The Standard (2020) Movie Script
I've failed
a million times in my life.
I've made a million and one
bad decisions at goruck.
And if you don't take those failures
and learn something from them
and apply them to your life...
Then this was for nothing.
I want to meet the kind of
person that passes this event.
I want to see that, feel it,
smell it,
look at the person in the eyes
when they pass...
But more important than that
is that everyone who shows up...
I want them to learn something
that makes them a better person.
I was thinking of a
little small snapshot.
You know, it'd be interesting to see that
'cause I've been working with video.
Wrinkles. Wrinkles.
Got wrinkles already?
Got wrinkles all over the place,
everywhere.
I think the humidity will
take care of this. - Wrinkles.
I think the...
Once we step outside.
Who's taking...
What? Here, take this through...
Joe, I want to purchase the 34.
All right, let's be...
I'm getting the work done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey, this is a taste of
what an operator selection is.
- It's compressed.
- It's compressed, condensed timeline
but the most poetic thing about this is
it's not that we get to scream and yell
and you get to see the dark side of us
as a cadre, not there to encourage you
but we enjoy watching them ride this
mental rollercoaster, "il can't do this.
I got this. I got this.
Ll can't do this."
It's this wave that they ride
throughout the whole event
that's really... that's really the
awesome part from a cadre standpoint
to get to watch.
And then when they hit
that bottom
that's when they are weak... - And
you watch them wrestle. Yeah.
Theyre at their weakest.
It's usually after you've given
them the stronger minds,
you've given them a little bit
of time to think,
you watch them start to descend
and then you just
pick up or prey upon their weakness
and then they're sitting by the fire.
- Yeah.
- You know. Last year, you know, Alex...
Alex stavdal was there and five minutes
later he's like, "man, I'm fine.
I don't know why I quit.
He's coming back. He might pass.
We'll see. You know.
- Like watch him...
- There's no take-backs.
- Yeah.
- Someone says, "I'm done, I quit.
That's it, you know," that's it,
there're no take-backs.
And that's sort of the...
That's why we're happy
to have goruck selection exist,
not because we want to roll out here
and just yell and scream, right.
I mean you can describe
someone's actions in you...
- Monster.
- There he comes, stealing the show again.
You can describe someone's actions
in with as much color and detail
as god gave you the gift
of saying it
however he did, right, you know,
death, destruction, carnage,
but the person is never that,
right.
These people show up for this. I don't
want to show up for this. Do you?
Do you? Nobody does.
Nobody wants to show.
Blayne saw the poi. "He goes,
no, no thanks, I'm good.
I mean, he looked at and he goes,
"nobody is going to pass this.
It's not humanly possible.
And then he took a step back,
right,
he says, "of course,
someone's gonna pass it.
Well, not, of course,
but probably.
And, of course,
it's humanly possible."
And so this question about who
is...
This question about who is physically
ready out of the people that show up,
this is a 48-hour
endurance event.
That's it, right, 48 hours.
So, my take is that
if you pass the pt test,
you are physically capable
of completing this event.
I agree. Period. The end.
We call it selection
really just to pay homage to our roots.
You know we're not trying to
replicate special forces selection
but we are trying
to pay tribute to it.
And so we want to give these people the
chance to get a taste of what that's like.
I trained really hard
but I didn't expect
the... the mental beat down.
I'd like to say
that I could pass selection
but I don't think I can look
all of you right in the eye
and say that for sure 'cause it
is a test like I've never seen.
So when we're talking about
condense and special ops selection
and how you look at the goruck
selection, all the components are there.
And how we line those up and play
those out becomes very interesting.
I'hink we're gonna make
it this year? Yes.
How? Okay. How many?
This is the math part, right.
So 75 sign up, 50 show up,
45 pass the pt test.
The welcome party claims
anywhere between 30 and 40
and then at the 24-hour Mark
you're somehow down to three Max.
When it boils down to it,
selection is ultimately a 24-hour
endurance event with an extra 24 hours.
Head to the back, take
all instructions and follow on, cadre.
Go ahead and clear it.
Grab all your gear, head to the back, take
all instructions to follow on, cadre.
Hurry up. Move.
Hurry up. Let's go.
Take all food and water
out of your rucksack.
You'll hang it by the top with the
carrying handle when I tell you to do so.
Take two steps back.
Turn now to right.
Strike one.
Point zero, four-five.
Insufficient amount of weight.
Fix it.
Take it off.
Class of 015.
Class of 015,
insufficient amount of weight.
One-five, take all
your gear and move to the back
and take on following
instructions to follow on, cadre.
Alright. Any other medications?
Any injuries or illnesses?
And we tell you to take an ors packet
through... - Right and clear.
Move to the back. Take all
instructions to follow on, cadre.
Yes. Take it off.
In special forces,
we join that community
because I think a lot of us wanted to
be part of a high-performing team,
something elite, there's something
to more than it's just about us.
In order to have high-performing
teams,
they have to be made up
of high-performing individuals
who are selfless
and committed to the cause.
The selection takes
you back to being an individual.
It makes you look deep
inside yourself.
That's what it boils down to.
You're trying to sort out those
people and determine
who has the gut to pull it out.
Everybody out there
says it's a bridge too far.
If you never served,
you can never understand it.
That's a coward's approach.
People need to say this is how
you can better understand it.
You have 15 seconds, pack it up.
Hurry up.
Pick it up and dump it out.
Too slow packing up again.
Pack it up! Too slow!
Pack it up! Too slow!
I mean, my mom cried
right in front of me
when I told her
that I was enlisting,
that I'd already enlisted,
in fact.
And she's crying
in our kitchen, saying no.
She didn't understand
anything about the army.
And... and yet, you know,
because I took a step forward
and said, I'm gonna do this, you know,
she became knowledgeable about service
more so than she was before.
And so there's a lot
of Americans out there
who want a little slice of knowledge
about what it means and what it takes.
What kind of a human does this
to themselves?
Five-one, everyone knows that
number now.
Five-0one.
We'll hear that number
until we don't.
That's how this works.
The numbers we know are the numbers
that go away, the fastest.
You just sort of say
this isn't for me.
Five-0one...
Missing hats.
Plastic bags. Who's this for?
Whose bags are these?
Here 5053.
Who brought clearly
identifiable great value
plastic bags here?
Get up here five-two.
Why weren't you sure?
I don't know, cadre.
It took a second.
Was it because
they were great value bags
that are gonna fucking break and fall
apart in two fucking seconds anyway?
Shitty fucking value.
Poor decision.
- Stuff them in your ruck.
- Roger.
Hurry up.
You know, they start off administrative...
Administrative stressful, right?
Pack your ruck, unpack your ruck,
pack, unpack it again, pack it.
And just watching
people sweating,
drenched in sweat just packing
and unpacking their ruck,
you know, it's like
basic training day one, right,
where the people
are just yelling into the face.
It's done for a purpose. It's done to create
stress and to see what you're gonna do.
You go get that boot.
Get in there, hurry
up one-five, get in there.
Hurry up, one-five. Hurry up.
Hurry up one-five.
Get your, let's go.
- Get it, get it, get it.
- Let's go, one-five. Hurry up.
One-five, stop real quick.
Stop. Stop.
Look behind you.
Yes, cadre.
What do you see?
A lot of folks that are done
and I'm not.
Go ahead.
There are times throughout
selection or any selection,
it's the same in the military,
where there's a very clear and defined
standard like, let's say the pt test.
We're looking
for perfect pushups.
We're looking
for perfect sit-ups.
It's completely objective and
we should expect that of them
because they're coming in fresh,
they had plenty of time to prepare
and those standards are well
published ahead of time.
You understand
that as a candidate
going through that you have
to do 50 pushups,
do 55, do 60.
That's where you're trying to find that
person who has gotten rid of their ego,
they're... they're in the zone and
they understand that it's more about
an awareness and an
understanding of standards
and then take those standards
to the next level
because that's the guy you want
to your right and your left
when you're in a situation
and you need help.
Fall in on your gear,
priorities of work.
Fall in on your gear,
priorities of work.
All the army physical fitness
test is just a baseline standard
for us to be able to, um,
judge the participants
on whether or not
they're physically ready.
They have to pass the pi test in order
for the event to actually begin.
The standards are very simple. You
have to do 55 pushups in 2 minutes,
65 sit-ups in 2 minutes and you have
to run 5 miles in 40 minutes or less.
What follows is a 12-mile ruck.
That 12-mile ruck they have to
do in three and a half hours.
That will be the end of the physical
testing portion of goruck selection.
This is the only known that these participants
have about the event before they come.
S50, their level of preparation
really shows during the pt test.
And it doesn't matter if they have
54 pushups, that's the standard.
We had a number of people actually have
54 pushups and they went home. So...
That's all it really is, is just a standard for
us to make sure that they're ready for it.
Yeah, you're
asking the wrong guy for that
because none of us, obviously, showed up
to special forces assessment selection
or Navy seal bud/s
or anything like that
physically unprepared or else we wouldn't
be standing in front of you right now.
So I don't know what's in the head of those
people who don't come physically prepared.
It doesn't make a lot of sense.
Our community,
the special forces community,
when they look at goruck, when they look at us
and when they look at this particular event,
we want them to feel good
about it, to be proud of it
and to feel that we're
representing the community
and we're representing special
forces as well.
We've put ourselves in a bit of a tough
spot because we can't half-ass it.
We can't fail to meet high standards
if we're gonna call it selection
but we're okay with that because we're
also committed to doing right by it.
I don't really like
goruck selection
but it's also the only event
we have
where I consistently tear up
at the end.
To watch the human spirit
go on this amazing journey
of successes and failures
and ultimately, triumph
is...
A certain way to conjure up
those memories
of what the special forces assessment
and selection course was for me.
I know all the steps, I know
all the things you have to do,
not to gut it out but six
months ago, a year ago,
the commitment, the sacrifice, the dedication
that you had to make as an individual.
To put yourself in that moment,
that specific moment where
you're at your absolute lowest,
you're digging really deeply
to figure out what's my why?
Why are you still here filling water up?
Hurry up.
Fill up water, fast.
Move out, fast.
Pack your shit up, fast.
Grab your fucking shit and go.
Whose shit is this?
Pick it up.
Hey, move out. - Zero-four-six,
get the fuck out of here. Move.
Double-time, go. Go.
Come on three-five.
We are one minute
into the welcome party.
Only about 40 hours
of goruck selection remain.
And, uh, it looks really
painful already.
You had. You don't have it.
You don't have it in you.
You have quitter
all over your face.
Why are you wasting your time? Why are
you wasting our cadre time? Let's go.
Squat.
Just take a step out.
Not with your ruck
in the water, you.
Lunge towards the shore.
Hey, we didn't say just drop
and fall. We said lunge.
You got four-six? Let's go.
We want you to lunge your way
to the back...
- Get back. Get back over here.
- Get your damn ruck up!
Move!
Okay.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, two, one, get up!
Get down! Get down!
Crawl on your belly.
Your legs don't work,
you can crawl.
When I signed in,
everybody gave me a med sheet
and if you look at the bottom of the med sheet, it
says, "what is your stress level at right now?"
And everybody was either
moderate or severe.
And we hadn't even started yet.
So with us just ensuing
a little bit of chaos,
just prodding and poking
a little bit,
we're building... we're kicking
that little internal gremlin
that's inside of them
and just letting them spin wild.
All right.
Go over to that truck.
Get your ruck off.
Cadre one-two, is he done?
- One-two is out.
- Zero-one-two.
Up!
Three of your buddies realized that
they're not gonna make it all night
and stop the pain
while they could.
We're already down four
from like 30 minutes ago.
Not only do you have to
be able to do the shift physically,
you gotta be able to master the chaos
as well and endure the unknown.
We get to see them at their weakest
and at their strongest points
and it's a roller coaster all
night just watching these guys
up and down, up and down,
fight that demon.
They kick one demon in the face, another
one pops up and it's all night.
The physical is just
the physical.
You'll see 90 percent of these guys
are in their heads most of the night.
If you get up close and look
in their eyes, you'll see it.
This is the performance
you've got and it's not good enough.
You're not meeting the standard.
You're dead last at everything.
You're not moving.
And it is only a matter of time.
The welcome party, you know,
it's the first day of basic training
where the people
are just on you.
You think you're trying your hardest.
Cadre know you're not.
They're pushing you further,
they're yelling at you,
there's mass confusion, it's dark and
you've got mud in the crack of your ass.
It's just bad.
Trample the weak,
hurdle the dead. Let's go.
