhonda, TuPac
Q: Jimmy Dean
At promptly 9pm, YHC handed out maps with the wayward points to the PAX (list is below). They immediately set out to plot a route, with those who were veterans of star courses (mock or otherwise) helping the noobies figure it out. A route was relatively quickly determined as the map was familiar to half of the men. The group set out in the pouring rain after about 15 minutes of mapping. After leaving Bar Louie, we headed across the interstate and towards the Perrysburg Municipal Park.
The rain was at its worst at the beginning of the event, with winds so fierce that Bourbon later recalled that he felt personally violated by it. Though we’re not entirely sure what he meant by it, other guys in the PAX agreed with him. Where there is no lack of rain, there is no lack of puddles as well, and many guys had wet feet pretty much from the get go.
After the park, YHC thought it would be fun to require a picture at The Fortress at the 3rd hole on the disc golf course. This led to walking across a good chunk of the course where we once again got to experience cold water entering our shoes. Once we got to the cement starting point for it, we were grateful for being able to stand on dryer ground.
From the Fortress, the route next took us to another AO in the Burg, The Wall. After snapping a quick pic there, we took off to walk along the river. Bad idea. Whose idea was it anyway? Tupac, of course. This wouldn’t be the first time he suggested a bad route. This also wouldn’t be the first time we followed him down a bad route. Smh…
After traversing across the extremely soggy ground, our group split up with some heading down to walk along the path by the river, and the smart PAX walking up and around on the relatively drier pavement. We learned quickly that keeping our feet out of as much water as possible was ideal.
We regrouped on the Burg side of the bridge before crossing as one big group. The next stretch took us to Maumee High School, and along the way we saw many of Maumee’s finest. One even circled back around to check us out a second time. Even though we looked quite nefarious and had some questionable thugs, none stopped us the entire night. We finally arrived at Maumee High School and fatigue started to kick in for some of the guys.
It was during this stretch to MHS that Bambi had to depart early, while we carried on as a group of 10. A few of the noobies began to realize that they had overpacked, either with weight, gear or both. In a brief AAR later that weekend, they were asking for tips on how to pack better and what gear they should buy for their GORUCK event later this year. The seasoned Stars were happy to oblige.
From MHS, we set off to our farthest point away from the endex, The Field of Dreams. The weather had let up, and then not, and then let up again. And then not. Such was the pattern for all but the last hour or two of the night. The stretch over to the FoD was mainly on pavement and gave our shoes a chance to drain without much more coming in.
On the way to FoD, there was talk of stopping by Woodstock’s house to see what he was up to, but upon reflecting on the fact that he’s married with kids, determined that this course of action wouldn’t be wise. Upon arriving, we took a bit of a longer break and gave guys a chance to eat, rest up and use whatever facilities were available. YHC went around and checked on every single man to make sure he was good to continue. The next stretch would be the longest of the night, and made even more complicated by following Tupac once we got close to the Necropolis.
Along the way, music could be heard and Billy Bob crooned over us as we went along. YHC believed it to be his coping mechanism to help him embrace the suck. Geppetto and Casper started lagging behind, learning the importance of packing correctly. Major props to them for sticking it out!
Once we got back over the river, we made our way to the Necropolis where Bourbon suggested we could go around on pavement or go through it. It was decided to go through it, which led to more rucking through wet grass, puddles, and other enjoyable things like slipper hills.
From the Necropolis, we headed quickly over to the Gauntlet where light joking about doing a Murph ensued. We quickly moved on before we could determine the seriousness of the suggestion.
Next up was Perrsyburg High School, and Huckleberry came in handy as he led this leg for us and shaved off a couple tenths of a mile by going through some secret backdoor ninja route. None of us knew where he was leading us, but we trusted him as anyone should their elders. He came through with flying colors and we snapped our pic near the school sign.
Last up was returning to Bar Louie. On the last leg was conversation about whether or not to post in Sylvania on Sunday morning. The only fool was Tupac, who had literally gotten back from California Saturday afternoon, just hours before the Mock Star Course began. Spirits began to rebound as we neared the endex, with Billy Bob sprinting towards the end. Smiles all around with completing something this awesome.
16.5 miles and 5 hours 40 minutes of embracing the suck so we could become better men. Aye!
Start/Endex:
Wayward Points:
Route Optimizer: www.routexl.com
The ruck started out at 32 degrees with Chew Toy, Patriot and Mercy. YHC was a little skeptical about the ice on the trails so we started at a slower pace.
After a quarter mile, two of us picked up a coupon for two miles. As we were progressing, we found more ice spots so we dropped the coupon logs. We had great conversation, almost got lost a few times but still made it back.
As the ice became more, we had a few near misses but completed the ruck with zero falls. We learned about the park and all of the rare species and the diverse habitat we have at our fingertips. Total distance was 9 miles over just under 3 hours.
AO: Special start point, Barry Bagels – Maumee, OH
PAX
Bambi (QIC), Hazmat, Dutch, Geppetto, Huckelberry, Huffy, Froman, Hoff, Nails, Wake, Gap, Cousteau, Scrooge, Stamper, Qbert, Dauber, Mile High, Woodstock, Ticket, Socrates, Hacksaw, Chew Toy, Trinity, Klinger, Flo, Mickey, Oops, El Chapo, Bluto, Minnie, Stark, Charmin, Beaker, Ozzie, Splinter, Sideshow.
No FNGs
F3 Mission and Core Principles
F3 – Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission –Plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it must:
Disclaimer: You versus you. I am not a professional. Modify or stop an exercise at any time & ask questions.
The “Thang”
Early Saturday AM on 11/2/2018 we had 36 people rucking around in the cold and wind of Maumee and Perrysburg in honor of Veterans Day for the Second Annual Frog. In our 6 hours under ruck we covered 13 miles, moved, 150 pounds of coupons, performed 60 minutes of ruck PT, learned something about ourselves and hopefully a little something about the men around us. It was the first truly cold and windy day of the “winter” with ice cover from freezing rain the night before. This slowed us down a bit but did not keep us from having a blast.
Coupons
Stage #1 – Barry Bagels
a. Barry Bagels: 2:30 AM – Role Call / Administrative Tasks: Bambi
b. Barry Bagels: 2:40 AM – COT / Prayer / Honor: Klinger
c. Barry Bagels: 2:50 PM – Lead to Fort Meigs (3.3m): Woodstock, Hacksaw
Stage #2 – Fort Meigs
a. Fort Meigs: 3:50 AM – 20 Min Ruck/ Slick PT: Woodstock, Hacksaw
b. Fort Meigs: 4:10 AM – 5 Minute Break: Bambi
c. Fort Meigs: 4:15 AM – Lead to Rotary Park (2.2m): Ticket, Geppetto
Stage #3 – Levis Commons
a. Levis Commons: 5:10 – 20 Min Ruck / Slick PT: Socrates, Gap
b. Levis Commons: 5:30 AM – 5 Minute Break: Bambi
c. Levis Commons: 5:35 AM – Lead to Orleans Park (3.6m): Bambi, Stark
Stage #4 – Orleans Park
a. Orleans Park: 6:30 – 20 Min Ruck / Slick PT: Mile High
b. Orleans Park: 6:50 AM – 5 Minute Break: Bambi
c. Orleans Park: 6:55 AM – Lead to Barry Bagels (3.8): Klinger, Trinty
d. Trash Collection: Orleans to Sidecut: Several PAX
Stage #5 – Barry Bagels, Maumee
a. Barry Bagels: 8:15 AM – CoT, Patches: Bambi, Froman
b. Barry Bagels: 8:30 AM – Prayer: Brita
Count-O-Rama
Name-O-Rama
The 6 was Jonathan “Bourbon” Burns. He is 38 and got his name because of his last name and he is from Kentucky. He was EH’d by Tots. He keeps coming back because of all the support from the PAX and the push/callouts when he is not feeling it and takes a day off.
Patching by Bambi & Froman
2nd F @ Barry Bagels, Maumee
Hazmat led the prayer
Service Action
As with all of our monthly rucks are encouraged to incorporate a service activity, project, donation, etc. into the event and the Frog was no different. As part of the Frog this year we were able to tackle 4 separate service opportunities:
1) Metropark trash clean up in Orleans Park and Sidecut Park during the Frog,
2) Toothpaste donation to Cherry Street Mission (41 tubes collected),
3) Donation to Veterans Matter a Toledo based Non-Profit (https://veteransmatter.org/) and
4) Donation to the V Foundation Toledo dedicated to Victory over Cancer
(https://jimmyvmarchmadness.com/).
With the 36 PAX participating and 3 additional who paid the $20 for the Frog but had to back out there was a total of $780 collected. Less $180 for patches which ended up being over ordered due to lower than anticipated participation (everyone got 2 patched). That left us with $600 which was split evenly between the two charities. In addition to this donation Trinity was able to use a Charitable Donation Matching Benefit to double the initial amount. Veterans Matter also has a corporate sponsor who will match all donations provided we check a box on the donation form. The total financial impact of the Frog after donations and all matching benefits will be $1,500.
Special thanks to all those that helped me with the Frog:
Froman and Splinter with guidance
Pixar for the Shirt and Patch designs
Trinity, Klinger, Ticket, Geppetto, Stark, Woodstock, Hacksaw, Socrates, Gap, and Hazmat for leading a Ruck segment, PT or the Prayer.
Dutch, Froman, Gap, Stark, Boulder, Q*Bert, Colonel, Klinger, and Splinter for bringing coupons
Hazmat, Huckleberry, Sideshow, and Chew Toy for tackling trash cleanup.
The September Ruck Event was a good ole fashion game of capture the flag. See the Pre-Blast here for the rules and setup of the game. Each team has provided their own perspective of the event, including planning and prep, “game time” activities, and the post-game show. Enjoy the lifetime of memories garnered from this spectacular event.
