Not a word of it is untrue
“What I can promise, at any rate, is that it will be an unforgettable experience,” says organiser Jan. It’s 12 noon and sweltering; with 180 participants, we’re standing on top of a hill in the Hoge Bersche Bos, where Meet the Marines’ 24-hour Bootcamp is about to officially kick off.
After arriving, we first had to pitch our bivouac tent together with our team-mates, after which we marched up the hill with the team of (former) marines acting as instructors for the opening speech, next to the bell which we hope to ring in this very spot in 24 hours‘ time as the final signal marking the end of the boot camp. Until then, we’ll have to complete six ’missions‘, interim challenges and the dreaded Finex. Team Bravo’s first mission is the Rapid Deployment, a speed march (2 minutes walking, 2 minutes running) used within the Marine Corps to enable rapid withdrawal from hostile territory. With light packs and two small logs that we also have to carry, we set off, and along the way we’re given a number of team tasks (with mixed success, I might add, but luckily there are burpees to fall back on if a task doesn’t go to plan). This was the mission that I (Jeanette) personally found the toughest, perhaps because of the extremely high temperature in the middle of the day, or because we hadn’t quite got into the swing of the whole boot camp experience yet. If this was just the start, how on earth was I going to keep this up for 24 hours?
Shortly afterwards, it was time for the Rafting Contest, mission 2. As the marines often operate on the water, we took on Team Alfa in two rubber dinghies. For the first task, we had to collect a jerrycan from a designated point and take it to a landing point near a culvert under the road. For the second task, we had to swim under that culvert and then move on in the dinghies to the next point. This was followed by a 1 km trek overland with the dinghies on our shoulders – at a run, of course, and uphill! For the fourth and final task, we had to capture a bridge, which in this instance meant lifting all our team-mates, the boats and all the equipment across the bridge without using the footpaths on either side. It was lovely to be in and on the water in this weather; motivation was certainly a lot higher again after this mission!
Just when we thought we’d have a bit of time to catch our breath before our next mission, we were in for a surprise: the drill instructors came round to our tent several times to pick us up for interim challenges such as tug-of-war, log throwing and the ‘Bunkr game’, which allowed us to earn tokens for the team. So there was little rest before the dreaded Drill Sergeant’s Hour 2.0, but fortunately the temperature had started to drop a little by then and the sun was setting. This third mission lived up to its name, and it was brilliant. Once again, it mainly consisted of running whilst carrying all sorts of objects such as stretchers, logs, ammunition crates and car tyres, interspersed with push-ups, sit-ups, bear crawls and so on – and, of course, plenty of uphill sections too. The sense of satisfaction was immense once we’d conquered the Drill Sergeant, and darkness fell after one final challenge: hauling a 100-kilo tractor tyre up the hill as quickly as possible. It might seem unbelievable, but that went a lot faster than getting it back down again.
The fourth mission was scheduled for midnight: a Tough Team Challenge in which you and your team were given 25 minutes to build a raft out of barrels, poles and rope, and then had to travel a stretch down the river on it, find a specific ammunition crate there, and bring it back to the starting point. The first group was shown a photo of the box in question and had to describe it as accurately as possible to the second group, who were tasked with finding it. It was the smallest details that proved crucial here; a small green sticker, for example, could make all the difference, because if you took the wrong crate, you’d fail. Despite the fact that our raft fell apart as soon as it hit the water (oops!), we still managed to beat Team Alpha here.
I was under no illusions that the instructors would certainly not let us sleep until our next mission at 4.00, and sure enough, at around 2.45, a blaring air-raid siren suddenly went off. Get out, run! A so-called ‘Crash Move’, or in other words, simply punishment training, because there were rumours that some teams were stealing other teams’ flags. When we got back to our tent, we had about 20 minutes left to rest before we had to be ready for the Hostage Escape. You were dropped off somewhere in minibuses with a map of (at best) mediocre quality and a compass. Within 1 hour 15 minutes, you had to find your way back to base camp, passing three information points along the way to collect codes and solve maths problems that you had to be able to show at the end. Of course, you were still in ‘enemy territory’, so you had to make sure you weren’t spotted or caught up by the instructors driving around in cars and on dirt bikes. Let’s not even mention how long it actually took Team Bravo :P, but we did eventually manage to find all the information points and codes!
The final mission for the Finex was the Enemy Ambush, a sort of combined firearms and boxing training session. At the shooting range, we were first allowed to shoot ‘normally’ with biathlon rifles; then we had half an hour of boxing training to really get our heart rates up; and then, one by one, we had to sprint back to the shooting range and fire another five rounds. Every missed shot meant a burpee (not too bad, is it?). The difference between your resting heart rate and your high heart rate after exercise was really interesting and easy to see, and we were given some interesting explanations about it too. You might already have seen the video of the ‘creative’ warm-up for the boxing session on Facebook :P, and all in all, this was a really great mission. But the tiredness, muscle ache and all the other aches and pains were inevitably starting to take their toll on everyone by now, and then we still had to get ready for the dreaded Finex.
The temperature and the sun were starting to rise quite a bit again ahead of the Finex at 12.00, which, incidentally, wouldn’t start until all the teams had tidied up their bivouac tents properly and handed them in. With all the teams together, we were briefed one last time; all our kit, including the boats, had to be carried – and at a run! At the end of the route, we had to climb the hill one last time to ring the bell and receive the coveted coin. Perhaps the exercise had been made slightly less strenuous because of the heat, or perhaps the fact that we had to get back into the water provided some relief, but the Finex was manageable and we all reached the summit in good order. In terms of facilities, food, organisation, etc., it really was a top-class event. Every promise was true; it really was an unforgettable experience, and although everyone had moments when they thought, ‘What on earth am I doing here?’, the very next day you’d ideally want to sign up again straight away for next year.
I (Louise) have realised how important it is to work as part of a team, and that individual strength pales in comparison to the strength of a team. Crossing the finish line together – even if you sometimes have to go back to pick up your buddy – is something truly wonderful. I’d love to do this again – perhaps with a team from Taus?
So come on, Team Taus Gym – who’s joining us next year to ring that bell? Oorah!
Best regards
Jeanette and Louise
Well done, girls – you’re an inspiration to many athletes. A brilliant achievement.
It was lovely to have you on the team
That’s beautifully put, and we’ll certainly take the feedback from Finex on board. It’s lovely to read it all back like this – and hopefully see you next year!