Dominate the man
in front of you.
Relax. Relax.
Rucksacks on your back.
Rucksacks on your back.
- Rucksacks on your back.
- On your back!
But, yet, you're still looking around,
you still have a place to find comfort
pecause that candidate over there
is getting a lot of attention.
Win or quit? Take your pick.
Either dig deep or stand up.
That's your two options
right now.
Let's just stand up, come on.
Let's go.
I'll get your ruck for you, let's
go to the truck. Come on, let's go.
I'll get your ruck for you,
let's go to the truck. Come on.
- You're done, right?
- Not yet.
You're done?
Then start fucking performing.
Start winning.
Does this feel like winning
to you?
Who do you usually play against
where this feels like winning?
Don't disrespect everyone
else that's here working.
Don't disrespect
what this is about
because you want to lay in the mud and
pretend like you're not quitting.
You're either quitting
or you're working. That's it.
Just drop the log if you're done, man.
It's not that big of a deal.
Just drop it.
It's one thing
if your mind's telling you yes
but your body's telling you something totally
different, you better listen to your body.
What's interesting is that some of these
folks, some of them have nothing in the tank
until they are right at the brink and
then suddenly they've got a reserve
but we want them to perform the
standard as prescribed all the time,
and not just kind of fake the funk and
see if they can sneak their way through
pecause that is not
what this is about.
Give me this hand. Move it over the log.
Hold it there.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
This event is about
fucking winning.
Right now, you're getting special
attention because you are fucking losing.
You are failing to meet the standard.
That is losing.
He's quitting, man.
He's quitting.
He is quitting.
Three-two is quitting.
Mount it. I don't give two
shits about your cramps. Hurry up.
When you see somebody put every ounce of themself
into it and it's just not gonna be enough
and when you see that realization wash
over their face, it's tough to watch.
Like all you want to do is support them, but
you've got to support the standard as well.
40 more hours
of two standard training.
That's the clock that ticks.
Grab the log with your hands
flipping it over there.
Straight over.
None of that sideways bullshit
like the last one.
End over end.
Hurry up, this is real.
Aw, fuck.
Look at me.
Look at me.
Open your eyes.
That's the third time
you've fallen.
You're at risk of safety
to yourself and to others.
You're two performance failures
away from being out of here.
And before you hurt yourself or anybody
else, I'm gonna let them drop you.
Do you understand?
Take your ruck off.
Roll it, roll it.
Rob, are you okay, man?
My body broke down.
I let you go as long as I could,
man.
I know you were trying,
all right.
No shame in that, all right?
I don't want you to hurt
yourself or anybody else.
Hey, Rob.
Let's get you on your feet,
brother. Awesome job, man.
You got some fire in there.
Come on.
You guys are no fucking
joke, man.
Come on, brother, let's go. Let's
get you up. Come on. Get up.
- Can I go in there?
- Yeah, you can go.
It's not rhetorical, I'm
asking, keep moving.
How come everybody else can do
it but you can't?
Three-two.
You know that number.
=yeah, I should.
Why should you... - How come
everybody can do this but you can't?
You shouldn't even
have that patch.
Three-two, six-four,
we know these numbers.
Can you hear me?
All right, why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
Huh?
What do you mean you don't know?
That's not an answer.
I want a real answer.
Why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
Keep going.
Why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
On your feet, on your feet. On your
feet, on your feet. Stand up. Stand up.
Come on, come on, just stand up.
Stand up, stand up.
Okay, give me your hand.
No, no, put on the ground, put on
the ground. Hey, what's your name?
Lance. Hey.
=hi. - Garrett.
Hey, seriously... =no...
No qualms, man.
Wow.
Hey, you're a strong motherfucker,
all right? You're strong.
- Hey, there's no... this is all just...
- No, next year. Next year.
All right. Go home, rebuild, no
failure, you're only learning.
Well, your body just gave up
a little bit on you, you know.
Don't... you better hold
your head high, all right?
Absolutely. -
Nice to meet you, bro.
Get up there.
All right, go faster, faster.
Get up!
Sprint! Let's go!
Guess what I want you to do?
I want you to put your rucksack
on your back.
I tell you to move out,
you're gonna sprint.
I tell you to stop, you're
gonna drop and do a pushup.
- You understand me?
- Yeah.
Go.
Down.
Up. Sprint.
Down.
Up.
Sprint.
Down.
Shoulder to shoulder.
Stop losing your life-saving equipment
called your shoes, two-eight.
Shoulder to shoulder.
Friday morning, we got sunrise,
we got four left
and the sun's usually a big, big
boost to morale.
Um, that's gonna be somewhat
counterbalanced here
by the fact they're getting ready
to have cadre shift change.
And that's not gonna
go well for them. Um...
Those of you who've been
through some of these courses
in the military know how this
works. Um...
You've some low moments,
3,4 in the morning
when it's really darkest and,
uh,
once that sun starts to come up, we start to
see, you know, we call solar-powered rangers.
They'll feed off that.
And that'll be good for them.
But cadre shift change
is never good.
Pays to be a fucking winner.
- Understood?
- Yes, cadre. -Yes, cadre.
Down and back, go.
Not on your knees.
Just came on shift around 7 o'clock.
Uh, we had four.
We had a competition to see
who could finish first.
We got four sandbags, three of them
are 80 pounds, one of them 60 pounds.
We did a duck walk competition
to see who could get in first.
That person will get
the 60-pound sandbag.
Stop feeling sorry
for yourself and get down.
Next time you stand up, you stand up
and hand me your patch and walk off.
Do the exercises we told you to.
Get down.
Once we start the next event, you're
gonna wish you were duck walking.
We made it about halfway
through the duck walk competition
and zero-six-zero stood up and
gave us his voluntary withdrawal.
Six-zero is out.
So we're down to three.
And, uh, it gets us in this case
it didn't pay to be a winner,
everybody's got an 80-pound
sandbag we're filling right now.
Resistance is futile.
Don't try with the passive resistance.
We've all seen that trick.
We all know how it works.
Let's go!
Look at that machine.
We're playing a little
bit of mind games with them.
They think that this is about distance down
and back, but this evolution is about time.
Clock's not going to save you,
six-eight.
You're married to that sandbag until
you can complete the standard.
Move the sandbag.
And since the candidates
didn't evenly fill their bags,
we're gonna evenly distribute
the load.
So you'll see us rotate after
a certain distance is met
or a certain time has passed,
one of each candidate rotate.
And he was just chucking
the shit out of it.
Now you could turn around and watch him struggle
with this next stride he is about to do
and you'll see that not all
the sandbags are equal.
So we're trying to equal
the pain train across the board.
I mean, I know an sf
selection in a 48-hour period,
1 got to eat
probably five to six times
and I got maybe two hours
of sleep a day or three or four.
What this is, is...
I mean, it's almost like the
never-ending firefight.
You can't sleep, you can't eat.
Just when you think it got to
its worst point, it gets worse.
This isn't break time,
six-eight.
Not like a outside the military kind
of endurance athlete kind of guy
but I can't think of anything
that has this much time,
and this much physical,
um, mental stress.
I can't think of anything
to tell you the truth.
Eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one,
performance failure.
1 got 99 problems
and you being smoked ain't one.
Get on the fucking sandbag
do the standard.
Fucking execute it.
- Is that it?
- I can't pick it up.
You re out. I'm out.
This isn't sign-ons.
Trainer, you out?
Oh, man.
I can't pick it up.
I know.
This is my second attempt
and I've done other events
but selection, to go full out,
god bless these guys.
I mean, mentally, yeah,
but I'm just completely smoked
where I couldn't move
the sandbag anymore.
S50, whatever the next evolution
is,
seeing how there'll probably be another
one before the, uh, 24-hour Mark,
even if I made it through this,
I don't know.
I mean, once you pass the welcome
party, you just keep moving.
I can't move anymore.
And now there were two.
Pick it up. Move it.
Move the weight.
First one back to start point
gets a big old fat break.
Pays to be a winner.
As I finished the tough
one, I was like, what's the next challenge?
Then it was the spartan race. And
then, what's the next challenge?
Then I read about the
goruck challenge
as it was
called back then back in 2013.
And I did my first one
in San Diego, July, class 690.
It was an amazing life-changing experience
and I got hooked on it ever since.
I said face him, two-eight.
This isn't do whatever
the fuck you want. Face him.
Look him in the eye.
Only one of you
is gonna be here.
Selection is an anti-goruck
event
because goruck is supposed to be
team building
and selection is a different
beast.
- He's right, you're wrong.
- 90.
.- Up.
Just lock them out.
- Up!
- Ninety.
Oh wait, see, he's not wrong.
You're wrong again.
Can't do it.
Can't even lock your arms out.
So much for how far you
can push your body, three-five.
So much for how perfect you are,
three-five.
You know, you have to make
some sort of plan to start,
so it's like, okay, make it to the
first sunrise at Friday, right,
and then there's so few people
like you can manage it from there.
I said, well, here it is sunlight,
right, and I was happy in my head
but at the same time it was like,
uh-oh, this is as far as I planned.
Mark klemm was just
physically dominating.
He picked the perfect point
to take off.
What's the probability you
think that you finish goruck selection?
A 100%.
I finished selection
the day I signed up for it.
You're that cocky about this.
I'm not, I trained my balls off.
Not cocky at all.
It was very much like dominating.
It pays to be a winner.
They say that over and over
and it sounds maybe silly
but it pays to be a winner.
Just my own doubts combined
with the cadre there,
I mean they're amazing at fishing and they
dig and dig until they find the right spot
and then, right,
they just harp on that.
It's just like, okay, I'm not
gonna make it, right, that's it.
Garrett picked me up.
Jason took my ruck and it's just
like, man, that was a terrible idea.
You come out of that fog and
immediately know you made a mistake,
had plenty more energy and it was just a...
It was just a bad choice in that moment.
Put your rucksack on your back.
- Put it on your back now! Hurry up!
- Hurry up!
What are you doing?
Put your rucksack on your back.
Turn around three-five.
The sandbag toss.
Proceed towards the water. Go.
Viking loves this one.
Look at that one.
Look at that fucking...
He's a warrior right now.
That's it, I'll just Chuck it.
You think
you're gonna pass this event?
There's a good chance
but...
It all depends on what happens
in the next 24 hours
because I know
it's gonna get hard.
He is fucking eating your... he
is eating your manna and getting stronger.
The shark smells
your blood in the water.
He is getting fucking stronger
by the second. - Right shoulder.
Yeah, of course, it's gonna depend on
what happens in the next 24 hours...
But what's gonna go on inside your
head when it gets a lot worse?
Uh...
I'm not sure.
It's a... there's a...
A lot of pain...
But, uh...
I just need to push forward.
Man, he's already into the next evolution,
you haven't even got to the water yet.
Six-two is a fucking warrior and you're sitting
here sipping water like a fucking Sally.
I let's go, iwo-eight.
It's very apparent who was
bearing their burden of the weight.
Very apparent now.
Just had to divvy things up.
It's only 40 pounds, we've been
pretty fucking generous, I think.
Right shoulder.
Pretty fair, guys.
Let you take a fucking break when
you met the standard earlier.
Pays to be a winner.
Pays to meet the standard.
Six-two's doing really well, we're
not focused on him at all right now.
We're basically saying, "hey, you're doing
really well," we'll build his ego up,
you know, because we're looking to create
a distance between two-eight and six-two,
that's the... that's the
methodology.
So the creation of distance,
it's the same reason why a lion picks on
the slow zebra, why pick on the fast one.
The fast one will become slow
eventually.
And so, right now six-two
is crushing it.
We'll just shatter him with praise
because we want, praise of sorts
because we want that
to get into two-eight's head.
It's pretty much that simple.
Why is this so much easier
for him than for you?
He must've prepared it.
Did he train harder?
Did he do better
or he's just tougher?
It's 'cause he's a
winner and he had 420 calories.
Or is it because
he's a fucking winner?
So let's talk about your
evolution from last year to this year.
Are you in a much different
space? What happened?
Uh, it was just total failure, so I just... there
was no way I was gonna let that happen again.
So, uh, I pushed out
over the past year.
Uh, I started training
even earlier.
I got strong over the winter then tried
to lean out a bit to get faster.
I went even further with
the same thing I did last year
but started even further back
with, uh, no coffee, no caffeine,
no booze, no happiness.
Six-two, go sit, go,
go sit down and drink water.
Rucksack down.
Rucksack up.
Rucksack up all the way.