Wanna jump around? Here are links to each team’s account of the night.
Team 1 – Old Glorious Bastards (Stamper, Bambi, Mater, Walmart)
Team 2 – Danica’s Pit Crew (Danica, Klinger, Ticket, UPS (MIA))
Team 3 – Nucking Ruts (Hustle, Boulder, Cousteau, & somehow UPS)
Team 4 – No Name (Mailman, Bourbon, Scrooge, Paperboy(FNG))
Team 5 – The 213 Regulators (Mickey, The Hoff, Froman)
Team 6 – Thunder Thigh Gaps (Huckleberry, Tupac, Gap, Jimmy Dean)
Team 7 – Dream Team (Ozzie, Mayor, Trinity, Pixar)
Team 8 – Earth, Wake and Fire and THE SHOW (Wake, Brita, Colonel, Sideshow)
Team 9 – The Last Temptation of Modell (Mr. Belding, El Chappo, Modell)
Team 10 – Team Brute Force (Dauber, Brute, Splinter)
Team: Thunder Thigh Gaps – Team 6
PAX: Huckleberry, Tupac, Gap, Jimmy Dean (Captain)
After going over the mission of F3 and the 5 core principles, we planted our flag for the event and took a picture of it. We began rucking away from our flag and at 7:30pm, YHC’s phone lit up with the maps of the other teams’ flags.
We decided to stop and plot all of the flag locations and then determine our best route to maximize how many flags we could capture. After a few minutes, we had decided a route and Gap became our nav for the evening.
Our team weight was 30# of dumbells inside of an extra backpack, which Tupac carried first. We rotated throughout the evening with Gap carrying the load more than anyone else because he wanted to.
We made great time capturing the first 4 flags and almost gave up on the 5th one we captured (Northview), but one last lap around the building proved to be worth it.
Our search for the 6th flag would be our last and was not captured since team 3 failed to mark correctly on the map where their flag was located.
We had to haul it back to Inside the Five to make the time hack and despite YHC’s knee and Huckleberry’s hip, we made it only a few minutes after the cut off.
After the NOR, COR & COT, we headed back to some much needed refreshments and calculated our average age was 49.5. Clearly the oldest grouping, we were glad to be in 2nd place!
Aye!
The 213 Regulators (aka Team 5)
Mickey, The Hoff, Froman
The 213 Regulators kicked off the CTF Ruck evening with a planning meeting set for 6:45 @ Sodbusters.
The Hoff, needing a carb boost, showed up an hour early to fuel up on a basket of tots
Promptly at 6:45 PM Mickey and Froman rolled in. It was clear that the Regulators were a team of destiny when The Hoff emerged from Sodbusters wearing the same grey pant/black shirt ensemble as the rest of the posse. Totally unplanned, like matching personalized license plates.
With the report that Hoff’s healthy bucket of tots was spoiled by the cloud of vape in Sodbuster, the 213 decided to head over to section 5 to plan for the evening.
It was decided that the flag would be planted to minimize the need to double back, as our team was starting near the middle of the battle field. We headed for the southwest corner of section 5. Planting our flag at the furthest point from the most sections ensured that we could work our way inwards towards the finish line.
We chose to place the flag along the west side of TamoShanter, hoping the building would be a natural obstacle to the majority of teams that would approach from the east. Our initial placement proved to be outside of the semi-circle, so we moved northward until we were inside the zone.
At 7:30 PM we started to receive texts from the other teams with their map locations. The Hoff took the team weight, while Mickey grabbed Froman’s ruck. This freed Froman to map out the locations while on the move. We quickly chose our first target, deciding to move towards sector 6. While en route, the team planned out remaining moves. We would move east, 6,7, and 8 then sweeping back for 4,2,1 and 3. Our own flag was 5, and we decided to forget about 9 and 10.
Target number one (Flag 6) proved to be a challenge. Not for us, but for team 6, who not only did not activate their glow sticks, but also left them in the package.
Once 6 was secure, the Regs moved swiftly towards Flag 7. On the way we speculated whether we could follow the river under the highway, possibly saving 20-30 minutes. To our surprise, when we arrived at 7 we learned that the new path, while incomplete, gave us easy access to our route to Flag 8. We also found a great place to hang out if you are a raccoon.
Approaching the target area for Flag 8, we split up to cover the SCC parking lot. Luckily Team 9 was at the Flag and made it a simpler task. After a quick photo, we headed back west towards Flag 4. Team 9 split off as we were westbound on Monroe. Apparently their intel told them there was a Flag in Marino’s Beverage Depot. (Pray for Modell)
We quickly arrived on the grounds of Northview HS, but Flag 4 would prove to be the demise of the 213. After having quickly triangulated the location of the X, the Regs made several laps of the school, tennis courts, hill, woods, field, Sleepy Hollow cul de sacs, etc. 40 minutes of searching, and nothing to show for it. We decided to cut our losses and move to Grove Bel for the next bogey.
This one proved easy to find and we quickly moved on to the next Flag.
Heading north on Winding Way, we were stumped when we reached he dead end and no flag. With the help of an intoxicated neighbor, we found a path (not really) through some briars and into Dauber’s parent’s backyard. Thankfully we were not detected by the senior Floyd. Moving stealthily through the yard, the flag was in sight.
As we moved away and south towards Erie St, we cursed the lost 40 minutes from the earlier search at NV. We would make it back, but not with enough time to grab the last flag. Our plan to capture all flags except 9 and 10 thwarted by our inability to locate #4.
We covered 10 miles in 3 hours and had an outstanding time.
Mickey again showed that he is a machine, carrying the team weight (aka airplane neck pillow, aka Bulgarian sex pillow) 75-80% of the night.
The Hoff displayed his knowledge of the anatomy by again proving that the sphincter is the smartest muscle in the body with it’s ability to know the difference between liquid and gas (thankfully).
And Froman again proved that age should not be a factor. It was, but it shouldn’t.
The Last Temptation of Modell
This adventure began long before a single flag was planted. Through a bizarre twist of fate, Chapo and YHC were placed on the same team. Fate? Possibly. Destiny? Could be. A really bad fucking idea? Absolutely. Gasoline meet matches. Dumpster meet fire. This party didn’t have a chance of making it past the first bar and grill in sector #9. Through divine intervention, Modell was placed on our team to light the way. Because let’s face it; Modell was the only hope of keeping this bourbon-fueled freight train on the tracks.
I don’t know if Chapo and I should have been concerned, flattered or offended by the multiple “Good lucks” Modell got prior to the event. I also know that if he had a dollar for every time someone said “Hopefully those guys don’t corrupt you!” Modell would be on a beach somewhere sipping drinks with umbrellas in them for the rest of his life. Maybe that just meant that Chap and YHC are a lot of fun. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket.
The team began with the all important task of selecting a team name. Elegant handles like Flagstaff Infection and 3 Poles:1 Flag gave way to the less couth Sweaty Pole Grabbers and Muppet Fuckers (that came from somewhere deep in Chapo’s brain). There was limited agreement on a name, so Trinity settled it by anointing us The Muppet Fuckers. Chapo, I love you, but you need therapy–and a court order to stay 500 feet away from puppet shows at all times.
This is a little different than the pre-rucks many of you are used to. This was more of a pre-ruck pregame. This may shock readers, but our ruck may have started at that bottom of a bottle of Basil Hayden’s bourbon. In truth, there’s really no “maybe” about it. It did. Two glasses of liquid gold and half an episode of Seinfeld later, the gruesome twosome made its way to the parking lot of Root Inc. to meet up with the final piece of the puzzle–the one and only Modell.
As Modell and I loaded up the trunk with rucks and a team weight, Chapo exchanged insults and obscene gestures with a variety of participants. This escalated to multiple wrestling matches with unwitting and at times, unwilling partners (Colonel).
After Chapo finished his personal version of Survivor Series, we hopped in the car to plant our pole (that’s flagpole, you sick bastards) at Arbor Hills Junior High. At AHJHS, we placed our flag dead center where it would be easy for all to see. We also placed some customized artwork alongside the flag for people to gaze upon as they basked in the majesty of old glory. And by artwork, I mean a picture of a large penis that said, “You found our pole!”
At 19:30, team captains exchanged map pics so that teams could set off on the great adventure. Upon receipt of these locations, team Muppet Fuckers (damn, that is ridiculous) plotted a course for success. First order business? Find nearby flag #10. Surprisingly, team MF made great time to location #10. Modell seemed to know the exact location of the flag before we even left AHJHS. Apparently, it was located in playground of a park that he likes to frequent. Not sure what that’s all about, but Chap and I figured it was best not to ask. Anyway, we made great time, took a selfie with the flag, and moved on.
Now at this point, numbers were a bit of a blur. However, we knew that somewhere over by Marino’s Beverage Center, there was another flag–and liquor. Again, the team did a halfway decent job of navigating to the outer reaches of Sylvania Country Club where allegedly there was a flag.
Unable to find the flag on the outskirts, team MF ventured into SCC. Apparently, walking around the grounds of a country club without permission is frowned upon. And apparently the lady working at the club that night was a bitch (respectfully of course). She didn’t find the humor in us walking the grounds in the dark. I believe her exact words were: “This is private property and you’re trespassing.” Whatever. So we left and immediately upon leaving stumbled upon the flag that we had been missing.
As we left, we also happened upon Mickey who gave us some key insight into where another nearby flag resided. Armed with this fresh intelligence, we did what any smart team would do–headed to the liquor store.
After being threatened with legal action, Chapo and YHC thought it best to relieve the stress of the moment with alcohol. As he did most of the night, Modell nervously laughed, smiled an uneasy smile and kept his distance while we loaded up on vodka and bourbon.
