Ice Cold Leader

CHAPTER 14Observing Culture, Practicing Awareness … and Cold Exposure

My Early Exposure to the Culture

Young SEAL trainees are introduced to all sorts of physical, mental, and emotional challenges. I fared pretty well at those challenges at BUD/S training. I could run and swim fast, do a lot of pullups, pushups, and flutter kicks, and didn't particularly mind the cold water.

However, there was one area early on that had my number … the obstacle course.

About halfway or so through the obstacle course, my forearms and my grip would get smoked. Then the second half of the obstacle course would become a series of T.V. blooper-worthy falls from the obstacles because I simply couldn't hold on to anything.

As that painfully went on for several obstacle course runs, I began to adjust my strategy. I decided to pace myself. Slow down, I told myself, and that would delay the onset of the muscle fatigue in my forearms and grip. My strategy seemed to make things worse.

The first couple of times a trainee goes through the obstacle course at BUD/S, there is a little leeway given to them by the instructors. There is a certain amount of technique that needs to be learned, so the first time through the course is very much a familiarization run. The second time through the course, the trainee is certainly expected to have adjusted to the technique and successfully complete the course. By the third time, the expectation is that the trainee completes the course within an acceptable time. I wasn't ...