Pays to be a winner, iwo-eight.
I'd work out
12... 12 to 13 times a week.
1 carry a 60-pound ruck, uh, I work in the
city and I go client to client to client.
So I carry a 60-pound
ruck every day.
Uh, it's...
It... it adds up just... just going
to the subway, going to work,
coming back from the subway,
coming back from work,
uh, I usually put in
about 2.8 miles just there,
uh, and that's not if I,
you know, travel around to a bunch of client
sites throughout the day that mileage goes up.
Look what it looks like, stand up,
two-eight, look what it looks like to win.
That's what it looks like. That's
what the standard looks like.
That's what happens
when you meet the standard.
This is what happens when you don't.
Rucksack above your head.
What's the probability that
you pass goruck selection this year?
100%.
In three words or less, what's
going on in your mind right now?
Now, we're gonna ask that same question
to two-eight. We're gonna see what he says.
Everybody has a physical point
where they're gonna just fall out
but it's well past what your
mind thinks you can do,
as long as you let your mind
believe you can do more.
Where you at, two-eight,
let's go!
Right now, at this point,
we're just keeping them moving
because what we know is coming up in the next
hour after this is gonna be extremely physical.
So right now we're just keeping
them engaged without smoking them.
They still got a very wet full
rucksack on their back.
Theyre, un...
Let's see, two, three, they are
22 hours, 21 hours into this.
21 and a half.
So...
Going without sleep
for 24 hours,
because I'm sure they were up for a
few hours before this thing started
and no food,
nothing's easy at this point.
Are you gonna fall down?
In three words or less, tell me what's
going through your head right now?
"I'm depleted, cadre.
that's three words, good.
Go to your happy place there,
gilmore.
All right, Jason, we got an update
on state of affairs for you.
Good.
So as they were
coming back and forth,
we asked six-two in three words
or less
what's going through your mind
right now and he said, "winning."
And when the two-eight got down here,
I asked him the same question,
and he said,
"I am depleted, cadre."
What? He said that?
=that's what he said.
So you're gonna be... you're
gonna be at one here real soon.
Yeah.
I mean, his only hope is that
he gets to the 24-hour Mark,
that's his only hope.
What happens in 24 hours?
They get a break,
they get a food item,
get a maybe 45 minutes to sit down
and refit their... their stuff.
Yeah. Priorities...
Priorities of work.
That can go... hat break can go
one of two ways though.
Yeah.
You know, nobody wants
to restart the cold engine.
You know,
nobody wants to do that.
Especially, when the engine
is switching off.
Yeah.
Two-eight's got his head down every time it
comes around that corner. He just got lapped.
Did he? - The only thing
he could tell me was he was depleted.
Yeah, that's bad.
Did you lap him, six-two?
Yes, cadre.
You fucking lapped him,
look at you.
Ahem. What's your warrior animal,
what's your warrior spirit?
If you had to pick one
right now, tell me, hurry up.
Then fucking go breathe fire
all over him and destroy him.
You got lapped, sucker.
You got lapped.
Turn around, go get a brick,
come back.
Yes, cadre.
Make it so. Hurry up.
Six-two, do you care about anything
we throw at you at this point?
1 didn't think so.
I mean, they're in terms of their
training, in terms of their preparation,
in terms of all the stuff they've done and
prepared for this, they're identical,
their bodies could be performing at the
same level right now, it's just...
The mind controls the body.
We try to tell them otherwise, we do tell them
otherwise but the mind controls the body.
Two-eight looks terrible.
Get the brick and keep moving.
Two-eight, in three words or
less, how you feeling right now?
Not very good.
He knows what the definition
of winning is, he knows how to count,
one, two, three, three words
or less he says...
Can be creative
in the middle of all this.
Yeah. Not very good he says.
- It's a terrible answer.
- Yeah.
But it meets the... the mathematical
requirements, you know.
The answer meets
the look on his face.
Keep moving, iwo-eight.
You can do whatever you want
when you're not in front of me.
Hint.
Here he comes. The machine.
Drink water.
What's motivating you right now?
Winning.
What do you want to win?
Zero-two-eight, in three words
or less, how are you feeling?
Is this ever gonna change,
do you think? Stop.
Is this gonna change? Or are you gonna
always feel sorry for yourself?
Is that your motivation
right now?
So you failed to properly train
without...
You failed to properly train for 24
hours without consuming calories.
Your body doesn't recognize
what this feels like
and so it's starting to eat itself
away and it's starting to crash.
I mean, we still have hours
and hours and hours to go
until your 24-hour Mark.
You've been given
every opportunity to win.
Six-two's gotten plenty of food
because he's been winning.
Do you have...
Do you have what it takes?
But you don't?
Every time I see
your shoulders roll forward
and this weakness inside of you, I
want to smoke you till you quit.
That's... that's the kind of...
That's what you are doing to us.
So you need to fix yourself, you need
to stop worrying about, I need food.
Bullshit you need food.
Bullshit.
Pick it up, start fucking winning or
quit, that's what kind of event this is.
You're... youre kissing your
cousin right now. Win or quit.
Meet the standard or quit,
that's the deal.
- Is that clear?
- Yes, cadre.
Do you want to quit
at this time?
I do not, cadre.
Then continue and start to win.
He needs a victory.
That's what he needs.
The problem is that there's nobody to motivate
him to win right now except for himself.
Something's gonna have to change,
his luck's gonna have to change.
He's gonna have to change his demeanor, his
confidence level. He's gonna have to dig deep.
Every sfas selection has that
component to it, that individual component,
where you're pushed so far mentally that
all you have to do is say, fuck it.
And when you say fuck it, you put one foot in
front of the other, and follow instructions.
07, 88, 89, 90.
Leg straight out,
six-two, back to 70.
We want people that show up
ready, we want them to pass.
It is, they got to pass on
their own.
Straight out, two-eight. Six-two,
doing the fucking standard.
04, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69.
There is a standard but, you know,
once the goruck selection starts,
the welcome party begins, the
standard is whoever's winning.
So, you know, the cat's out of
the bag, that's the standard.
Two-eight,
you're in the lead right now.
- 97...
- 73.
- 98, 99...
- 74.
- 300.
- 75.
You know there's
always a split sort of,
is it better to have somebody
behind you
who is doing poorly
so you look good by comparison.
But then also you're competing
with them
and if the next evolution is something
that they're good at and you're bad at,
well, guess what, heh, now you're
the one behind the eight ball
and that might last for
one or two or three hours
and you might not be able
to recover from that.
Look who the smart guy is how?
Pays to be a winner.
Peanut butter and fucking jelly,
my favorite.
For me, it was just get past the pt
test, get past the welcome party,
uh, and then get to the 24-hour Mark and
then, boom, go time, that was the game plan.
This one looks good.
I need water.
A little bit of fungus. Get up.
How are your feet?
They feel good, cadre.
Six-two, go and take
the shoes off.
They, they actually, uh...
Six-two, take off your shoes.
They say the hardest part of
actual special forces selection
is lacing up your boots for the second... for
the next day, after maybe an hour of asleep.
That's the same thing, you know... the
same thing here, the hardest part is
after that nice little break that you get,
lacing those boots up and going for round two.
It's big, uh...
It's a big mind game.
Six-two,
how you doing right now?
- I'm doing well, cadre.
- One to ten?
Nine.
What's your biggest issue then?
No issue, cadre.
Just, obviously, not as fresh
24 hours in as zero hours in
but I feel good.
How are you
feeling mentally? Ten.
How you feeling physically?
=nine.
All right,
anything else you got to say?
I have nothing, cadre.
All right.
All right, two-eight,
quick check-in.
How you doing, 1 to 10,
mentally and physically?
Uh, physically, 6; Mentally, 8.
What's going on in your head?
Uh...
Body is... body is tired.
I mean it's going at it for 24
hours, it's... it's expected so.
It's... it's gonna
be difficult because...
Yeah, the chest muscles
are sore, uh,
quads... calves are a little
tight so it's just, you know.
Okay, continue
to priorities of work.
We asked six-two how he's doing. He's like,
mentally, I'm 10. Physically, I'm a 9. Right.
Doesn't want to say anything, doesn't
want to give me anything, right,
which is exactly the right
answer, you know, I'm good.
Like, fucking lie, that's what
you do, you fucking lie.
I'm good, right, I'm great.
But you have to believe
that lie.
You do. You have to believe
the lie. - That's exactly right.
For two-eight, he still remains,
you know, how are you doing?
My body, 24 hours later,
I'm very sore, you know,
my chest hurts, stuff like that
and he still gotta find
that... that fighter.
Okay.
- He's gotta find it.
- His voice.
Sounds like he's got
a lot of self-doubt.
24 hours is not...
This is not close to done.
- I mean, the good news is...
- It's halfway done.
The good news is,
is that there's only two people
that have a chance of passing goruck
selection, they're both right over there
and they're doing well, one's doing a
little better but they're doing well.
They both have it in them, they can
do it, it's just gonna be up to them.
So root for them
and we'll keep it coming.
At 24-hour Mark the cadre demeanor changes
to just, hey, here's the standard, do it.
The standard is still upheld
but not to the point like it was when we
first began because that's impossible.
Get up! Get up! Get up!
There's obviously, a point of physical
exhaustion that you just can't get through,
whether it be dehydration or
altitude sickness or whatever it is
but where people stop point is,
is probably two or three times
short of where they can go.
Let's go, two-eight.
You reach a point of collapse
that if you're dehydrated
or you're hurt in some way,
that's going to be a stopping point,
that's going to be a mid drop or whatever
but if you're just at
that point that you feel bad,
your mind can do things and it's
amazing to push yourself through that
and I think all of
the candidates have learned,
some more than others,
what they can and can't do.
- Get your elbows off your knees.
- Get off the ledge.
Get off the ledge.
On your feet, two-eight.
Get on your gear.
Yes, cadre. - Move
with a sense of purpose.
Yeah, this is very military
but there's success in failure
so all those people
that showed up here
and didn't make it still are probably
better people at the end of the day,
they have higher standards
of themselves
and they'll expect more of themselves
in the future going forward.
One and two...
Move.
Look straight ahead.
Only failure's on the ground.
Roster two-zero-eight,
do you wish to continue?
Yes, cadre.
- Are you done?
- Are you done?
You done?
Get the rucksack,
get the sandbag up.
Cadre mocha and cadre Garrett
are ramping up the intensity a lot.
It's, uh... it's very hot.
Lot of mosquitoes, you know.
It's all that great
Florida stuff.
Continue to move. Does not feel sorry
for yourself or have self-pity.
Everyone's gonna have
a different why.
Ultimately you have to do it for the right
reason. It has to be an honest reason.
Toss it forward. Toss your
sandbag forward. Go get it.
Toss it, far, as far as you can.
Go get it.
I wanted to go through the experience
of being like pushed to my limit
and learn like how to get past that
so that I could teach that to others.
You know what he needs to do one more
toss just 'cause he's last place.
When I had the thoughts of quitting
like it didn't even come up at all.
You need a special invite? You need a
special invite? You need some crayons?
- You need a blankie?
- No, cadre.
Well, then get moving.
You read things that happened way more
significant than just an endurance event.
You know, real life things
where people have taken action
and you sort of wonder like, well, how
would I do in that sort of situation
and this gives you a chance just to
have an idea of like how deep can I dig
to just accomplish the task
at hand
regardless of what might
happen or how things might be.
Getting the engine started
again after you've had a long rest,
I think that break is,
it's a blessing but it's also
a curse in a lot of ways.
These guys had over an hour to kind
of power down and get their shoes off
it's fair to say
it's a blessing in the long run
and in the short run
it's miserable.
I think that's a great
way to describe it.
Without the rest,
they might not have had a shot
and they needed the nutrition especially
in the hydration, they needed the rest but
to go from 0 to 60 again
is very, very difficult.
And it just doesn't feel very worth it after
you've had to get back up and start again
so I think we're seeing that
especially with two-eight right now.
He just is having a hard time getting
back into the swing of things.
If he can get through the next,
you know, 20 or 30 minutes
and kind of get back on the...
On the horse,
he might get in the zone
and keep going
but he's really struggling to kind of
find the motivation coming off the break.
Okay, what you're gonna do
is reverse lunges.
Understand me? You know, lunge,
facing this way.
In that direction..
You're done?
Okay.
Six-two, move, you
heard the exercise, didn't you?
Come here, Jonathan,
come over here, man.
Here, bro. Sit down, sit down. Chill.
Let me have your fucking rucksack.