Once the Marino’s pit stop was completed, we acted upon the intelligence provided by Mickey and headed down the newly formed walking path alongside Burger King. This path led us to a flag located directly under US 23. Team MF then proceeded to walk along the path assuming that it would take us over the creek and into Sylvania proper. Wrong. As we approached the creek the bridge disappeared. Actually the construction wasn’t done. For a few moments, we thought of fording the creek. Then we thought, “That’s fucking stupid.”
Dejected, we turned around and took the long way into the city. However, before our departure, we we felt it was important to mark our territory. So we gathered a bunch of stones and made them into a three foot long penis. It was our hope that every other team would use this stone penis to point them in right direction. Boing! Upon completing the phallic way point, team MF was fully engorged and ready to plow into Sylvania.
So we rucked to Northview High School in hopes of finding our next flag. We encountered Colonel’s team on Convent Drive. Initially they were a few feet in front of us. That was until Chapo started tossing insults like hand grenades. Oddly enough, Team 7 put a lot of distance in between the two teams. And “Poof,” they were gone.
As we arrived at Northview, we were confounded by our inability to locate the flag. We dipped into the outlying neighborhoods, followed the creek and scoured the hill. Team MF was definitely MF’ing whoever placed this flag. Just as all was lost, Chapo stumbled upon the little bastard tucked away behind the band room. At this point, we decided that in order to make our 22:30 deadline, we needed to hustle back to Modell’s car at Root.
A moment about Modell’s car. Modell is the proud owner of what I would guess to be a 2011 Toyota Camry. While I’m sure it was a beauty when it was new, the Toyota has seen better days. It’s missing a mirror on the passenger side and a hubcap. No big deal. Cars don’t improve with age. Where shit got a little sideways was when Modell stated that his car was easily worth $10,000 because it was a Toyota. And this is where things got ridiculous. As one could imagine, the other two members of Team MF called bullshit. What ensued was one of the most idiotic and spirited debates about a 7 year old piece of shit that I have ever been a part of. Yes Modell. I said it was a piece of shit.
But the piece of shit did get us from point A to B successfully. While at AHJHS, we picked up our flag, lights and giant penis picture. Tears were shed. Hugs given out. We waxed poetically about our giant rock penis. I think we all learned a little bit about ourselves that night. And poor Modell learned about a lot of things–many of them are illegal in Ohio. Trinity said it best about Modell afterwards: “That dude had a funny look in his eyes after the ruck. Like he’d walked into something he wasn’t supposed to see…and he couldn’t tell anyone about it.” Amen.
Epilogue
It’s now been a month since the ruck. Modell has spent the previous weeks in intense therapy as part of an outpatient program at the Betty Ford Hospital. His psychiatrist expects a full recovering.
9/22/18
Team Brute Force (Team 10)
Dauber, Brute, Splinter
Splinter and Brute car pooled it to downtown Sylvania to pick up Dauber from Reeb and head to our starting point. We thought it was a great idea to split up and after endex, carpool back to Clayton Fischer Park and avoid ubering or too much driving back and forth. (foreshadowing). Lots of youth gang discussions, underage drinking and waxing nostalgic of great childhood memories by Brute and Dauber on the way to our destination. You could tell it was going to be a fun and laid back evening. Brute stated that he thought we were turning just past the AutoZone and after turning past O O O, O’reily’s, we were nearly to the park. We parked in a lot adjacent to Sylvania Area Family services which appeared to be HOPPING for what was no doubt a wild Saturday night. (We were definitely way cooler with our backpacks, sandbags, glowsticks, and sausage party).
After getting situated and a final gear check, we moseyed over to the playground and found a perfect spot to plant our flag surrounded by 3 trees. YHC confidently tore open the glow stick and cracked it like a pro, pretending to know what he was doing. Brute followed suit and we began game planning our route for the evening. After snapping our a picture of Dauber holding the sandbag and sending it to the team we proceeded to mark our map with X’s from the other teams. At the stroke of 7:30pm we headed south towards team #9’s flag.
Our coupon was a 30lb sandbag that was made from a 60lb goruck bag to make it easy to carry and pass around. Brute and Dauber started off on the bag while YHC held and checked the map as if there was much to look at 2 minutes into the event. We discussed how much we would be eating at the conclusion of the event and also how much food was packed for the GrowRuck / Frog. Spirits were high and we were keeping a fast yet comfortable pace towards #9 flag. After risking our lives running through some light pebbles near some construction barrels, we spotted team #9 making their way North up Whiteford. They were moving in standard single file cover formation with Modell in the lead, followed by Chapo, and Belding with his signature front piggy of their coupon. We exchanged “pleasantries” from across the road and wished each other luck.
Based upon the X on the map we thought that the flag was either at Hill View Elementary or Arbor Hills Jr. High school. We cut through the Hill View Parking Lot, waved to some hoodlums tearing up the basketball court and proceed through with our headlamps and sandbags, looking badass of course. We cut through the woods, over to Arbor Hills and spotted a couple making their way onto the track. YHC claimed to have seen the gentleman pocketing a glowstick but turned out it likely just drugs. There was no time for headlocking so we proceeded around the building until we spotted the Belding mobile and the flag nearby. Team #9 was very thoughtful and left us a trace of Chapo’s nether region and some encouraging words. We snapped the 2nd picture and proceed to Team #8’s flag. Side note, YHC had yet to carry the coupon except for lifting it out of the trunk of Brutes car which, not even confidient that he did that.
As we approached Team #8’s flag location we saw another team burst out of the SCC woods and sprint across Monroe St. in a blaze. Forced waves were exchanged and everyone at this point was focused on the task at hand. We circled around the front grounds of Sylvania Country Club with no flag to be seen and we started to get a bit restless. After weaving in and out of the golf carts, we were about to cut our losses and proceed to Team #7’s flag, when on our way out of the area, we stumbled over Team #8’s. And by stumbled YHC means accidently and barely saw a flag that was “lit” up my maybe the dimmest glow stick that we’ve ever encountered. To the point where calling it a Glow stick is a stretch and it would come to no surprise that this was Team #8’s flag plant as it was likely shenanigans being done to gain an advantage over the other teams. Additionally the flag plant was also brining some heat from the SCC grounds security who ran into Team #9 sauced up and stammering over by the pool and threatened to call the cops (Truth nuggets). We snapped a picture and proceed on, to Team #7’s flag. Brute and Dauber finally allowed YHC some time on the coupon at this point although not for too long as we wanted to keep a decent pace. The X on the map for Team #7 seemed to indicate a spot in the middle of 475 which seemed outside the confines of the rules however we thought we’d investigate none the less. After turning down the newly installed walking path and discussing, yet resisting the temptation to “Have It Our Way.”, we made our way down to discover a the flag along with an extension ladder, a bucket of caulk, 1 glove, and some colorful graffiti. Dauber and Brute posed for this one and we proceeded to take the path further towards Harroun Rd. We made it about 50 yards before realizing the path / bridge is not yet complete (thank goodness for headlamps), and we doubled back to drop off the side of the path and connect to the Flower Hospital walking path.
At this point so texts were flying back and forth with accusations of faulty flag placement and tempers were flaring. F-bombs, mom jokes, and everything in between seemed to be fair game. Then there was Team #10, un-phased and laser focused to get to our next destination, while avoiding bullshit sprinkler systems in front of Flower Hospital which YHC is convinced are on 24/7/365! We proceed down Harroun and over to Brint towards Flag #6 which was under heavy scrutiny about its private and not poorly lit placement (certainly team #8 could not be complaining about this). We turned down Wickford drive towards Sylvan Elementary school and here is where things went horribly wrong for Team #10. Respecting the rules and without the use of google maps, we turned too quickly and found ourselves in the middle of apartment complexes. After lumbering our way through the courtyard we decided to cut around the backside and through the Sylvan Elementary parking lot. Unfortunately we ran into a chainlink fence which we all hurdled like collegiate track athletes (truth nugget). If memory serves we may have discovered a restroom here and proceed onward. After cutting through the Sylvan Elementary school parking lot we noticed another unidentified rucking team making their way out of the neighborhood where Team #6’s flag must have been in. In hindsight that team must have been lost and coming from nowhere because we ended up walking about 10 minutes the wrong direction and then doubled back, only to stumble across Trinity, Ozzie, Pixar, and Mayor (Team 7). They were mid team photo and we caught up with them and reflected on the evening so far. We snapped a quick team picture and walked North towards Lourdes together. At this point Oz offered up some nutrition from his ruck sack to which we obliged and cracked open some cold ones while proceeding onwards. In true F3 spirit we recycled the cans in a neighbors can and headed towards Team #4’s? flag which looked like it was at Northview.
We decided to forgo Team #5’s flag which was at Tamo-shanter and looked to be challenging to reach in order to make it to endex by the required time. We made our way to Northview with Team 7 only to come across Team 8 taking a breather in the parking lot behind Northview. Colonel appeared to be holding the sandbag and Sideshow looked to be juggling. We circled the building and discovered the sneaky location of Flag #4. At this point after the considerable amount of time wasted looking for flag #6, we only had 25 minutes to attempt to make it to flag #3 and back to the rendezvous point. We double timed it and YHC was allowed to carry the sandbag for maybe the 3rd time all night (Brute and Daubs we beasts) We made it up to Moose Lodge with time to spare but only one problem, no flag in sight and we had an Impala that was giving us the hard stare down in the parking lot. Dauber I am pretty sure flexed the tricep at this point and they drove off thinking better of a confrontation. Rumor has it the flag was incorrectly marked and it was actually at Memorial Park, however this is just what we heard while eating delicious burgers after the event. We hoofed it back to Inside the Five and told Colonel the flag was out there and to keep looking along with Klinger.