Cadre was just going too
fast and I just couldn't move.
I don't know if I just need to improve
cardio or what but it was just...
Well, the heat, man.
We were trying to keep you guys cool,
obviously, you know, in the water all the time
but the heat's gonna do that, it's gonna
elevate your heart rate for sure.
Anytime you get dehydrated and that heat
stuff, you're gonna be fucked, so...
You're a bay area boy,
aren't you?
Yeah. So there was no...
I mean, it got hot there for a
week or two, didn't it like 100...
A one weekend, that was it so.
I tried to do the sauna thing
but it's just...
Here, put this behind.
It's not like this is a sauna,
it's not like this.
Yeah.
Oh, man, it was... it was awesome
and an inspirational for real.
- I'Hank you.
- No, thanks again.
- Good job, man.
- Thanks.
You did a good job, man.
Heart rate.
I don't like this
event at all, I really don't.
I feel like it brings out
the worst in humanity
but at the same time,
when that worst is... is... is... brought
in, the best kind of rises to the surface
so, you know, if it's a black class
that's not a good weekend at all.
If we have at least one
finisher, it makes it all worth it.
Let's just hope
medically he can survive.
One of the things that I've learned
early on as a young special forces soldier
was my team sergeant, my first team sergeant,
sat me down and talked to me and said,
"okay, what I need you to do
and what every professional warrior
can do is tell me what he can't do."
And I just completed the
qualification course and I was like,
what do you mean what
I can't do, I can do anything.
And he said, "listen to what
I'm going to say to you,
you have to know yourself
as an individual,
you have to bring that
to the team,
and as an individual we need to know
what you can't do for two reasons.
One, we won't give you a job to do that will
get you or other members on this team killed.
And number two, it tells me
what you need to be trained in
so I can schedule you
for future trainings."
Hurry up, front mount it.
Let's go.
"Before you can be a member of a team
or a member, a good member of a community,
you have to know what's inside you, you
have to know what you can and can't do
and openly share that
with others,
then you can move on
beyond that."
All the way, keep going.
Bend knee down.
Close it.
Figure how to put that on.
Do you have any numbness
and tingling in your hand?
Uh...
I don't know
if I'd say numbness but...
Cap refill is good.
Can you do this for me?
Don't rest your arm, just hold
it up and we'll do that.
Can you touch my hand?
Stand up and let your arms
hang down your side.
Is your knee okay?
I saw you walk, limp up. Is your knee okay?
Do you want me to look at your knee?
No, I think my knee is fine.
You think or...
This is not think time.
I didn't, uh... I didn't twist
or anything like that, no.
All right, you'll be fine.
I have let's say
like a calf cramp.
Maybe not perfect but good.
Okay.
Six inches,
I assigned six inches.
- Six inches.
- I six inches.
You're not six inches, yet,
six-two. It's is gonna be a long night.
Six-two, let's go, six-two.
Let's go. Pull them up, six-two.
Hold it for ten seconds out of that
water, I'll let you go on your feet.
Ten, no.
You got to start it over again.
I think it's important
to communicate that our cadre
are all former special operators of some
kind and they've been through selections
but more important than being through selections,
they have been through world experiences.
Just give me the pouch,
whatever you want to do.
They've been
in foreign countries
at the worst possible time in those
same kind of similar moments
to your worst nightmare at the... you
know, the worst point during selection.
You give me that sandbag
running lights,
I'll give your selection badge
right now.
- Holy shit, six-two.
- I so close, yet, so far.
Do you have it in you?
I think the cadre's role
in there
is it's almost an art form
of taking that experience,
that personal experience
that we have
and translating that to somebody in the civilian
community that just wants to be better.
Let's go, six-two.
Let's go.
It becomes an art of
how do I manage the standard
and how do I get the most out
of each individual
where they walk away with a learned
experience that's positive for them.
Keep moving forward. All right, take that
patch of your rucksack. Do you understand me?
- Yes, cadre.
- All right, let's go, come on.
That ain't one.
You're at zero
is what you're at.
Let's go.
- Can you touch the bottom?
- No, cadre.
Do you know what depth
of water you're in right now?
I don't.
Approximately 12 feet
of water right now.
Get up higher, if it touches I will add
water to it. Do you understand me?
- Yes, cadre.
- Get it above your head.
Higher.
Don't let it touch. You say you're comfortable
out here, you said this portion was easy.
Cody, what's them seal say?
Cadre, Cody.
What's them seal say, what's that
seal saying you guys have about...
That's it. That's what I was
searching for. Keep it up above your head.
- This shit's easy now, right?
- No, cadre.
1 think you're playing
with my emotion, six-two.
Two, one, two, three, three,
one, two, four...
If it tips over, you start all over
again, you understand that, right?
Sorry, cadre?
If it tips over you're gonna start
over from zero, you understand?
I understand. Continue.
One, two, three, five.
One, two, three, six.
One, two, three, seven. One...
That's just the alligator eating
that bird, don't worry about that.
Eight. One, two...
How's your calf?
I can still feel it but it's working
right now. I know when I get out of.
That's if you ever get out.
Keep it higher.
Geez, my mom just joined this.
Hi, mom, what are you doing?
My mom is watching this.
Hey, six-two, question of the hour.
Why are you here?
Why are you filling
this hole in with your life?
Why do you want to finish?
What is it about you that makes
you want to be here
doing this ridiculous stuff?
A lot of the comments in the thread
here over the last few minutes
about why is he doing this. I'm gonna
level with you, I don't know why.
Well, what other hard stuff,
I mean, you like to walk to work
whoop-de-fucking-doo so do I.
You like to... what else?
Uh...
Okay, whoop-de-doo, what else?
We did it primarily because I wanted
to know what was on the other side.
I wasn't doing it
to prove myself,
I was doing it because I wanted
to be part of the community.
So in this scenario...
You probably wanted to
prove yourself a little bit too.
Right, maybe a little bit.
You know, I mean,
it's the same gene.
Some of you were saying it's for pride,
some were saying it's to prove yourself,
to yourself, to others,
whatever. Doesn't matter.
That's the thing, everyone that finishes
goruck selection or any event like this,
they've got something, some reason
deep inside why they're doing it.
If they didn't, they couldn't push
through this. They just couldn't.
Here's a good question. How
far does he have to roll this twig?
Well, he has to flip this twig
until I get tired, that's how far.
Six-two, 1 to 10, how are you
feeling right now, physically?
- Physically, five or six.
- Five or six.
You've gotten better?
- Yes?
- Probably five.
All right. What do you
think your chances are
of successfully completing
goruck selection?
Hundred percent.
All right, good. Charlie
Mike, continue the mission.
See, all right, so
this is gonna be the sign off.
There's just some preparation for
the long walk that's got to go on
which is just starting here in
not too long.
He's doing really well, man.
We're really proud of him.
Keep moving forward, cadre.
The long walk is the last
evolution for goruck selection.
It is, uh, exactly what it
sounds like, a very long walk.
It's an undisclosed distance,
undisclosed time to the candidate.
If he doesn't complete it,
he doesn't complete it.
That's really it.
It's not too tough to explain.
J my mind needs to lie I
j in those fields so open wide j
j look up and take me j
j to the big, big sky j
it's, hey, go down this
road and don't stop.
The standard is forward
progression.
And by this time we've got, well, in
this class we had one person left
but if you had three or four left,
they're gonna get separated,
they're not gonna keep
the same pace
and now the only thing you have out
there besides a dark road or beach,
is what's going on
inside your head.
And all the pain is amplified
and the tiredness is amplified,
in fact, you're falling asleep
walking on your feet.
J where my love is bound to go j
j when I see her will I know j
ji know I'll know jl
It again brings back
that mental toughness,
like how too far can
you dig inside your mind to go,
it's gotta be around the corner,
I can go another foot,
I can put my foot in front
of the other one more time.
All right, goruck candidate zero-six-two
is still moving south down the beach.
He is now just over eight hours
into the long walk.
So try to imagine that
he's absolutely was crushed for,
you know, 36 hours or so,
maybe more,
then he puts his rucksack back on and he's
been walking now for over eight hours.
At this point, I would be very surprised
if he can't complete the walk
or just endure what's left for him
down there at the finish line.
So I think we're gonna see
a selection finisher this year.
This guy's been rock solid
pretty much the whole way.
He's gonna make it. So we'll get
you updated here in just a second.
Now we're gonna try to get you live footage
really from here to the rest of the way out.
So if you're into watching
the dude walk down the beach,
you know, for a few hours, this
is the place to do it today.
The beauty of it is as you come in
at the eight, the nine hour of walking
and there's all these
cadre again.
And all those senses come back.
The ocean's in your face.
The cadre are yelling again.
They're asking you to do things that
in your mind are now impossible.
And you think, I'm done,
it's here.
Once you reach that dark point and I have
been there, all of our cadre have been there.
I don't want to be here, I'm
cold, I'm wet, I'm miserable,
every step feels like torture.
I mean, why do we do this
to ourselves?
The type of person
that passes selection,
they want to uphold themselves
to a standard.
They want to be the type
of person that says,
I want the hardest job
you can imagine, send me.
Do you wanna quit, six-two?
Hey, we can write your selection on a crown and
a piece of paper. That's the new generation.
That's a rare individual
that wants to do that.
And when you see that, when you look
into someone's eyes after 47 hours
and you know that there's nothing
you can do to break them
that is empowerment
that is inspiration.
All the way up, six-two.
- Lift your knees up.
- Let's go, six-two.
This is not mud.
Do the exercise as outlined by the
to the standard of the cadre.
Not doing any exercises
right now, six-two.
Lift your arms. Lift your arms.
As you go through selection,
you almost reach
a different plane
of mental being.
And I think that plane what I would
equate it to is an understanding of self
that while you are
an individual,
you become a part
of something greater.
Forward, forward. Keep moving.
- Forward. Forward.
- Keep going, six-two.
Hurry up, six-two.
Hurry up, six-two.
- Switch hands.
- Hurry up, six-two.
One hand
with that fighter, six-two.
Don't let
that bag drag, six-two.
Don't let that bag drag.
Switch hands.
It's extremely refreshing
to come here and just see no excuses,
there's finally something
where there's a bar
and if you don't make it,
nobody cares.
Six-two, see that's
pretty pathetic right now.
- Get it up, get it up.
- Come on, six-two.
Are you expecting, six-two?
Are you expecting us, six-two?
- Wwe are not stopping.
- Hurry up!
- Swing it!
- Hurry up!
. Get that fucking
bag over your head, let's go.
Let's go, six-two!
- What is your problem, six-two?
- Hurry up!
Get this, six-two, let's go!
Get it up there!
Hurry up, we got six bags
on your back.
Hurry up, sixtwo.
You can die of hypothermia,
come on.
Come on, six-two.
Holy shit, six-two. Wow.
You saved yourself some time. -
Find the bottom of the squat, six-two.
, six-two.
- All right, six-two.
- Complete the task, six-two.
You got to squat, six-two.
Squat, six-two. In the
bottom of the squat, sixtwo.
Squat.
Find the bottom of the squat,
six-two.
That's not the bottom.
=lt's not the bottom.
Six-two, stand up.
Turn around.
Candidate.
Congratulations for passing
the class, selection class 019.
Are you smiling, man?
I remember, when I... l was an eagle
scout or I'm an eagle scout and
you know, I was in junior high, high school,
and boy scouts and when you make eagle scout,
they put on a big court of honor,
it's a big ceremony, right,
they bring local dignitaries
and that sort of thing.
And I can't remember the gentleman
unfortunately who said it
but as part of his speech he said, "this
eagle scout medal, it's not a award,
it's not something that you...
You put on your wall
to say, look what I did.
It's just a burden.
Congratulations for completing
goruck selection 020.
So it's the same thing with this
where it's like you better hold
yourself to that standard forever,
otherwise youre just spitting on everybody
else who's there in that patch,
you know, and fought so hard to get there
because people will look at all those
and... and that's how
they judge it.
The most important part of this event is
that it honors our roots in special forces.
It's really, really important
that those who pass it,
and those who want to pass it
know that there is a standard
and that that standard is based upon the
selection courses that we've been through.
There's a reason why
almost nobody passes those,
it's because
it's really, really hard.
We're giving people a slice of what
that looks like and feels like.
We're building a bridge between the
military and the civilian worlds
by leveraging our background
in special forces.
And when the human spirit is alive
and well like we see it here,
it reminds me of the guys that I graduated the
special forces qualification course with.
And if that's not honoring our roots in
special forces, then I don't know what is.
a million times in my life.
I've made a million and one
bad decisions at goruck.
And if you don't take those failures
and learn something from them
and apply them to your life...
Then this was for nothing.
I want to meet the kind of
person that passes this event.
I want to see that, feel it,
smell it,
look at the person in the eyes
when they pass...
But more important than that
is that everyone who shows up...
I want them to learn something
that makes them a better person.
I was thinking of a
little small snapshot.
You know, it'd be interesting to see that
'cause I've been working with video.
Wrinkles. Wrinkles.
Got wrinkles already?
Got wrinkles all over the place,
everywhere.
I think the humidity will
take care of this. - Wrinkles.
I think the...
Once we step outside.
Who's taking...
What? Here, take this through...
Joe, I want to purchase the 34.
All right, let's be...
I'm getting the work done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey, this is a taste of
what an operator selection is.
- It's compressed.
- It's compressed, condensed timeline
but the most poetic thing about this is
it's not that we get to scream and yell
and you get to see the dark side of us
as a cadre, not there to encourage you
but we enjoy watching them ride this
mental rollercoaster, "il can't do this.
I got this. I got this.
Ll can't do this."
It's this wave that they ride
throughout the whole event
that's really... that's really the
awesome part from a cadre standpoint
to get to watch.
And then when they hit
that bottom
that's when they are weak... - And
you watch them wrestle. Yeah.
Theyre at their weakest.
It's usually after you've given
them the stronger minds,
you've given them a little bit
of time to think,
you watch them start to descend
and then you just
pick up or prey upon their weakness
and then they're sitting by the fire.
- Yeah.
- You know. Last year, you know, Alex...
Alex stavdal was there and five minutes
later he's like, "man, I'm fine.
I don't know why I quit.
He's coming back. He might pass.
We'll see. You know.
- Like watch him...
- There's no take-backs.
- Yeah.
- Someone says, "I'm done, I quit.
That's it, you know," that's it,
there're no take-backs.
And that's sort of the...
That's why we're happy
to have goruck selection exist,
not because we want to roll out here
and just yell and scream, right.
I mean you can describe
someone's actions in you...
- Monster.
- There he comes, stealing the show again.
You can describe someone's actions
in with as much color and detail
as god gave you the gift
of saying it
however he did, right, you know,
death, destruction, carnage,
but the person is never that,
right.
These people show up for this. I don't
want to show up for this. Do you?
Do you? Nobody does.
Nobody wants to show.
Blayne saw the poi. "He goes,
no, no thanks, I'm good.
I mean, he looked at and he goes,
"nobody is going to pass this.
It's not humanly possible.
And then he took a step back,
right,
he says, "of course,
someone's gonna pass it.
Well, not, of course,
but probably.
And, of course,
it's humanly possible."
And so this question about who
is...
This question about who is physically
ready out of the people that show up,
this is a 48-hour
endurance event.
That's it, right, 48 hours.
So, my take is that
if you pass the pt test,
you are physically capable
of completing this event.
I agree. Period. The end.
We call it selection
really just to pay homage to our roots.
You know we're not trying to
replicate special forces selection
but we are trying
to pay tribute to it.
And so we want to give these people the
chance to get a taste of what that's like.
I trained really hard
but I didn't expect
the... the mental beat down.
I'd like to say
that I could pass selection
but I don't think I can look
all of you right in the eye
and say that for sure 'cause it
is a test like I've never seen.
So when we're talking about
condense and special ops selection
and how you look at the goruck
selection, all the components are there.
And how we line those up and play
those out becomes very interesting.
I'hink we're gonna make
it this year? Yes.
How? Okay. How many?
This is the math part, right.
So 75 sign up, 50 show up,
45 pass the pt test.
The welcome party claims
anywhere between 30 and 40
and then at the 24-hour Mark
you're somehow down to three Max.
When it boils down to it,
selection is ultimately a 24-hour
endurance event with an extra 24 hours.
Head to the back, take
all instructions and follow on, cadre.
Go ahead and clear it.
Grab all your gear, head to the back, take
all instructions to follow on, cadre.
Hurry up. Move.
Hurry up. Let's go.
Take all food and water
out of your rucksack.
You'll hang it by the top with the
carrying handle when I tell you to do so.
Take two steps back.
Turn now to right.
Strike one.
Point zero, four-five.
Insufficient amount of weight.
Fix it.
Take it off.
Class of 015.
Class of 015,
insufficient amount of weight.
One-five, take all
your gear and move to the back
and take on following
instructions to follow on, cadre.
Alright. Any other medications?
Any injuries or illnesses?
And we tell you to take an ors packet
through... - Right and clear.
Move to the back. Take all
instructions to follow on, cadre.
Yes. Take it off.
In special forces,
we join that community
because I think a lot of us wanted to
be part of a high-performing team,
something elite, there's something
to more than it's just about us.
In order to have high-performing
teams,
they have to be made up
of high-performing individuals
who are selfless
and committed to the cause.
The selection takes
you back to being an individual.
It makes you look deep
inside yourself.
That's what it boils down to.
You're trying to sort out those
people and determine
who has the gut to pull it out.
Everybody out there
says it's a bridge too far.
If you never served,
you can never understand it.
That's a coward's approach.
People need to say this is how
you can better understand it.
You have 15 seconds, pack it up.
Hurry up.
Pick it up and dump it out.
Too slow packing up again.
Pack it up! Too slow!
Pack it up! Too slow!
I mean, my mom cried
right in front of me
when I told her
that I was enlisting,
that I'd already enlisted,
in fact.
And she's crying
in our kitchen, saying no.
She didn't understand
anything about the army.
And... and yet, you know,
because I took a step forward
and said, I'm gonna do this, you know,
she became knowledgeable about service
more so than she was before.
And so there's a lot
of Americans out there
who want a little slice of knowledge
about what it means and what it takes.
What kind of a human does this
to themselves?
Five-one, everyone knows that
number now.
Five-0one.
We'll hear that number
until we don't.
That's how this works.
The numbers we know are the numbers
that go away, the fastest.
You just sort of say
this isn't for me.
Five-0one...
Missing hats.
Plastic bags. Who's this for?
Whose bags are these?
Here 5053.
Who brought clearly
identifiable great value
plastic bags here?
Get up here five-two.
Why weren't you sure?
I don't know, cadre.
It took a second.
Was it because
they were great value bags
that are gonna fucking break and fall
apart in two fucking seconds anyway?
Shitty fucking value.
Poor decision.
- Stuff them in your ruck.
- Roger.
Hurry up.
You know, they start off administrative...
Administrative stressful, right?
Pack your ruck, unpack your ruck,
pack, unpack it again, pack it.
And just watching
people sweating,
drenched in sweat just packing
and unpacking their ruck,
you know, it's like
basic training day one, right,
where the people
are just yelling into the face.
It's done for a purpose. It's done to create
stress and to see what you're gonna do.
You go get that boot.
Get in there, hurry
up one-five, get in there.
Hurry up, one-five. Hurry up.
Hurry up one-five.
Get your, let's go.
- Get it, get it, get it.
- Let's go, one-five. Hurry up.
One-five, stop real quick.
Stop. Stop.
Look behind you.
Yes, cadre.
What do you see?
A lot of folks that are done
and I'm not.
Go ahead.
There are times throughout
selection or any selection,
it's the same in the military,
where there's a very clear and defined
standard like, let's say the pt test.
We're looking
for perfect pushups.
We're looking
for perfect sit-ups.
It's completely objective and
we should expect that of them
because they're coming in fresh,
they had plenty of time to prepare
and those standards are well
published ahead of time.
You understand
that as a candidate
going through that you have
to do 50 pushups,
do 55, do 60.
That's where you're trying to find that
person who has gotten rid of their ego,
they're... they're in the zone and
they understand that it's more about
an awareness and an
understanding of standards
and then take those standards
to the next level
because that's the guy you want
to your right and your left
when you're in a situation
and you need help.
Fall in on your gear,
priorities of work.
Fall in on your gear,
priorities of work.
All the army physical fitness
test is just a baseline standard
for us to be able to, um,
judge the participants
on whether or not
they're physically ready.
They have to pass the pi test in order
for the event to actually begin.
The standards are very simple. You
have to do 55 pushups in 2 minutes,
65 sit-ups in 2 minutes and you have
to run 5 miles in 40 minutes or less.
What follows is a 12-mile ruck.
That 12-mile ruck they have to
do in three and a half hours.
That will be the end of the physical
testing portion of goruck selection.
This is the only known that these participants
have about the event before they come.
S50, their level of preparation
really shows during the pt test.
And it doesn't matter if they have
54 pushups, that's the standard.
We had a number of people actually have
54 pushups and they went home. So...
That's all it really is, is just a standard for
us to make sure that they're ready for it.
Yeah, you're
asking the wrong guy for that
because none of us, obviously, showed up
to special forces assessment selection
or Navy seal bud/s
or anything like that
physically unprepared or else we wouldn't
be standing in front of you right now.
So I don't know what's in the head of those
people who don't come physically prepared.
It doesn't make a lot of sense.
Our community,
the special forces community,
when they look at goruck, when they look at us
and when they look at this particular event,
we want them to feel good
about it, to be proud of it
and to feel that we're
representing the community
and we're representing special
forces as well.
We've put ourselves in a bit of a tough
spot because we can't half-ass it.
We can't fail to meet high standards
if we're gonna call it selection
but we're okay with that because we're
also committed to doing right by it.
I don't really like
goruck selection
but it's also the only event
we have
where I consistently tear up
at the end.
To watch the human spirit
go on this amazing journey
of successes and failures
and ultimately, triumph
is...
A certain way to conjure up
those memories
of what the special forces assessment
and selection course was for me.
I know all the steps, I know
all the things you have to do,
not to gut it out but six
months ago, a year ago,
the commitment, the sacrifice, the dedication
that you had to make as an individual.
To put yourself in that moment,
that specific moment where
you're at your absolute lowest,
you're digging really deeply
to figure out what's my why?
Why are you still here filling water up?
Hurry up.
Fill up water, fast.
Move out, fast.
Pack your shit up, fast.
Grab your fucking shit and go.
Whose shit is this?
Pick it up.
Hey, move out. - Zero-four-six,
get the fuck out of here. Move.
Double-time, go. Go.
Come on three-five.
We are one minute
into the welcome party.
Only about 40 hours
of goruck selection remain.
And, uh, it looks really
painful already.
You had. You don't have it.
You don't have it in you.
You have quitter
all over your face.
Why are you wasting your time? Why are
you wasting our cadre time? Let's go.
Squat.
Just take a step out.
Not with your ruck
in the water, you.
Lunge towards the shore.
Hey, we didn't say just drop
and fall. We said lunge.
You got four-six? Let's go.
We want you to lunge your way
to the back...
- Get back. Get back over here.
- Get your damn ruck up!
Move!
Okay.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, two, one, get up!
Get down! Get down!
Crawl on your belly.
Your legs don't work,
you can crawl.
When I signed in,
everybody gave me a med sheet
and if you look at the bottom of the med sheet, it
says, "what is your stress level at right now?"
And everybody was either
moderate or severe.
And we hadn't even started yet.
So with us just ensuing
a little bit of chaos,
just prodding and poking
a little bit,
we're building... we're kicking
that little internal gremlin
that's inside of them
and just letting them spin wild.
All right.
Go over to that truck.
Get your ruck off.
Cadre one-two, is he done?
- One-two is out.
- Zero-one-two.
Up!
Three of your buddies realized that
they're not gonna make it all night
and stop the pain
while they could.
We're already down four
from like 30 minutes ago.
Not only do you have to
be able to do the shift physically,
you gotta be able to master the chaos
as well and endure the unknown.
We get to see them at their weakest
and at their strongest points
and it's a roller coaster all
night just watching these guys
up and down, up and down,
fight that demon.
They kick one demon in the face, another
one pops up and it's all night.
The physical is just
the physical.
You'll see 90 percent of these guys
are in their heads most of the night.
If you get up close and look
in their eyes, you'll see it.
This is the performance
you've got and it's not good enough.
You're not meeting the standard.
You're dead last at everything.
You're not moving.
And it is only a matter of time.
The welcome party, you know,
it's the first day of basic training
where the people
are just on you.
You think you're trying your hardest.
Cadre know you're not.
They're pushing you further,
they're yelling at you,
there's mass confusion, it's dark and
you've got mud in the crack of your ass.
It's just bad.
Trample the weak,
hurdle the dead. Let's go.
Dominate the man
in front of you.