Colonel and Brita really turned on the jets on the way back to ITF leaving us as well as the rest of their team in the dust. We tried to block Sideshow as he jogged past but he’s a strong dude. We made it back to ITF on time and had an awesome night. We decided to go put our rucksacks in Daubers car and earlier in the night he had come to the realization that he had left his key’s in Brute’s car back at the starting point! Efficiency at its finest men! Was a great night with lots of laughs, danger, and excitement. Looking forward to the next one!
-Splinter
Dream Team – Team 7
While the goal of the random team generator (Here’s the link for anyone who questions my integrity: https://www.jamestease.co.uk/team-generator/) was to create an even and level playing field, Team 7 was stacked at the start with Ozzie, Mayor and YHC bringing up the rear. With the late addition of Pixar only hours before the scheduled start we looked like the team to beat.
YHC received many calls/texts/DMs leading up to the event with people pleading their case that the setup for the event was unfair to all but the teams on the edge of the circle. In particular, team 5 was extremely vocal with suggestions on how to redraw the map, recommendations for new starting and endpoints and even concerns that the color of the glow sticks may be too difficult to see for some of the “older” PAX. YHC remained confident that all would run smoothly and minus the adjustment of our endpoint (Inside the Five replaced Sodbusters which ended up being a much better finishing spot), no changes were made.
Team 7 met at Reeb Funeral Home to get prepped and then Uber to our starting point behind Flower Hospital. We picked a great spot for our flag under Highway 23 on Phase 2 of the Sylvania River Trail. This location was easily accessible from the Burger King on Monroe as the trail was open there. However the elevated section closest to Flower was not complete so it would require a traverse behind the hospital which would not be difficult but might not be immediately apparent to all teams.
Proper X placement on the map. Not too big, not too small.
At 7:30 we were ready to go and we quickly marked out the various flag locations as the texts came through. We made a bee line for flag 8 through Sylvania Country Club’s tennis courts. Being the first team to trespass the property, we probably set the wheels in motion for the Muppet Fuckers to get yelled at and threatened to have the cops called on them. We made short work of finding the first flag.
Lots of smiles, we were just .5 miles into the evening.
The team headed out to Team 10’s flag with the goal to double back to Team 9’s Flag. At this point, we realized we really had major advantage as Mayor proved to know every inch of the city. He pretty much identified every flag location within a few yards. He knew the landmark we were headed to and the most direct route (more on this later) to take there. We reached Flag 10 without wasting any time.
This was the first of multiple spots we would have never found without our very own Captain Meriwether Lewis.
Note: Phallic drawing intentionally excluded from the picture. But it was LARGE!
Flag 9 was next and we then had a long trek back to Flag 6. This is where Mayor’s navigational skills really kicked in. We made the decision to cut across SCC’s golf course even after getting the warning from Belding that management had threatened to call the police. We went silent as we slipped through a backyard and onto the course. We double stepped our way across the course and then once again slipped between a couple of houses. This would turn out to be just the beginning of our adventures creeping through peoples yards. We got a bit turned around as we made our way to Holland Sylvania but eventually Mayor got us headed in the right direction. Once back on course Mayor suggested another short cut to take us over the tracks. We were able to find a path through behind Sylvania Vet and quickly ended up in someone’s back yard…fenced in. As we attempted to find a way out that didn’t require us to hop over a fence, that clearly was not going to hold anyone’s weight, YHC thought he saw a bedroom light turn on. We quickly scurried under a pine tree, crawling on our hands and knees and hustled back to the street and hopefully out of shotgun range.
We made our way to Flag 6 and celebrated with the beers that Oz and Pix had picked up along the way.
Still smiling and the beer was still cold.
At this point we connected with Team 10. We were headed in the same direction so together we made our way to Flag 4. Somewhere along the way Oz and Splinter decided to see who could go the longest with the coupon. Clearly there’s a nice rivalry developing between these two as they train for the upcoming Indy Marathon. Neither of them would take a break but as we approached Northview it didn’t look like either of them were having a lot of fun. Neither of them was willing to give up so it took a member for each of their respective teams to take the weight from them. As we approached Flag 4 we benefited from all of the posts bitching about how difficult it was to find Team 4’s Flag and a couple of pictures proving that the flag was really there. Mayor and I discreetly slipped away from Team 10 as we made our way back behind the school and stumbled upon the well hidden flag.
Decision time. Do we push for one more flag or call it a night?
With little time left, we had a decision to make. Should we wrap it up and head towards Team 3s flag which everyone complained was mis-marked or we do push to reach Team 2s Flag? Once again Mayor’s knowledge of the city and the private golf courses was a blessing. We made our way towards Highland Meadows and jogged across the course. Ozzie took over the coupon and literally shouldered the weight for a good portion of the next 30 minutes. It was beginning to look like we may have made a mistake as we couldn’t find a spot across the river or out of Highland Meadows. But Mayor guided us true and we reached our final flag for the evening.
This was where the fun began. We were approximately 1.7 miles out from Inside the Five with just little time left to get back. We started to jog back along Monroe once again with Ozzie taking most of the time with the coupon. At the onset, YHC didn’t think had a chance to get back. At this point we had covered over 9 miles and we were starting to drag. We had averaged about a 15 minute pace for the first 9 miles. We were going to need to really speed it up to make it back. Everyone buckled down and just kept moving. There was a lot of vocal encouragement and we switched up the coupon regularly. Ozzie still managed to have the weight for a disproportionate amount of time but didn’t complain. As we got closer we realized we were going to make it and might have a minute or two to spare. We picked up the pace as moved down Maplewood and reached Inside the Five at 10:28. We covered the last 1.7 miles at an 11 minute pace. All in we covered 10.71 miles. YHC was spent.
YHC was pleased to see everyone made it to Inside the Five in one piece and in high spirits. And while everyone was ready for a beer (or three) we couldn’t let the night end without a Circle of Trust. A quick CoR, NoR and the naming of our lone FNG, Paper Boy. We brought it home giving thanks for the amazing group of men we’ve been fortunate to surround ourselves with.
Don’t stand in front of the 3 tallest PAX in a picture if you don’t want to look like you are seriously vertically challenged.
A huge shout out to the rest of Team 7 (Mayor, Oz and Pix). You guys were a blast to spend 3.5 hours with and I was impressed with the big push at the end. Pixar you can run with the best of them, despite how often you tell me you barely break 11 minutes/mile. It was an honor and privilege to plan this event. I sincerely appreciate all of you for humoring me and spending the evening away from your families to make this a success!
Team: Old Glorious Bastards (aka. Team#1)
Pax: Stamper, Bambi, Mater, Walmart
The weeks leading up to the event were as much fun as the event itself. By pure chance Team-1 was assigned a very well rounded team. There was Bambi (the muscle), Mater (the geographical strategy expert), Walmart (the seek and find expert), and myself – Stamper (Really no expertize, just made final group decisions when there was no consensus). The first thing we did was assign a team name, after some back and forth – the name OLD GLORIOUS BASTARDS, or OGB was the best fit for our team and the mission at hand.
Next task was identifying a strategically advantageous location for our flag. We wanted to start in the middle of the map’s radius, so we had the option of going out to the extent of the radius or to the central-point quickly based on where the other teams placed their flags. Our “Geographical Strategy Expert” scouted out a perfect place that met all the legalities described in the team rules, but still created some potential obstacles to finding the flag easily.
Final team preparation task was the team weight, there was a lot of debate on this one, and at one point I think the Event’s Coordinator (Trinity) threatened to give us a different starting location if we kept getting too creative. In the end, we decided on a 2 man carry weight. It was deemed strategically better for the crew we had, and the weight was decorated with a bunch of American Flag Duct tape – which in my opinion, makes any F3 coupon instantly “Cooler”.
With the pre-work now done, the rest of the week was spent sending and reading about various questions to the Event’s Coordinator regarding the Ruck Event. We were each tasked with asking the most ridiculous question that could be asked about the event, and Trinity handled each question pretty well (Good job Trinity!) This was some pretty funny stuff to read and had me doing belly laughs every now and then.
Team Old Glorious Bastards first met at the parking lot behind Root Learning – then carpooled downtown to drop off the vehicles closer to the Rally Point. They then took Stamper’s Ruck-mobile out to the Team 1 flag location.
The team decided final location for the flag – taking painstaking efforts to make sure that the flag placement was placed in public place and the flag was fairly visible for anyone looking for it. The map was then marked taking great care to make sure the center of our mark reflected the location of the flag.
Then the texts started flying in showing the other team’s locations and we sent ours out to the other team captains showing our flag location – indicating that it was “GO-TIME”. The team took about 5 to 10 minutes to plot the other team’s flag locations onto the map we were given based on the incoming texts. We then plotted a course to maximize the number of flags we thought we could achieve. We originally planned the route: 2-4-6-7-8-9-10-3 (we were not going to even attempt 5 due to distance)
Our first target was Team Flag#2 and we set-off on our mission. As we were walking out of the neighborhood we hid the flag in (Towards Erie St.), we immediately came upon Team#4 who looked to be going somewhere fast. They saw us and we were immediately surprised that they did not figure out to walk the way we came to find the Team#1 flag faster, but we were not going to argue. They were going our same direction towards Team#2 Flag – then they doubled back, I am not sure where they were ultimately heading.
We cut down a street just West of the golf course and pretty quickly found the Team#2 flag (@7:57PM) pretty quickly once we arrived at the map location. Then we headed back to Erie Street and started making our way to the Team#4 flag location on the East side of the golf course. We tried to take a shortcut through Sleepy Valley and accidentally took a wrong turn (Totally my fault) and probably added a few minutes to our time, rather than save any time.