Relax. Relax.
Rucksacks on your back.
Rucksacks on your back.
- Rucksacks on your back.
- On your back!
But, yet, you're still looking around,
you still have a place to find comfort
pecause that candidate over there
is getting a lot of attention.
Win or quit? Take your pick.
Either dig deep or stand up.
That's your two options
right now.
Let's just stand up, come on.
Let's go.
I'll get your ruck for you, let's
go to the truck. Come on, let's go.
I'll get your ruck for you,
let's go to the truck. Come on.
- You're done, right?
- Not yet.
You're done?
Then start fucking performing.
Start winning.
Does this feel like winning
to you?
Who do you usually play against
where this feels like winning?
Don't disrespect everyone
else that's here working.
Don't disrespect
what this is about
because you want to lay in the mud and
pretend like you're not quitting.
You're either quitting
or you're working. That's it.
Just drop the log if you're done, man.
It's not that big of a deal.
Just drop it.
It's one thing
if your mind's telling you yes
but your body's telling you something totally
different, you better listen to your body.
What's interesting is that some of these
folks, some of them have nothing in the tank
until they are right at the brink and
then suddenly they've got a reserve
but we want them to perform the
standard as prescribed all the time,
and not just kind of fake the funk and
see if they can sneak their way through
pecause that is not
what this is about.
Give me this hand. Move it over the log.
Hold it there.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
This event is about
fucking winning.
Right now, you're getting special
attention because you are fucking losing.
You are failing to meet the standard.
That is losing.
He's quitting, man.
He's quitting.
He is quitting.
Three-two is quitting.
Mount it. I don't give two
shits about your cramps. Hurry up.
When you see somebody put every ounce of themself
into it and it's just not gonna be enough
and when you see that realization wash
over their face, it's tough to watch.
Like all you want to do is support them, but
you've got to support the standard as well.
40 more hours
of two standard training.
That's the clock that ticks.
Grab the log with your hands
flipping it over there.
Straight over.
None of that sideways bullshit
like the last one.
End over end.
Hurry up, this is real.
Aw, fuck.
Look at me.
Look at me.
Open your eyes.
That's the third time
you've fallen.
You're at risk of safety
to yourself and to others.
You're two performance failures
away from being out of here.
And before you hurt yourself or anybody
else, I'm gonna let them drop you.
Do you understand?
Take your ruck off.
Roll it, roll it.
Rob, are you okay, man?
My body broke down.
I let you go as long as I could,
man.
I know you were trying,
all right.
No shame in that, all right?
I don't want you to hurt
yourself or anybody else.
Hey, Rob.
Let's get you on your feet,
brother. Awesome job, man.
You got some fire in there.
Come on.
You guys are no fucking
joke, man.
Come on, brother, let's go. Let's
get you up. Come on. Get up.
- Can I go in there?
- Yeah, you can go.
It's not rhetorical, I'm
asking, keep moving.
How come everybody else can do
it but you can't?
Three-two.
You know that number.
=yeah, I should.
Why should you... - How come
everybody can do this but you can't?
You shouldn't even
have that patch.
Three-two, six-four,
we know these numbers.
Can you hear me?
All right, why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
Huh?
What do you mean you don't know?
That's not an answer.
I want a real answer.
Why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
Keep going.
Why can't you do this
but everybody else can?
On your feet, on your feet. On your
feet, on your feet. Stand up. Stand up.
Come on, come on, just stand up.
Stand up, stand up.
Okay, give me your hand.
No, no, put on the ground, put on
the ground. Hey, what's your name?
Lance. Hey.
=hi. - Garrett.
Hey, seriously... =no...
No qualms, man.
Wow.
Hey, you're a strong motherfucker,
all right? You're strong.
- Hey, there's no... this is all just...
- No, next year. Next year.
All right. Go home, rebuild, no
failure, you're only learning.
Well, your body just gave up
a little bit on you, you know.
Don't... you better hold
your head high, all right?
Absolutely. -
Nice to meet you, bro.
Get up there.
All right, go faster, faster.
Get up!
Sprint! Let's go!
Guess what I want you to do?
I want you to put your rucksack
on your back.
I tell you to move out,
you're gonna sprint.
I tell you to stop, you're
gonna drop and do a pushup.
- You understand me?
- Yeah.
Go.
Down.
Up. Sprint.
Down.
Up.
Sprint.
Down.
Shoulder to shoulder.
Stop losing your life-saving equipment
called your shoes, two-eight.
Shoulder to shoulder.
Friday morning, we got sunrise,
we got four left
and the sun's usually a big, big
boost to morale.
Um, that's gonna be somewhat
counterbalanced here
by the fact they're getting ready
to have cadre shift change.
And that's not gonna
go well for them. Um...
Those of you who've been
through some of these courses
in the military know how this
works. Um...
You've some low moments,
3,4 in the morning
when it's really darkest and,
uh,
once that sun starts to come up, we start to
see, you know, we call solar-powered rangers.
They'll feed off that.
And that'll be good for them.
But cadre shift change
is never good.
Pays to be a fucking winner.
- Understood?
- Yes, cadre. -Yes, cadre.
Down and back, go.
Not on your knees.
Just came on shift around 7 o'clock.
Uh, we had four.
We had a competition to see
who could finish first.
We got four sandbags, three of them
are 80 pounds, one of them 60 pounds.
We did a duck walk competition
to see who could get in first.
That person will get
the 60-pound sandbag.
Stop feeling sorry
for yourself and get down.
Next time you stand up, you stand up
and hand me your patch and walk off.
Do the exercises we told you to.
Get down.
Once we start the next event, you're
gonna wish you were duck walking.
We made it about halfway
through the duck walk competition
and zero-six-zero stood up and
gave us his voluntary withdrawal.
Six-zero is out.
So we're down to three.
And, uh, it gets us in this case
it didn't pay to be a winner,
everybody's got an 80-pound
sandbag we're filling right now.
Resistance is futile.
Don't try with the passive resistance.
We've all seen that trick.
We all know how it works.
Let's go!
Look at that machine.
We're playing a little
bit of mind games with them.
They think that this is about distance down
and back, but this evolution is about time.
Clock's not going to save you,
six-eight.
You're married to that sandbag until
you can complete the standard.
Move the sandbag.
And since the candidates
didn't evenly fill their bags,
we're gonna evenly distribute
the load.
So you'll see us rotate after
a certain distance is met
or a certain time has passed,
one of each candidate rotate.
And he was just chucking
the shit out of it.
Now you could turn around and watch him struggle
with this next stride he is about to do
and you'll see that not all
the sandbags are equal.
So we're trying to equal
the pain train across the board.
I mean, I know an sf
selection in a 48-hour period,
1 got to eat
probably five to six times
and I got maybe two hours
of sleep a day or three or four.
What this is, is...
I mean, it's almost like the
never-ending firefight.
You can't sleep, you can't eat.
Just when you think it got to
its worst point, it gets worse.
This isn't break time,
six-eight.
Not like a outside the military kind
of endurance athlete kind of guy
but I can't think of anything
that has this much time,
and this much physical,
um, mental stress.
I can't think of anything
to tell you the truth.
Eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one,
performance failure.
1 got 99 problems
and you being smoked ain't one.
Get on the fucking sandbag
do the standard.
Fucking execute it.
- Is that it?
- I can't pick it up.
You re out. I'm out.
This isn't sign-ons.
Trainer, you out?
Oh, man.
I can't pick it up.
I know.
This is my second attempt
and I've done other events
but selection, to go full out,
god bless these guys.
I mean, mentally, yeah,
but I'm just completely smoked
where I couldn't move
the sandbag anymore.
S50, whatever the next evolution
is,
seeing how there'll probably be another
one before the, uh, 24-hour Mark,
even if I made it through this,
I don't know.
I mean, once you pass the welcome
party, you just keep moving.
I can't move anymore.
And now there were two.
Pick it up. Move it.
Move the weight.
First one back to start point
gets a big old fat break.
Pays to be a winner.
As I finished the tough
one, I was like, what's the next challenge?
Then it was the spartan race. And
then, what's the next challenge?
Then I read about the
goruck challenge
as it was
called back then back in 2013.
And I did my first one
in San Diego, July, class 690.
It was an amazing life-changing experience
and I got hooked on it ever since.
I said face him, two-eight.
This isn't do whatever
the fuck you want. Face him.
Look him in the eye.
Only one of you
is gonna be here.
Selection is an anti-goruck
event
because goruck is supposed to be
team building
and selection is a different
beast.
- He's right, you're wrong.
- 90.
.- Up.
Just lock them out.
- Up!
- Ninety.
Oh wait, see, he's not wrong.
You're wrong again.
Can't do it.
Can't even lock your arms out.
So much for how far you
can push your body, three-five.
So much for how perfect you are,
three-five.
You know, you have to make
some sort of plan to start,
so it's like, okay, make it to the
first sunrise at Friday, right,
and then there's so few people
like you can manage it from there.
I said, well, here it is sunlight,
right, and I was happy in my head
but at the same time it was like,
uh-oh, this is as far as I planned.
Mark klemm was just
physically dominating.
He picked the perfect point
to take off.
What's the probability you
think that you finish goruck selection?
A 100%.
I finished selection
the day I signed up for it.
You're that cocky about this.
I'm not, I trained my balls off.
Not cocky at all.
It was very much like dominating.
It pays to be a winner.
They say that over and over
and it sounds maybe silly
but it pays to be a winner.
Just my own doubts combined
with the cadre there,
I mean they're amazing at fishing and they
dig and dig until they find the right spot
and then, right,
they just harp on that.
It's just like, okay, I'm not
gonna make it, right, that's it.
Garrett picked me up.
Jason took my ruck and it's just
like, man, that was a terrible idea.
You come out of that fog and
immediately know you made a mistake,
had plenty more energy and it was just a...
It was just a bad choice in that moment.
Put your rucksack on your back.
- Put it on your back now! Hurry up!
- Hurry up!
What are you doing?
Put your rucksack on your back.
Turn around three-five.
The sandbag toss.
Proceed towards the water. Go.
Viking loves this one.
Look at that one.
Look at that fucking...
He's a warrior right now.
That's it, I'll just Chuck it.
You think
you're gonna pass this event?
There's a good chance
but...
It all depends on what happens
in the next 24 hours
because I know
it's gonna get hard.
He is fucking eating your... he
is eating your manna and getting stronger.
The shark smells
your blood in the water.
He is getting fucking stronger
by the second. - Right shoulder.
Yeah, of course, it's gonna depend on
what happens in the next 24 hours...
But what's gonna go on inside your
head when it gets a lot worse?
Uh...
I'm not sure.
It's a... there's a...
A lot of pain...
But, uh...
I just need to push forward.
Man, he's already into the next evolution,
you haven't even got to the water yet.
Six-two is a fucking warrior and you're sitting
here sipping water like a fucking Sally.
I let's go, iwo-eight.
It's very apparent who was
bearing their burden of the weight.
Very apparent now.
Just had to divvy things up.
It's only 40 pounds, we've been
pretty fucking generous, I think.
Right shoulder.
Pretty fair, guys.
Let you take a fucking break when
you met the standard earlier.
Pays to be a winner.
Pays to meet the standard.
Six-two's doing really well, we're
not focused on him at all right now.
We're basically saying, "hey, you're doing
really well," we'll build his ego up,
you know, because we're looking to create
a distance between two-eight and six-two,
that's the... that's the
methodology.
So the creation of distance,
it's the same reason why a lion picks on
the slow zebra, why pick on the fast one.
The fast one will become slow
eventually.
And so, right now six-two
is crushing it.
We'll just shatter him with praise
because we want, praise of sorts
because we want that
to get into two-eight's head.
It's pretty much that simple.
Why is this so much easier
for him than for you?
He must've prepared it.
Did he train harder?
Did he do better
or he's just tougher?
It's 'cause he's a
winner and he had 420 calories.
Or is it because
he's a fucking winner?
So let's talk about your
evolution from last year to this year.
Are you in a much different
space? What happened?
Uh, it was just total failure, so I just... there
was no way I was gonna let that happen again.
So, uh, I pushed out
over the past year.
Uh, I started training
even earlier.
I got strong over the winter then tried
to lean out a bit to get faster.
I went even further with
the same thing I did last year
but started even further back
with, uh, no coffee, no caffeine,
no booze, no happiness.
Six-two, go sit, go,
go sit down and drink water.
Rucksack down.
Rucksack up.
Rucksack up all the way.
Pays to be a winner, iwo-eight.