We finally made it to Northview and the expected location of the Team#4 flag. We probably spent at least 20 minutes searching all over for this flag. After spending considerable time in the parking lot between the football field and the school, we finally decided to just search the whole property. Our “Seek and Find Expert” (Walmart) finally located the Team#4 Flag (@8:46 PM) in an ally way that opened on the the northern side of the school. The ally went deep to the center of the school, and I do not think any one of us knew it was there. If I drew a box around the enormous “X” that was sent to us by the Team 4 Leader and over-laid it on the map versus the actual location of the flag – the flag might barely be located in the North East quadrant. Given the high level of moral character of those involved with F3, we chalked this up as poor map reading skills and went on with our event.
The original plan was to go to Team#6 Flag – but given the time-suck from finding the Team#4 Flag, we changed our route to skip Team#6 Flag and go directly to Team#7 Flag. We took a direct line toward Monroe Street and traveled it down to Harroun Rd. Here we ran into Team#5 and exchanged some pleasant banter. Froman, who is always filled with cheer and his own unique formula of team building wit, gave us some encouraging words to help us continue our journey. What a special guy! We suspected that the Team#7 Flag was somehow tied into the new walking path construction, but since none of us were too familiar with that area – we were not sure how. We took a chance and went right for the blockaded entrance on the North side of flower hospital, and ignoring the Do not Enter signs – we forged onward. About 4 minutes later – I was second guessing our choice, we were on a path under construction – 8 ft above the ground, in the dark, and the path had no side rails – it was a little unnerving and we were questioning if we were going to be able to get to the flag’s location which appeared to be beneath (or on) the Expressway. We trudged onward, because losing any more time here – would mean we should probably just go back to the bar. Luckily there were ample pathways for us to make our way to the Expressway and then to the map’s location, beneath the Expressway where we found the Team#7 Flag (@9:13 PM)
We continued on the path beneath the Expressway and came up next to the Burger King. It was now time to find Team#8 Flag. We traveled past the Marino Beverage Center and we continued down to Corey Road, where we pretty quickly located the Team#8 Flag (@9:29 PM). Next flag was Team#9 and then Team#10 – both were found without incident – just a lot of walking. I will say that there was some mighty fine artwork surrounding the Team#9 flag (Found @9:46PM) – Must be some artsy fellows in that group… Later, as we left the location of Flag#10 (Found at @10:04PM) – the time crunch really hit us. We had to literally run all the way back from Clayton Fisher Park to the Rally Point in downtown Sylvania. A distance that was later measured to be 1.85 miles. Our team of Ruckers had to basically run this distance with a couple of walking rests in order to make the Rally Point with like 30 seconds to spare. I personally thought my lungs were going to burst. If we did not have the “muscle” (aka Bambi) who never took a break from the team weight during these final 25 minutes – we would never have made the trek in time and would have been disqualified.
The Team met at “Inside the Five” and dropped their gear, did the group COT on Main Street and ordered some well deserved libations!
In the end, Team#1 located and submitted 6 flags (2,4,7,8,9, & 10) – this was enough to tie for first place. This was a fantastic night and fantastic event – I appreciate my F3 brother who planned and participated in this event to make it fun, but especially my team mates who made the whole night awesome.
-Stamper
Team: Danica’s Pit Crew (Team 2)
PAX: Danica, Klinger, Ticket, UPS (MIA)
The pit crew assembled in the parking lot at 7:00 sharp, however UPS was still on his delivery route and wasn’t going to make it in time for us to venture to our zone. So with directions given to our missing member, off we rode with our fearless Uber driver (Ticket’s Wife) to our rendezvous point at Ten Mile Creek in Grove Bel. Alas, our 4th man was still missing and time counting down to the start, what would we do? As pictures rolled in, we carefully plotted the dots on our map, and planned a route we thought would lead us to the victory, we planted our flag in the ground like Baker Mayfield on that fateful night for the Buckeyes in the Shoe. Off we went on our way to Tam O Shanter for Team 5’s flag with directions for our man to meet us. Along the trek we received word that our man had rendezvoused with another team and was now the enemy. Along the route, we passed the historic landmarks of Klingers dwelling, and Colonel’s estate. As we closed in on our destination we decided that the flag must be in the back parking area of Tam O for it seemed the building was out of bounds. But no, team 5 must have had precise GPS mapping to place the flag as far south in their zone as technologically possible. After Ticket did a little strip tease for us we moved out and headed for Zone 6. With the great Olander Park standing in our way, we decided to take a stroll through the park on the beautiful night that it was. They apparently did not want us, because the gates were all locked, so we did our best mountain climbing and scaled the great fence to our route. YHC decided that descending was too easy and that I would rather face plant from the top rail. As we made our way to the Zone 6 location Klinger pulled up with a tweaked back, being the warrior that he is, he decided not only was he continuing but he would carry our team weight in case his back seized up on him later. Upon arriving near the marked locations we realized surely this flag was on private property, but with noses of bloodhounds we found our location and decided the flag needed more light and exposed the chem lights. As we made our way to Zone 7, Ticket and his instincts decided that surely the new bike trail would come into play and had scouted the location prior to the event. However, he was tricked by the half built bridge and surely there was no way across. As we arrived we knew it had to be down there, so YHC took off on a leisurely (ok it killed me) run to in fact notice that we could make it under the Interstate and that glimmer of light excited us to continue on. We then proceeded to Zone 8 and with Klinger’s eagle eyes spotted Old Glory through the pine trees and brush. At this point we had a decision to make, go for Zone 3 or Zone 4, Zone 3 was the decision, as we fought our way towards the City we could hear the sounds of partying and music playing and knew our journey was nearly complete. Upon arriving at the Moose Lodge the search party commenced, but to our dismay there was no flag to be found. This started our mad dash to the finish line to keep from being DQ’d. Eating Drinking and Being Merry commenced and the night will be remembered. The Pit Crew had a lot of fun and did a little rucking too, it was nice to get to know a couple other Pax a little better. Thank you to Trinity for putting on this event, it was a lot of fun.
Team 4
PAX: Mailman, Bourbon, Scrooge, Paperboy(FNG)
Team 4 made the best decision and decided to hide their flag out in the open behind the shed at Northview. After reading the other backblasts I’m unsure why all the butthurt that was caused by their inability to find a flag. Anywho once we placed said flag out in the open we marked our map with a well placed X and sent our picture off. We recorded all the X’s and went on our way heading towards Team 1’s Flag.
After a quick misreading of the map we found Team 1’s flag and moved on to Team 2’s. The original plan was to head to Tamo but a quick look at the watch and we realized Hard Pass on that crap. We headed towards the infamous Flag in the field behind the Moose Lodge. After spending what felt like an eternity and a little bit of mumblechatter on the group text we gave up hope and cut our losses on that flag. Come to find out later we walked right past the flag in Memorial Park which happens to be on the other side of the road…. But I digress.
The decision was made to make our way through the Dog Patch of Sylvania to find our next flag. On the way we came to the realization that the Taco Bell on Alexis is under construction. We poured a little bit of our water out on the ground in remembrance of better times and kept on into the heart of Dog Patch. After seeing Brute’s car and finding the flag we decided the Arbor Hills flag was out of reach with our time constraint and headed towards SCC. After the earlier mumblechatter about the flag placement it was easy enough to find.
YHC quickly realized we were a bit ahead of schedule so we made a pit stop at Wendy’s and got three 50 cent frostys to enjoy while heading under the bridge on the new trail to collect our last flag. After finding the last flag we realized the path ended but we improvised and pushed our way to the finish line at Inside the five and enjoyed some beverages and great food and a little bit of complaining about peoples lack of hunting flags at Northview skills. All in all it was a great time and our FNG Paperboy did a tremendous job for his first post/ruck. Must be nice to be in your mid 20’s freaking Millenial.
Earth, Wake, & Fire and THE SHOW – Team 8
Wake (Captain), Brita, Colonel, Sideshow
The team promptly met at Root at 7 pm to head to our little slice of Sylvania heaven. However, before we could head out, we had to get our gear in order, and load it into Colonel’s father-in-law’s suv as he was our transportation. As we began pulling around the parking lot to exit, we decided to stop and grab the laminated map that was put in the back with the gear. Colonel, sitting shotgun hopped out, grabbed it and off we went. It was about 15 or 20 yards into the drive that we realized the hatch had been left open so with a quick push of the button, down it went, and onward to the slice we drove.
We decided that placing the flag on the north east side of Sylvania Country Club parking lot near some tall, mature pine trees would be the best location – hidden off the beaten path, not ON the golf course, and in a location that PAX should be able to locate with some mapping skills. As we unloaded from the suv, the chem lights were nowhere to be found. Remember the open lift gate while driving? They’re probably to this day still on the ground of the Root parking lot. With quick thinking, it was suggested to not go back for them, but rather head to Dollar Tree for replacements. The traffic on a Saturday night on Monroe Street was less than conducive for a return to Root, and the Dollar Tree sign could be seen from where we decided to plant the flag. Within moments, the chem lights were purchased, cracked open to glow, and placed on the flag. Good recovery for Team 8.
The picture text messages began rolling in on Wake’s phone just as the clock struck 7:30. We began plotting the other flags on the laminated map and we quickly made a plan of how to knock out the most flags. Since we were on the eastern portion of the game area, we determined that going to flags 9 and 10 would be too costly and time ineffective, so we headed west.
The first flag we headed toward was #7, which was located under 23 on the new path. As we continued toward the west, Brita and all of his engineering prowess made the team aware that the bridge on the new path was not complete, and that if we stayed on it, we’d experience a 12 foot fall, of which none of this team cared to have in our bank of stories for endex. We jumped off the path and took the utility service drive that the construction crew used for their heavy equipment. To our liking, we did not have to plow through any water.
We headed to Team 6. This was garbage. After searching over and over and nearly giving up, one final attempt and we found the flag perched up against a tree in the road right-of-way. The chem light wrappers were still on the chem light, which did not allow any light to shine. We also believe this to be a location not considered public property in the middle of the highly residential subdivision. Maybe if we looked up what the city technically owns, we’d probably find that the grassy area between the road and sidewalk to be publicly owned. However, we opted not to do that research, and instead decided to call out team 6 in the captain’s text thread which alerted other captains of the ill-placed flag.
We then went to the southernmost flag, Team 5. After searching most of Tamo’s parking lot and getting close to what appeared to the be souther border, we found it nestled just in bounds. Northward to Northview and Team 4’s flag, we spent more time on Northview’s property than should be admitted. To Team 8’s defense, none of the team members were Northview students, thus we did not know that void in the building even existed. Well planted, Team 4.
With time now dwindling, we decided to shoot north and maybe capture the flag of Team 1. We had to skip Team 2 and Team 3 due to time constraints. Again, simple mapping skills don’t always seem so simple. Team 1 was completely mismarked and not in the same neighborhood as their X on the map. Time quickly expired, so we had to double time back to endex. We came cruising in with minutes to spare.
All in all, a good time was had by the PAX of Team 8 and this was one heck of an event. The team captain, Wake has to claim the Anchor Award. Irresponsibly throwing the chem lights in the back of the SUV for them to roll out slowed us down. Then, two different times during the ruck, the old hammies went rock hard charlie horse while trying to carry the team coupon. Thankfully the team was willing to half step and wait for the 6. The brotherhood of F3 runs deep in these fine PAX as we stuck it out together. Props to Trinity for all his planning, and communication. This was one event to remember, and certainly one to duplicate for a future F3 Toledo CSAUP event.
Team #3 – Nucking Ruts
Hustle, Boulder, Cousteau, & somehow UPS
Team 3 started off strong with Boulder coming in hot from BG. Hustle and Cousteau worked on a meeting place while Boulder blasted down the highway. The team decided to put the flag in the rarely rucked area of Veteran’s Field. Sticking with the rules, the flag was placed in the open, but behind a transformer forcing other teams to ruck out onto the fields past the parking lot. This was thought to be a good plan till Cousteau miss-marked the map and sent the location as across the tracks near the Moose Lodge. Take that all you other teams. Try to find it now!
The team started their trek back along Erie street having decided to go after flags in order 1-10. Along the way we heard the first of several call out to our team. “Hey, are you doing the Ruck? Do you know where we are supposed to meet?” It was UPS. Rather than send him off, in true F3 fashion, we had him and his gallon water jug/coupon join our merry band. Now 4 members strong we set off in search of the fame and glory.
Upon entering the first of several neighborhoods we encountered the first of our fellow teams. By the time we found or first flag, home owners in the neighborhood were asking “what are all these group out for? Is this some kind of scavenger hunt?” We politely explained our purpose and F3 then encouraged them to join.
As darkness descended, we immortalized ourselves with flag 1 and 2. We skipped 4 for later then headed to the Tamo for team #6. Having looped the Tamo we found team #5’s flag tucked in the corner of the building and set off to head back for #6 and #4. Back into subdivision we went looking for flag # 6. Despite figuring out the flag must be up against a tree in this neighborhood, we circled the street and neighborhood several times. Finally, there it was tucked neatly against the tree. We had come into the street from the wrong way.
It was during this time that we started to get angry texts “Team #3 marking sucks!” Finally, we figured out Cousteau’s ineptitude. At this point we realized we were running out of time so we quick rucked back to Lourdes to try and pick up team #4’s flag. Unfortunately once we got there we realized it was go searching for the flag or get back to the end point. Even with skipping the search for flag #4 we were hard pressed to make it back. It required the team to run back while watching the spry UPS (Hate) bounding energetically along. We arrived with 1 minute to spare with the pictures of our 5 captured flags to the screaming and moaning of other teams about our map marking.
All in all, it was a great experience with a great team.
Top
PAX: Flo, Mother Rucker, Mercy, Patriot, Q*Bert, Chew Toy, Bambi, Huckleberry, Houdini, Cousteau, Billy Bob, Lavar, Bourbon, Bluto, Tupac
Quadre: Jimmy Dean
After going over the mission of F3 and the 5 core principles, YHC took it upon himself to explain that as a Quadre, he would be part Q and part Cadre for the event. This meant that at times he would be leading as a Cadre (and thus not participating in the PT/drills) and at times he would be leading as a Q (participating in the PT/drills). He also made sure the disclaimer was done with great care, stressing that he would be asking the group to do things that were challenging and/or new to them. He wanted to be sure that every man knew he could modify as needed as well as that the Quadre took seriously the safety of the event.
Spring 1794
General Jimmy Dean looked among his men. He had been training most of these men for nearly two years, with part of his men being assigned to him from Kentucky. The mounted Kentuckians had joined up after he led his men from Legionville down to Fort Washington, and assimilating them had proven challenging, but worthwhile.
Spring had come earlier this year than normal, and General JD knew it was time to finish up the drills before they set out on their trek northward to fight the Indians.
He looked upon his men again and then gave the command for them to fall in. Quickly, the men scrambled to get into formation and, due to their surprise, took a touch longer than the General
cared for. He walked through their formation as the men nervously looked at him.
He walked to another part of the training field and called for them to fall in again. Better this time, but not quite there. A third time, and a fourth, until General JD was satisfied.
A fifth, and final fall in, command was given. This time, his men were sharp and quick to formation. General JD had the men get into an extended formation for PT. This formation command was repeated a couple times as the men got better and better.
Various PT exercises were called out as the General gave an update to his men. After the War for Independence, Congress had called for a disbanding of the Continental Army, yet the Indians were wreaking havoc on the settlers as they made their way into Ohio.
Though the disbanding was called for two times, Congress decided to keep some troops on hand to help secure peace in the new Northwest Territory.
Though there was a presence of a military of some sort, two different generals of the First American Regiment had tried and failed to defeat Chief Little Turtle and the Indians with covert aid from the British who were still lingering around.
General JD sighed and opened his eyes. All he could picture was the massacre of that second attempt. Over 600 American men were killed in that fateful journey and the wounded left on the battlefield were scalped by the Indians.
It was after this that President Froman called for a reorganization of an Army. The newly formed Legion of the United States was Congress’s answer, and General JD was chosen as the man to train the men well enough to defeat the Indians and succeed in victory.
The fate of the entire young country depended on his success. And he felt the weight of it.
For the past two years, General JD had been training these men. He had given his squads books on drills and formations, taught them how to fire at close range so they would not be skittish in battle. He also showed them how to use their bayonets as stressed the importance of personal marksmanship.
And the time had now come to see if they had what it took.
PT was finished, and the General announced to his men that it was time to begin their journey northward to fight the Indians and secure the Northwest Territory.
The men were divided into squads. Brigadier General Bambi and Colonel Mercy led General JD’s infantry, while Brigadier General Bluto led the Legion’s cavalry and Colonel Bourbon led the mounted Kentuckians.
They gathered up their supplies: two forty pound sandbags, three sixty pound sandbags, and one part of the team weight from the GrowRuck, and the men were ready to go. Private Chew Toy grabbed the flag, and the 5+ mile ruck from Fort Washington along the Ohio River up to the western frontier began.
August 1794
Private Huckleberry awoke from a dream. It wasn’t a bad dream, but really a recollection of what he and his fellow Legion men had gone through the last several months. In addition to carrying
all of their personal gear, the men took turns carrying part of the regiment gear.
None of the extra gear was too difficult on its own, but over time and miles, each pound felt heavier and heavier. His brothers at arms were quick to lend a hand, not just to him, but to anyone who needed it. This made the burden not feel so bad and conversations had along the way helped to pass the time.
General Jimmy Dean was careful to keep his men both moving along and together. He, with great help from his squad leaders, were able to monitor how each man was doing throughout the ruck. At each stop, calls were made to drink and stretch so no one would get dehydrated or stiff.
Four times scouts were sent ahead to ensure safe passage across routes that were known to be filled with hostile Indians. Twice a halt call was made as hostiles passed by. Once the way was clear, the men passed and continued.
It was now early August, and the men had arrived just south of the Maumee River and knew their moment for battle was coming soon.
Some final preparations were made by way of more field drills. This time, the general had the men divided into their squads and they practiced the cover/move drill down an open field. He
watched with amazement how his squad leaders owned their role and got their squads to perform the drills so well at the first attempt.
He looked at his men and smiled to himself.
They. Were. Ready.
20 August 1794
Sergeant Mother Rucker woke early to BG Bambi calling throughout the camp for the men to get up and get ready for battle. He quickly got his things around and joined his squad outside the tent.
He could already see the other squads forming and hear the horses whinny. He knew Colonel Bourbon was having his men saddle up the horses.
BG Bluto’s men were already prepared, as well as their horses. He could hear some of his men’s sabers clink as they hit their canteens. The grass was damp from the overnight dew and the air was sticky from the heat.
Colonel Mercy could be seen in a distance talking with his men. They would be in the thick of the battle and he was inspiring the men in the hours before attack.
General Jimmy Dean stepped out of his tent. He already knew his men would be ready to go. The air was thick and the dew had begun to burn off the grass.
This was it. Today was the day. Two years of preparation for this moment in time.
Here. We. Go.
20 August 1794, 0900
General Jimmy Dean decided he would split the squads into a formation as follows: BG Bambi and Colonel Mercy would lead the infantry right up the middle towards the Indians. BG Bluto
and Colonel Bourbon would take the flanks; Bourbon’s mounted Kentuckians guarded the left while Bluto’s calvary covered the right.