I'd work out
12... 12 to 13 times a week.
1 carry a 60-pound ruck, uh, I work in the
city and I go client to client to client.
So I carry a 60-pound
ruck every day.
Uh, it's...
It... it adds up just... just going
to the subway, going to work,
coming back from the subway,
coming back from work,
uh, I usually put in
about 2.8 miles just there,
uh, and that's not if I,
you know, travel around to a bunch of client
sites throughout the day that mileage goes up.
Look what it looks like, stand up,
two-eight, look what it looks like to win.
That's what it looks like. That's
what the standard looks like.
That's what happens
when you meet the standard.
This is what happens when you don't.
Rucksack above your head.
What's the probability that
you pass goruck selection this year?
100%.
In three words or less, what's
going on in your mind right now?
Now, we're gonna ask that same question
to two-eight. We're gonna see what he says.
Everybody has a physical point
where they're gonna just fall out
but it's well past what your
mind thinks you can do,
as long as you let your mind
believe you can do more.
Where you at, two-eight,
let's go!
Right now, at this point,
we're just keeping them moving
because what we know is coming up in the next
hour after this is gonna be extremely physical.
So right now we're just keeping
them engaged without smoking them.
They still got a very wet full
rucksack on their back.
Theyre, un...
Let's see, two, three, they are
22 hours, 21 hours into this.
21 and a half.
So...
Going without sleep
for 24 hours,
because I'm sure they were up for a
few hours before this thing started
and no food,
nothing's easy at this point.
Are you gonna fall down?
In three words or less, tell me what's
going through your head right now?
"I'm depleted, cadre.
that's three words, good.
Go to your happy place there,
gilmore.
All right, Jason, we got an update
on state of affairs for you.
Good.
So as they were
coming back and forth,
we asked six-two in three words
or less
what's going through your mind
right now and he said, "winning."
And when the two-eight got down here,
I asked him the same question,
and he said,
"I am depleted, cadre."
What? He said that?
=that's what he said.
So you're gonna be... you're
gonna be at one here real soon.
Yeah.
I mean, his only hope is that
he gets to the 24-hour Mark,
that's his only hope.
What happens in 24 hours?
They get a break,
they get a food item,
get a maybe 45 minutes to sit down
and refit their... their stuff.
Yeah. Priorities...
Priorities of work.
That can go... hat break can go
one of two ways though.
Yeah.
You know, nobody wants
to restart the cold engine.
You know,
nobody wants to do that.
Especially, when the engine
is switching off.
Yeah.
Two-eight's got his head down every time it
comes around that corner. He just got lapped.
Did he? - The only thing
he could tell me was he was depleted.
Yeah, that's bad.
Did you lap him, six-two?
Yes, cadre.
You fucking lapped him,
look at you.
Ahem. What's your warrior animal,
what's your warrior spirit?
If you had to pick one
right now, tell me, hurry up.
Then fucking go breathe fire
all over him and destroy him.
You got lapped, sucker.
You got lapped.
Turn around, go get a brick,
come back.
Yes, cadre.
Make it so. Hurry up.
Six-two, do you care about anything
we throw at you at this point?
1 didn't think so.
I mean, they're in terms of their
training, in terms of their preparation,
in terms of all the stuff they've done and
prepared for this, they're identical,
their bodies could be performing at the
same level right now, it's just...
The mind controls the body.
We try to tell them otherwise, we do tell them
otherwise but the mind controls the body.
Two-eight looks terrible.
Get the brick and keep moving.
Two-eight, in three words or
less, how you feeling right now?
Not very good.
He knows what the definition
of winning is, he knows how to count,
one, two, three, three words
or less he says...
Can be creative
in the middle of all this.
Yeah. Not very good he says.
- It's a terrible answer.
- Yeah.
But it meets the... the mathematical
requirements, you know.
The answer meets
the look on his face.
Keep moving, iwo-eight.
You can do whatever you want
when you're not in front of me.
Hint.
Here he comes. The machine.
Drink water.
What's motivating you right now?
Winning.
What do you want to win?
Zero-two-eight, in three words
or less, how are you feeling?
Is this ever gonna change,
do you think? Stop.
Is this gonna change? Or are you gonna
always feel sorry for yourself?
Is that your motivation
right now?
So you failed to properly train
without...
You failed to properly train for 24
hours without consuming calories.
Your body doesn't recognize
what this feels like
and so it's starting to eat itself
away and it's starting to crash.
I mean, we still have hours
and hours and hours to go
until your 24-hour Mark.
You've been given
every opportunity to win.
Six-two's gotten plenty of food
because he's been winning.
Do you have...
Do you have what it takes?
But you don't?
Every time I see
your shoulders roll forward
and this weakness inside of you, I
want to smoke you till you quit.
That's... that's the kind of...
That's what you are doing to us.
So you need to fix yourself, you need
to stop worrying about, I need food.
Bullshit you need food.
Bullshit.
Pick it up, start fucking winning or
quit, that's what kind of event this is.
You're... youre kissing your
cousin right now. Win or quit.
Meet the standard or quit,
that's the deal.
- Is that clear?
- Yes, cadre.
Do you want to quit
at this time?
I do not, cadre.
Then continue and start to win.
He needs a victory.
That's what he needs.
The problem is that there's nobody to motivate
him to win right now except for himself.
Something's gonna have to change,
his luck's gonna have to change.
He's gonna have to change his demeanor, his
confidence level. He's gonna have to dig deep.
Every sfas selection has that
component to it, that individual component,
where you're pushed so far mentally that
all you have to do is say, fuck it.
And when you say fuck it, you put one foot in
front of the other, and follow instructions.
07, 88, 89, 90.
Leg straight out,
six-two, back to 70.
We want people that show up
ready, we want them to pass.
It is, they got to pass on
their own.
Straight out, two-eight. Six-two,
doing the fucking standard.
04, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69.
There is a standard but, you know,
once the goruck selection starts,
the welcome party begins, the
standard is whoever's winning.
So, you know, the cat's out of
the bag, that's the standard.
Two-eight,
you're in the lead right now.
- 97...
- 73.
- 98, 99...
- 74.
- 300.
- 75.
You know there's
always a split sort of,
is it better to have somebody
behind you
who is doing poorly
so you look good by comparison.
But then also you're competing
with them
and if the next evolution is something
that they're good at and you're bad at,
well, guess what, heh, now you're
the one behind the eight ball
and that might last for
one or two or three hours
and you might not be able
to recover from that.
Look who the smart guy is how?
Pays to be a winner.
Peanut butter and fucking jelly,
my favorite.
For me, it was just get past the pt
test, get past the welcome party,
uh, and then get to the 24-hour Mark and
then, boom, go time, that was the game plan.
This one looks good.
I need water.
A little bit of fungus. Get up.
How are your feet?
They feel good, cadre.
Six-two, go and take
the shoes off.
They, they actually, uh...
Six-two, take off your shoes.
They say the hardest part of
actual special forces selection
is lacing up your boots for the second... for
the next day, after maybe an hour of asleep.
That's the same thing, you know... the
same thing here, the hardest part is
after that nice little break that you get,
lacing those boots up and going for round two.
It's big, uh...
It's a big mind game.
Six-two,
how you doing right now?
- I'm doing well, cadre.
- One to ten?
Nine.
What's your biggest issue then?
No issue, cadre.
Just, obviously, not as fresh
24 hours in as zero hours in
but I feel good.
How are you
feeling mentally? Ten.
How you feeling physically?
=nine.
All right,
anything else you got to say?
I have nothing, cadre.
All right.
All right, two-eight,
quick check-in.
How you doing, 1 to 10,
mentally and physically?
Uh, physically, 6; Mentally, 8.
What's going on in your head?
Uh...
Body is... body is tired.
I mean it's going at it for 24
hours, it's... it's expected so.
It's... it's gonna
be difficult because...
Yeah, the chest muscles
are sore, uh,
quads... calves are a little
tight so it's just, you know.
Okay, continue
to priorities of work.
We asked six-two how he's doing. He's like,
mentally, I'm 10. Physically, I'm a 9. Right.
Doesn't want to say anything, doesn't
want to give me anything, right,
which is exactly the right
answer, you know, I'm good.
Like, fucking lie, that's what
you do, you fucking lie.
I'm good, right, I'm great.
But you have to believe
that lie.
You do. You have to believe
the lie. - That's exactly right.
For two-eight, he still remains,
you know, how are you doing?
My body, 24 hours later,
I'm very sore, you know,
my chest hurts, stuff like that
and he still gotta find
that... that fighter.
Okay.
- He's gotta find it.
- His voice.
Sounds like he's got
a lot of self-doubt.
24 hours is not...
This is not close to done.
- I mean, the good news is...
- It's halfway done.
The good news is,
is that there's only two people
that have a chance of passing goruck
selection, they're both right over there
and they're doing well, one's doing a
little better but they're doing well.
They both have it in them, they can
do it, it's just gonna be up to them.
So root for them
and we'll keep it coming.
At 24-hour Mark the cadre demeanor changes
to just, hey, here's the standard, do it.
The standard is still upheld
but not to the point like it was when we
first began because that's impossible.
Get up! Get up! Get up!
There's obviously, a point of physical
exhaustion that you just can't get through,
whether it be dehydration or
altitude sickness or whatever it is
but where people stop point is,
is probably two or three times
short of where they can go.
Let's go, two-eight.
You reach a point of collapse
that if you're dehydrated
or you're hurt in some way,
that's going to be a stopping point,
that's going to be a mid drop or whatever
but if you're just at
that point that you feel bad,
your mind can do things and it's
amazing to push yourself through that
and I think all of
the candidates have learned,
some more than others,
what they can and can't do.
- Get your elbows off your knees.
- Get off the ledge.
Get off the ledge.
On your feet, two-eight.
Get on your gear.
Yes, cadre. - Move
with a sense of purpose.
Yeah, this is very military
but there's success in failure
so all those people
that showed up here
and didn't make it still are probably
better people at the end of the day,
they have higher standards
of themselves
and they'll expect more of themselves
in the future going forward.
One and two...
Move.
Look straight ahead.
Only failure's on the ground.
Roster two-zero-eight,
do you wish to continue?
Yes, cadre.
- Are you done?
- Are you done?
You done?
Get the rucksack,
get the sandbag up.
Cadre mocha and cadre Garrett
are ramping up the intensity a lot.
It's, uh... it's very hot.
Lot of mosquitoes, you know.
It's all that great
Florida stuff.
Continue to move. Does not feel sorry
for yourself or have self-pity.
Everyone's gonna have
a different why.
Ultimately you have to do it for the right
reason. It has to be an honest reason.
Toss it forward. Toss your
sandbag forward. Go get it.
Toss it, far, as far as you can.
Go get it.
I wanted to go through the experience
of being like pushed to my limit
and learn like how to get past that
so that I could teach that to others.
You know what he needs to do one more
toss just 'cause he's last place.
When I had the thoughts of quitting
like it didn't even come up at all.
You need a special invite? You need a
special invite? You need some crayons?
- You need a blankie?
- No, cadre.
Well, then get moving.
You read things that happened way more
significant than just an endurance event.
You know, real life things
where people have taken action
and you sort of wonder like, well, how
would I do in that sort of situation
and this gives you a chance just to
have an idea of like how deep can I dig
to just accomplish the task
at hand
regardless of what might
happen or how things might be.
Getting the engine started
again after you've had a long rest,
I think that break is,
it's a blessing but it's also
a curse in a lot of ways.
These guys had over an hour to kind
of power down and get their shoes off
it's fair to say
it's a blessing in the long run
and in the short run
it's miserable.
I think that's a great
way to describe it.
Without the rest,
they might not have had a shot
and they needed the nutrition especially
in the hydration, they needed the rest but
to go from 0 to 60 again
is very, very difficult.
And it just doesn't feel very worth it after
you've had to get back up and start again
so I think we're seeing that
especially with two-eight right now.
He just is having a hard time getting
back into the swing of things.
If he can get through the next,
you know, 20 or 30 minutes
and kind of get back on the...
On the horse,
he might get in the zone
and keep going
but he's really struggling to kind of
find the motivation coming off the break.
Okay, what you're gonna do
is reverse lunges.
Understand me? You know, lunge,
facing this way.
In that direction..
You're done?
Okay.
Six-two, move, you
heard the exercise, didn't you?
Come here, Jonathan,
come over here, man.
Here, bro. Sit down, sit down. Chill.
Let me have your fucking rucksack.
Cadre was just going too
fast and I just couldn't move.