The horsemen began low crawling their way into the fight as the infantry began doing cover/move down the open field. The men were strong and waiting for the right strike.
The Indians were slightly caught off guard since they were usually the ones initiating the attack. Suddenly, General Jimmy Dean saw his opportunity and yelled “charge!”
All at once, the infantry took off in a bayonet charge, mowing down the Indians as they came to them. At the same time, the cavalry and mounted militia charged forward and chased down the Indians who were running away, cutting them down with their sabers.
The battle lasted less than an hour, with 33 of General Jimmy Dean’s men killed and a complete rout of the Indians.
The victory came swiftly. The victory was decisive. The victory had weight beyond measure for the newly created republic called the United States of America.
31 August 2018
YHC informed the men of the significance of this battle, not just to the area, but to the entire country. Because of this victory and the ensuing peace treaty:
It is no understatement that the Battle of Fallen Timbers was one of the biggest milestones in our American military history and in history itself. The effects coming out of this victory are still felt today.
After the PT in the parking lot of Fallen Timbers, a 5+ mile ruck with coupons, and the field drills and battle reenactment done at the monument of Fallen Timbers, we did our service project. The project was to pick up any trash we found from the monument all the way up to the street.
After the service project, we rucked back to the parking lot of Fallen Timbers (roughly 1 mile) for our endex. We did an extra lap around the parking lot since we were so close to 8 miles, we wanted to end with that mileage. Once we hit 8 miles, we circled up for COR, NOR and know the 6. Flo was our 6 and shared how grateful he was to be part of a group of men who seek to become better every day. Though not enthusiastic about getting up early, he is inspired to be among his F3 brothers.
In the COT, prayers were lifted up for Boulder and Tots, as well as Woodstock and our troops and first responders.
On a personal note, this was one of the toughest things I have had to prepare for in a long while and was quite nervous at the start of the event. It was challenging to be the Quadre when watching your brothers put in the work while you were calling out the drills and PT, yet it was the role that was required to make the event all that it was.
A few of the challenges I faced as we went through the night included helping the PAX get into formation for drills with less than half having come out of the GrowRuck back in April. I was immediately encouraged how the squad leaders (all GrowRuck finishers) all stepped up in their roles to communicate how to get into formation as well as keeping tabs on their men during the
grueling miles we put in with coupons.
Bambi, Bourbon, Mercy and Bluto were incredibly helpful in pointing out who may be struggling as well as reminding the men that it was OK to step out of rotation during the rucking movement
if they needed it. I simply could not have lead this fine group of men without their help.
During the cover/move and low crawl drills, their leadership shone through once again as they gave helpful instruction for their respective squads to make the number of attempts we had to
do to the minimum. I was quite proud of their leadership and the execution of the drills by all of the men.
I was personally inspired watching men who had never come out to any F3 rucks before (1-hour or otherwise) showing up and showing out to this event as their first. To the best of my knowledge, we had at least 3 men who got baptized by fire into the realm of rucking, and all of
them expressed enjoying this event.
In the end, there could be nothing more given than the amount of respect we had for each other and the brotherhood that came out of doing something this challenging. With a quarter of the
men 55 or older, it was humbling that they would let me lead and follow me for a few hours. I am truly humbled and grateful for this opportunity to organize such an amazing evening for this
group. The lessons pulled from the history of General “Mad Anthony” Wayne and his personal and militarily impact on our US Army and the country itself is one that will last with me for a long time yet to come.
Aye!
For those who want to read in more detail the actual history lesson and what all we did, feel free to continue reading. Much of what is below was copy/paste from the source links at the end of
the document.
FIRST MOVEMENT: TRAINING (PT at Fallen Timbers Cinema parking lot):
Before we began, YHC assigned 4 squad leaders:
Fall In!
Extend to the left, march!
Arms downward, move! Left face!
Extend to the left, march!
Arms downward, move! Right face!
From front to rear, count off!
Even numbers to the left, uncover!
Repeato until got into formation quickly and correctly.
Squats while this is read:
In the days of the early Republic, the U.S. Army suffered some of its most devastating defeats in its history. While the Continental Army of the War for Independence fared well against the
European style of tactics employed by the British redcoats, particularly later in the war, the Indian warriors along the American frontier confounded many of the early Republic’s senior officers.
Two separate expeditions into the Northwest Territory were ambushed and nearly destroyed by Indians with covert British support. This period represented some of the darkest days in the history of the U.S. Army.
Eventually, one senior American officer emerged to lead the Army to victory and end much of the threat posed to American settlers northwest of the Ohio River.
MG Anthony Wayne, who had already established himself as one of the premier American officers in the Continental Army, was given command of the Army and led it once again into Indian Territory.
Under Wayne’s leadership, however, the results of his expedition into the Northwest Territory were much different. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794, Wayne and his combined
force of regulars and mounted Kentucky militia, routed the Indians and largely eliminated the Indian threat in the Northwest Territory.
Rucksack flutter kicks while this is read:
Anthony Wayne was born 1 January 1745 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The only son of Isaac and Elizabeth Wayne, Anthony, at the age of sixteen, was sent to a private academy in Philadelphia run by his uncle.
While at the academy, young Anthony never seemed to approach his classroom studies with the same enthusiasm as the mock battles he fought with his classmates. At that time, much of the American frontier was under constant threat of Indian attack as the French and Indian War raged over much of northeastern North America, and Wayne, like many boys his age, found the stories of Indian warfare much more exciting than academics.
After leaving school, Wayne was briefly employed as a surveyor before returning to his family’s estate to take charge of the tannery. He took over the family business after the death of his father in 1774 and made it profitable.
Before hostilities broke out between the colonies and England, Wayne was active in local protests against the coercive acts of the British government.
Smurf jacks while this is read:
In January 1776, Wayne was appointed by Congress to command the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion and given the rank of colonel. Despite a lack of formal military training, Wayne became one of the finest officers in the Continental Army.
Wayne’s first combat experience came when he and the Pennsylvania Brigade were sent to bolster the faltering American expedition in Canada. When the Pennsylvanians met the remnants of MG Richard Montgomery’s army, they were sent down the St. Lawrence to attack what was thought to be the advance guard of the British forces marching against the American army.
Upon making contact with the enemy at Trois Rivieres (Three Rivers) on 8 June 1776, the Americans soon discovered they were facing the main British force.
During the engagement, in which Wayne was wounded, Wayne’s battalion covered the retreat of the rest of the American force. After the Americans withdrew from Canada, Wayne was given command of the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga.
On 21 February 1777 Wayne was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the Pennsylvania Line, which he commanded at Brandywine Creek on 11 September 1777. Two weeks later, however, Wayne’s troops were surprised by the British in their encampment at Paoli. In a night attack, the British bayoneted hundreds of Continentals in one of the most devastating defeats of the war. Wayne was accused of negligence in this action. He demanded a trial by court-martial and was eventually acquitted.
In October of 1777, Wayne fought with distinction at Germantown and suffered a slight wound. He then endured the harsh winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge.
Rest at attention while this is read:
At the battle of Monmouth in late June 1778, Wayne’s Pennsylvanians led the initial attack and defended the American center against the British counterattack. On 16 July of the following year, Wayne won fame for leading a daring nighttime bayonet assault against the British position at Stony Point, New York.
Upon receiving orders for the attack, Wayne replied to GEN George Washington, “General, if you give me permission, I’ll storm Hell itself for you.”
The attack captured the surprised British garrison and helped to relieve pressure on West Point. For this daring assault, and coupled with his tremendous temper and intensity in battle, Wayne earned the nickname “Mad Anthony.” Congress later awarded Wayne a gold medal for the capture of Stony Point.
Merkins while this is read:
As the focus of the war moved south, Wayne served under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia. While serving with Lafayette’s army, Wayne ran into a much larger British force at Green Spring and narrowly avoided a disastrous defeat.
Wayne was also slightly wounded in the thigh in Virginia when a jittery sentry fired at him and hit him with buckshot. He later served at the decisive battle at Yorktown and was present for Cornwallis’ surrender.
In 1782, Wayne was detached to MG Nathanael Greene’s army and fought a successful campaign against Creek and Cherokee Indians in Georgia. On 30 September 1783, Wayne was brevetted a major general. Less than two months later, however, he retired from the Army. He took up farming and dabbled in politics, being elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1784. He later moved to Georgia and was elected the state’s representative in Congress in 1790, only to have his seat declared vacant the following year due to election fraud.
Rucksack burpee jump-overs while this is read:
While Wayne’s career in politics was relatively short-lived and tumultuous, his military career would soon be reborn. Disastrous events in the Northwest Territory required the federal government to re-examine its military policies and place someone in command to rectify the situation. After scrutinizing a number of candidates for the job, the War Department eventually selected Wayne, and he answered his nation’s call once again.
After the conclusion of the War for Independence with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 3 September 1783, the U.S. Army faced tough times. On 2 November 1783, Congress ordered the Army to disband, although this initial order was not carried out. In December of that same year, GEN George Washington bade farewell to his officers in New York City and resigned his
commission as commander-in-chief, leaving the Army without a strong leader.
On 2 June 1784, Congress again ordered the disbanding of the Army, stating that “standing armies in time of peace are inconsistent with the principles of republican government, dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and generally converted into destructive engines for establishing despotism.” While most of the Army was disbanded, Congress kept a caretaker force of eighty artillerymen. The following day, however, Congress authorized the raising of 700 men to form a regiment of eight companies of infantry and two companies of artillery, primarily to man western frontier posts. This regiment became known as the First American Regiment.