I don't know if I just need to improve
cardio or what but it was just...
Well, the heat, man.
We were trying to keep you guys cool,
obviously, you know, in the water all the time
but the heat's gonna do that, it's gonna
elevate your heart rate for sure.
Anytime you get dehydrated and that heat
stuff, you're gonna be fucked, so...
You're a bay area boy,
aren't you?
Yeah. So there was no...
I mean, it got hot there for a
week or two, didn't it like 100...
A one weekend, that was it so.
I tried to do the sauna thing
but it's just...
Here, put this behind.
It's not like this is a sauna,
it's not like this.
Yeah.
Oh, man, it was... it was awesome
and an inspirational for real.
- I'Hank you.
- No, thanks again.
- Good job, man.
- Thanks.
You did a good job, man.
Heart rate.
I don't like this
event at all, I really don't.
I feel like it brings out
the worst in humanity
but at the same time,
when that worst is... is... is... brought
in, the best kind of rises to the surface
so, you know, if it's a black class
that's not a good weekend at all.
If we have at least one
finisher, it makes it all worth it.
Let's just hope
medically he can survive.
One of the things that I've learned
early on as a young special forces soldier
was my team sergeant, my first team sergeant,
sat me down and talked to me and said,
"okay, what I need you to do
and what every professional warrior
can do is tell me what he can't do."
And I just completed the
qualification course and I was like,
what do you mean what
I can't do, I can do anything.
And he said, "listen to what
I'm going to say to you,
you have to know yourself
as an individual,
you have to bring that
to the team,
and as an individual we need to know
what you can't do for two reasons.
One, we won't give you a job to do that will
get you or other members on this team killed.
And number two, it tells me
what you need to be trained in
so I can schedule you
for future trainings."
Hurry up, front mount it.
Let's go.
"Before you can be a member of a team
or a member, a good member of a community,
you have to know what's inside you, you
have to know what you can and can't do
and openly share that
with others,
then you can move on
beyond that."
All the way, keep going.
Bend knee down.
Close it.
Figure how to put that on.
Do you have any numbness
and tingling in your hand?
Uh...
I don't know
if I'd say numbness but...
Cap refill is good.
Can you do this for me?
Don't rest your arm, just hold
it up and we'll do that.
Can you touch my hand?
Stand up and let your arms
hang down your side.
Is your knee okay?
I saw you walk, limp up. Is your knee okay?
Do you want me to look at your knee?
No, I think my knee is fine.
You think or...
This is not think time.
I didn't, uh... I didn't twist
or anything like that, no.
All right, you'll be fine.
I have let's say
like a calf cramp.
Maybe not perfect but good.
Okay.
Six inches,
I assigned six inches.
- Six inches.
- I six inches.
You're not six inches, yet,
six-two. It's is gonna be a long night.
Six-two, let's go, six-two.
Let's go. Pull them up, six-two.
Hold it for ten seconds out of that
water, I'll let you go on your feet.
Ten, no.
You got to start it over again.
I think it's important
to communicate that our cadre
are all former special operators of some
kind and they've been through selections
but more important than being through selections,
they have been through world experiences.
Just give me the pouch,
whatever you want to do.
They've been
in foreign countries
at the worst possible time in those
same kind of similar moments
to your worst nightmare at the... you
know, the worst point during selection.
You give me that sandbag
running lights,
I'll give your selection badge
right now.
- Holy shit, six-two.
- I so close, yet, so far.
Do you have it in you?
I think the cadre's role
in there
is it's almost an art form
of taking that experience,
that personal experience
that we have
and translating that to somebody in the civilian
community that just wants to be better.
Let's go, six-two.
Let's go.
It becomes an art of
how do I manage the standard
and how do I get the most out
of each individual
where they walk away with a learned
experience that's positive for them.
Keep moving forward. All right, take that
patch of your rucksack. Do you understand me?
- Yes, cadre.
- All right, let's go, come on.
That ain't one.
You're at zero
is what you're at.
Let's go.
- Can you touch the bottom?
- No, cadre.
Do you know what depth
of water you're in right now?
I don't.
Approximately 12 feet
of water right now.
Get up higher, if it touches I will add
water to it. Do you understand me?
- Yes, cadre.
- Get it above your head.
Higher.
Don't let it touch. You say you're comfortable
out here, you said this portion was easy.
Cody, what's them seal say?
Cadre, Cody.
What's them seal say, what's that
seal saying you guys have about...
That's it. That's what I was
searching for. Keep it up above your head.
- This shit's easy now, right?
- No, cadre.
1 think you're playing
with my emotion, six-two.
Two, one, two, three, three,
one, two, four...
If it tips over, you start all over
again, you understand that, right?
Sorry, cadre?
If it tips over you're gonna start
over from zero, you understand?
I understand. Continue.
One, two, three, five.
One, two, three, six.
One, two, three, seven. One...
That's just the alligator eating
that bird, don't worry about that.
Eight. One, two...
How's your calf?
I can still feel it but it's working
right now. I know when I get out of.
That's if you ever get out.
Keep it higher.
Geez, my mom just joined this.
Hi, mom, what are you doing?
My mom is watching this.
Hey, six-two, question of the hour.
Why are you here?
Why are you filling
this hole in with your life?
Why do you want to finish?
What is it about you that makes
you want to be here
doing this ridiculous stuff?
A lot of the comments in the thread
here over the last few minutes
about why is he doing this. I'm gonna
level with you, I don't know why.
Well, what other hard stuff,
I mean, you like to walk to work
whoop-de-fucking-doo so do I.
You like to... what else?
Uh...
Okay, whoop-de-doo, what else?
We did it primarily because I wanted
to know what was on the other side.
I wasn't doing it
to prove myself,
I was doing it because I wanted
to be part of the community.
So in this scenario...
You probably wanted to
prove yourself a little bit too.
Right, maybe a little bit.
You know, I mean,
it's the same gene.
Some of you were saying it's for pride,
some were saying it's to prove yourself,
to yourself, to others,
whatever. Doesn't matter.
That's the thing, everyone that finishes
goruck selection or any event like this,
they've got something, some reason
deep inside why they're doing it.
If they didn't, they couldn't push
through this. They just couldn't.
Here's a good question. How
far does he have to roll this twig?
Well, he has to flip this twig
until I get tired, that's how far.
Six-two, 1 to 10, how are you
feeling right now, physically?
- Physically, five or six.
- Five or six.
You've gotten better?
- Yes?
- Probably five.
All right. What do you
think your chances are
of successfully completing
goruck selection?
Hundred percent.
All right, good. Charlie
Mike, continue the mission.
See, all right, so
this is gonna be the sign off.
There's just some preparation for
the long walk that's got to go on
which is just starting here in
not too long.
He's doing really well, man.
We're really proud of him.
Keep moving forward, cadre.
The long walk is the last
evolution for goruck selection.
It is, uh, exactly what it
sounds like, a very long walk.
It's an undisclosed distance,
undisclosed time to the candidate.
If he doesn't complete it,
he doesn't complete it.
That's really it.
It's not too tough to explain.
J my mind needs to lie I
j in those fields so open wide j
j look up and take me j
j to the big, big sky j
it's, hey, go down this
road and don't stop.
The standard is forward
progression.
And by this time we've got, well, in
this class we had one person left
but if you had three or four left,
they're gonna get separated,
they're not gonna keep
the same pace
and now the only thing you have out
there besides a dark road or beach,
is what's going on
inside your head.
And all the pain is amplified
and the tiredness is amplified,
in fact, you're falling asleep
walking on your feet.
J where my love is bound to go j
j when I see her will I know j
ji know I'll know jl
It again brings back
that mental toughness,
like how too far can
you dig inside your mind to go,
it's gotta be around the corner,
I can go another foot,
I can put my foot in front
of the other one more time.
All right, goruck candidate zero-six-two
is still moving south down the beach.
He is now just over eight hours
into the long walk.
So try to imagine that
he's absolutely was crushed for,
you know, 36 hours or so,
maybe more,
then he puts his rucksack back on and he's
been walking now for over eight hours.
At this point, I would be very surprised
if he can't complete the walk
or just endure what's left for him
down there at the finish line.
So I think we're gonna see
a selection finisher this year.
This guy's been rock solid
pretty much the whole way.
He's gonna make it. So we'll get
you updated here in just a second.
Now we're gonna try to get you live footage
really from here to the rest of the way out.
So if you're into watching
the dude walk down the beach,
you know, for a few hours, this
is the place to do it today.
The beauty of it is as you come in
at the eight, the nine hour of walking
and there's all these
cadre again.
And all those senses come back.
The ocean's in your face.
The cadre are yelling again.
They're asking you to do things that
in your mind are now impossible.
And you think, I'm done,
it's here.
Once you reach that dark point and I have
been there, all of our cadre have been there.
I don't want to be here, I'm
cold, I'm wet, I'm miserable,
every step feels like torture.
I mean, why do we do this
to ourselves?
The type of person
that passes selection,
they want to uphold themselves
to a standard.
They want to be the type
of person that says,
I want the hardest job
you can imagine, send me.
Do you wanna quit, six-two?
Hey, we can write your selection on a crown and
a piece of paper. That's the new generation.
That's a rare individual
that wants to do that.
And when you see that, when you look
into someone's eyes after 47 hours
and you know that there's nothing
you can do to break them
that is empowerment
that is inspiration.
All the way up, six-two.
- Lift your knees up.
- Let's go, six-two.
This is not mud.
Do the exercise as outlined by the
to the standard of the cadre.
Not doing any exercises
right now, six-two.
Lift your arms. Lift your arms.
As you go through selection,
you almost reach
a different plane
of mental being.
And I think that plane what I would
equate it to is an understanding of self
that while you are
an individual,
you become a part
of something greater.
Forward, forward. Keep moving.
- Forward. Forward.
- Keep going, six-two.
Hurry up, six-two.
Hurry up, six-two.
- Switch hands.
- Hurry up, six-two.
One hand
with that fighter, six-two.
Don't let
that bag drag, six-two.
Don't let that bag drag.
Switch hands.
It's extremely refreshing
to come here and just see no excuses,
there's finally something
where there's a bar
and if you don't make it,
nobody cares.
Six-two, see that's
pretty pathetic right now.
- Get it up, get it up.
- Come on, six-two.
Are you expecting, six-two?
Are you expecting us, six-two?
- Wwe are not stopping.
- Hurry up!
- Swing it!
- Hurry up!
. Get that fucking
bag over your head, let's go.
Let's go, six-two!
- What is your problem, six-two?
- Hurry up!
Get this, six-two, let's go!
Get it up there!
Hurry up, we got six bags
on your back.
Hurry up, sixtwo.
You can die of hypothermia,
come on.
Come on, six-two.
Holy shit, six-two. Wow.
You saved yourself some time. -
Find the bottom of the squat, six-two.
, six-two.
- All right, six-two.
- Complete the task, six-two.
You got to squat, six-two.
Squat, six-two. In the
bottom of the squat, sixtwo.
Squat.
Find the bottom of the squat,
six-two.
That's not the bottom.
=lt's not the bottom.
Six-two, stand up.
Turn around.
Candidate.
Congratulations for passing
the class, selection class 019.
Are you smiling, man?
I remember, when I... l was an eagle
scout or I'm an eagle scout and
you know, I was in junior high, high school,
and boy scouts and when you make eagle scout,
they put on a big court of honor,
it's a big ceremony, right,
they bring local dignitaries
and that sort of thing.
And I can't remember the gentleman
unfortunately who said it
but as part of his speech he said, "this
eagle scout medal, it's not a award,
it's not something that you...
You put on your wall
to say, look what I did.
It's just a burden.
Congratulations for completing
goruck selection 020.
So it's the same thing with this
where it's like you better hold
yourself to that standard forever,
otherwise youre just spitting on everybody
else who's there in that patch,
you know, and fought so hard to get there
because people will look at all those
and... and that's how
they judge it.
The most important part of this event is
that it honors our roots in special forces.
It's really, really important
that those who pass it,
and those who want to pass it
know that there is a standard
and that that standard is based upon the
selection courses that we've been through.
There's a reason why
almost nobody passes those,
it's because
it's really, really hard.
We're giving people a slice of what
that looks like and feels like.
We're building a bridge between the
military and the civilian worlds
by leveraging our background
in special forces.
And when the human spirit is alive
and well like we see it here,
it reminds me of the guys that I graduated the
special forces qualification course with.
And if that's not honoring our roots in
special forces, then I don't know what is.