Rest at attention while this is read:
During the 1780s, the primary threat to American security and to settlers attempting to establish new homesteads west of the Alleghenies were Indians. The Indians had assistance in the form
of British agents from Canada, who encouraged the Indians to attack American settlers.
Some British officials even hoped to establish an “independent” Indian state between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, a state that would actually be a British puppet state. Furthermore, British troops still occupied several forts in the Northwest Territory they deemed essential to the fur trade, in violation of the treaty that officially ended the war with Britain.
In an attempt to crush the Indians attacking American settlers, the federal government, under the direction of President George Washington, ordered military expeditions into what is now
Ohio.
The first of these expeditions, led by BG Josiah Harmar, consisted of an expanded First American Regiment and 1,500 militiamen from Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Setting off from Fort Washington, near present day Cincinnati, Harmar’s force headed north towards the Miami Villages.
Almost immediately, Harmar ran into problems, especially with supplies and integrating the militia into his force. Furthermore, while deep in Indian territory, Harmar divided his column,
significantly weakening his army.
The Indians, led by the Miami’s Little Turtle, attacked Harmar’s troops at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph Rivers and inflicted heavy casualties on Harmar’s militia and regulars. Harmar was forced to retreat back to Fort Washington, and the rout of Harmar’s expedition only served to embolden the Indian warriors.
Lunges while this is read:
Another expedition was organized to march into the Northwest Territory to once again deal with the threat posed by MG Arthur St. Clair. In addition to the First American Regiment, a second
regiment of infantry had been raised and would accompany the expedition. Kentucky militiamen and a few cavalrymen brought St. Clair’s army up to approximately 1,400 men. St. Clair, who was ill and not really fit to command the force, began marching his army north from Fort Washington on 17 September 1791. The march progressed slowly — by November, the expedition was only ninety miles from where it started. St. Clair weakened his force by
detaching the First Regiment to find his overdue supply train.
On 4 November, Indians led by Little Turtle surprised and attacked the expedition along the upper Wabash River. In the ensuing battle, St. Clair’s force was completely routed.
The Indians slaughtered over 600 men, along with a large number of civilians accompanying the expedition. The wounded left on the battlefield were mercilessly scalped by the Indians. St. Clair ordered a full retreat and the remaining troops limped back to Fort Washington.
St. Clair’s defeat demonstrated that major reforms were required if there was any hope of making the Army an effective fighting force against the Indians, or any other potential enemy of
the young republic. Moreover, the Army needed a commander who could lead the Army and end the devastating string of defeats it had experienced at the hands of the Indians.
Rest at attention while this is read:
Congress agreed to a reorganization of the Army. To lead the reorganized Army, President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox examined several candidates, including Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee and Daniel Morgan, but it soon became clear there was only one
obvious choice:
Anthony Wayne
On the same day the Army reorganization was approved, Wayne was promoted to major general and named commanding general of the Legion of the United States.
Rucksack air presses while this is read:
As commander of the U.S. Army, in the form of the Legion, Wayne was provided significant time to train the soldiers under his command and put his personal stamp on the Army. For nearly two
years, American delegates attempted to negotiate with the Indians, all to to no avail. Once again, American troops would have to face hostile Indians. This time, however, they would be ready for the task at hand.
Originally, Wayne began training the Legion at Fort Fayette, near the frontier town of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, however, like many frontier towns of the period, thrived with vice–Wayne called it “a frontier Gomorrah.” He therefore moved his troops twenty-two miles down the Ohio to a place he named Legionville. At this site, Wayne implemented a rigorous training program for the Legion.
At Legionville, Wayne instilled discipline in his inexperienced troops. Secretary Knox had stated that “another conflict with raw recruits is to be avoided at all means.”
Wayne needed little encouragement. He immediately provided all of his officers down to company-level with copies of von Steuben’s Blue Book drill manual and instructed them to use it until the Legion was familiar with close-order drill, which hopefully would prevent the troops from breaking and running on the battlefield.
He instructed the men on the art of field fortifications, and they learned to handle their muskets and use bayonets. Even more important, Wayne stressed the importance of individual marksmanship, something that Army had neglected because of the high cost of powder.
In an attempt to increase esprit de corps, Wayne decided to give each sublegion distinctive colors for cap ornaments and uniform facings: white for the First Sublegion, red for the Second, yellow for the Third, and green for the Fourth. With the Legion trained, Wayne loaded his forces and floated them down the Ohio to Cincinnati and Fort Washington.
Rest at attention while this is read:
Wayne then received some disheartening news. Secretary Knox informed him that recruitment lagged, forcing him to round his forces with Kentucky militia. Wayne, like many regulars, had little confidence in militia. On a personal note, he also received news that his wife had died.
With his force near full strength, he marched north and established a new encampment, Fort Greene, named for Nathanael Greene.
On Christmas Day, 1793, an advance party arrived at the scene where St. Clair’s force had been massacred. They found a horrifying scene as hundreds of skeletons lay scattered about.
On the site, Wayne’s forces established a new post, Fort Recovery, where some troops stayed for the winter, while the rest remained encamped at Fort Greene.
By the spring of 1794, the Legion was ready to move. Reinforced by over 1,000 mounted Kentucky militia under the command of BG Charles Scott, Wayne advanced north, stopping to establish a string of forts along the way, including Fort Defiance, Fort Adams, and Fort Deposit.
SECOND MOVEMENT: RUCKING (Wabash Cannonball Trail):
The Pax rucked approximately 5 miles down and back along the Wabash Cannonball Trail. We carried all of our gear, plus sandbags along the way.
Turnaround point is the 3rd road crossing; turned around prior to crossing the road.
Upon returning to the Cinema, we ditched the coupons and rucked to the Fallen Timbers monument, approximately 1 mile southeast of the parking lot.
THIRD MOVEMENT: BATTLE REENACTMENT (Fallen Timbers Monument):
Rest at attention while this is read:
By August 1794, Wayne and the Legion had reached northwestern Ohio and the Maumee River, the stronghold of Indian forces and close to Fort Miamis, a British held fort in violation of the Treaty of Paris.
Indian warriors, however, were waiting, ready to inflict another devastating defeat on invading troops. The Indians, under the overall command of Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket, hoped to ambush Wayne’s force at a site near present-day Toledo.
The site was a clearing formed when a tornado years before had toppled hundreds of trees. This place, known as Fallen Timbers, presented excellent defensive positions that would not offer clear fields of fire for the attackers.
Despite this, Wayne’s forces were much better trained than those that had fought the Indians in years past. In addition, Wayne had excellent scouts, which would prevent any likelihood of an
ambush.
On the morning of 20 August, the Legion approached Falling Timbers. Wayne divided his infantry into two wings, the right commanded by BG James Wilkinson, the other by COL John
Hamtramck. A brigade of mounted Kentuckians guarded the open left flank, while the Legions cavalry secured the right along the Maumee. Scott’s remaining forces formed a reserve.
The vanguard of the Legion came under fire around 0900. After some initial confusion, Wilkinson regained control of the situation.
Wayne then rode forward, his eyes flashing. He correctly determined the strength of the enemy and their positions, and quickly saw that mounted troops would be largely ineffective on the battlefield.
Under fire and in intense pain from gout, he immediately ordered his infantry to charge with bayonets to flush the Indians out of their positions, where they could be cut down by musket fire.
Unused to a well disciplined enemy, the Indians, who expected to be the ones charging, broke and ran towards Fort Miamis. The Indians fled so fast that mounted troops on the flanks had
difficulty catching them.
Nonetheless, dragoons from the Legion charged headlong at the log barriers like jockeys at a steeplechase, cutting down the Indian warriors with their sabers. The dragoons’ charge completed the rout.
The battle lasted less than an hour and proved decisive. Wayne lost 33 of his men and had approximately 100 wounded. The British at Fort Miamis refused to admit their allies, and the
British garrison made all efforts not to provoke a war with the Americans. Wayne then destroyed ndian villages and crops nearby.
The PAX were split up into infantry (White & Red Squads) and calvary (Yellow & Green) and re-enacted the bayonet charge and flanking of the calvary.
All squads practiced cover/move drill down the field in front of the monument. Then, all squads practiced low crawl from first tree to second tree before getting up and performing a bayonet charge.
Upon satisfactorily completing the practice drills, we did a live reenactment where the infantry began cover/move in the middle while the mounted militia and Legion calvary began low-crawling.
Once Gen Wayne (YHC) saw the opportunity, he yelled charge and the infantry pulled out their bayonets to charge while the mounted troops charged to complete the routing.
FOURTH MOVEMENT: REMEMBER THE FALLEN (Fallen Timbers Monument):
Rest at attention while this is read:
Within three months, the United States signed a treaty with Britain that pledged their evacuation from the Northwest Territory forts by 1796. The following year, Wayne negotiated the Treaty of
Greenville with the Indians, effectively opening Ohio to American settlers.
None of this would have been possible without Wayne’s victory at Fallen Timbers. Never has such a brief battle proved as decisive in American military history. Wayne had achieved success
where two other American generals had been soundly defeated.
Through rigorous training, discipline, and personal leadership, Wayne led the Army of the early American republic to its first major military victory and, according to military historian Russell F. Weigley, Wayne can lay claim “to be called the Father of the Regular Army.”
PAX were tasked with picking up any trash they could find around the monument and we all did a 33-second low plank to remember the fallen men who secured this chapter of our great country’s history.
PAX then rucked back to the starting point for our endex.
*Above history largely copied from
https://armyhistory.org/the-battle-of-fallen-timbers-20-august-1794/
And
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fallen_Timbers
July Ruck attendance: 4
Mother Rucker (Q), Mercy, Tots, and Bambi
Highlights: Safety brief, gear inspection, coupon carry, plain ruck, exit party, slick jog, team Murph, secondary slick jog.