I learned about this event through some of my rucking friends. I really enjoyed events like the GORUCK Survival Series and Green Beret Challenge Behind Enemy Lines, so I was excited for a chance to do more. This event would have some elements that I hadn't experienced before, too, like shooting, so that was a big plus.
The agenda was as follows:
- Check-in Friday night
- Training
- Evolution 1 = Recon (Early AM Sat)
- Evolution 2 = Military Land Nav (Mid AM Sat)
- Evolution 3 = Shooting (Pistol/Carbine/Sniper) (Mid-day Sat)
- Evolution 4 = Orienteering (Late Afternoon Sat)
- Evolution 5 = Waterborne Operations (Early Evening Sat)
- Evolution 6 = Night Orienteering (Evening Sat)
- Evolution 7 = Final Exercise
Biggest Fox was held in Uhwarrie National Forest, which I had heard good things about in the past, but which I had never visited before. We met up at a campsite for checkin. It had been raining all day, but it was supposed to stop shortly after the event began, thankfully. Temps were going to be cool, but not super cold, which was great. I had packed a bunch of gear, and left for the event right after work.
Four other participants rolled up a while later. A fifth who was driving from Texas would come the following morning. We split into two teams of three, and we'd be competing for points throughout the weekend. The four knew each other already, and they were nice and welcomed me. They even made ranger beads for the other participants!
First, we had some training in military land nav, with a compass and a protractor. I had always wondered how to use a compass, and it was so nice to finally learn. I struggled a little bit at first, but I soon figured it out. Mark was a great teacher. We practiced pace counts, too, so that we could combine our knowledge of going the right direction with the ability to go the right amount of distance in the right direction.
Our team won, as a result of patience and good positioning, thanks to my teammates. After that, we got to rest, since it was after midnight. Normally, people have to tent camp at Fox events, and you're carrying all of that camping gear the whole time. You're lucky if you even get to sleep at all. So, we were fortunate this time to have a base camp. I slept in my car, since it was cleaner and easier. And, more comfortable, in my mind.
The next morning, we had to be ready to go at 6am. We did a ruck march to get to the start point of our military land nav evolution. It was supposed to be a competition, but all 6 of us walked as a group and got to know one another. So, to determine a winner, we did a plank competition.
For the military land nav, there were waypoints marked by reflectors. We had to find as many of the waypoints as we could, and make it to the shooting range before a certain time. Since we were in the lead, we got a head start. We were making good progress, but when we got to where we expected to find the first reflector, no luck. We started looking all over the place, trying to figure out where we were based on the land features we could see, compared to the topo map. As much as we tried to find #1 and the other points, as much as we walked, etc, no luck. Near the end of the time, when we had decided to just go straight to the range to at least not be late, we finally ran into the other team. It turns out that they had struggled, too. It was good to know that we weren't alone. We walked together to the range, where we broke the news to the leaders. They thought we were joking at first, when we told them that neither team found any of the points.
Well, we had tried. There was no winner for that evolution. I don't consider it a loss, though. I feel like I do know how to navigate, even if we weren't able to execute this particular mission.
Anyways, on to shooting. We got to try a sniper, a semi-automatic, and a pistol. With the sniper, I think I hit the bullseye once, after shifting left to correct for the scope taking me too far to the right. For the semi, I think I was going right again, but I was at least shooting onto the paper. It surprised me how hard it was to aim. I thought my hands would be steady enough to at least point at the target, but the slightest movements that are barely anything can make your crosshairs go way off of the target. It was crazy. And if you have to factor in wind or distance or other things, it's crazy that anyone can hit stuff in real life. The shooting range had the benefit of being somewhat enclosed, so that wind wasn't as much of a factor as it would be in other environments.
For the pistol, we were what I felt was super close to the target. 25 somethings... feet, I guess. Yet, I couldn't even hit the paper consistently, haha. I showed my target to my dad afterwards, and the first thing he did was start laughing and asking me how close I had been to the target. He had been the best shot in his class when he had been in the military in his country of birth, so he says.
(mine was the upper left, and the team semis were the 2nd and 3rd from the right on the bottom row)
It was interesting to try. Loud. Interesting. Some of the participants in the group were impressive shots. The cadre were good at coaching, too. They were patient and helpful.
After that, it was time for water operations. It was chilly, even when we were shooting, and we were about to strip and get into the water. Well, I wanted to fully earn the patch, so I was for it. We had to build a floatation device and swim over to a dock and back in the fastest time. The other team ended up winning. They had also won shooting.
It was tough. I'm competitive. After a strong start, the other team had caught up.
Next, we had an orienteering course. Orienteering is different from military land nav (I discovered), in that with orienteering, you're constantly keeping the map oriented in line with the real world. You also focus on landmarks to help you navigate. We had to find glowsticks on trees.
We were chasing the other team this time, and we were eager to make up ground. There's some strategy involved in this kind of competition. If you get stuck with finding a particular waypoint, do you continue trying to find it? Or do you cut your losses and move on to the next one? You don't know whether the other team found it, either, or if they're going to find it, depending on whether you're the first to go out, or whether the other team went first.
We got stuck with one... and then we got really stuck and couldn't find two others. It was tough. When we got back, we found out that we found 1 less than the other team, but in any case, they had finished 40 min before us, on top of that. Tough luck. They were now in the lead.
We got to rest again, and Mark's wife brought us some great beef and potato and carrot stew. One of the participants got a good fire going, too, so we were able to warm up a bit. It was nice, chilling and enjoying the night with great people. After some rest, it was time for the final challenge.
It was another orienteering course, and this time, we were finding flags. The other team was in the lead with points, and our team was going to head out first. We encountered some surprises along the way, but the team worked together well. We were pushing the pace and knocking out the points. We did miss one, but so did the other team, and we finished faster. We managed to tie up the score!
The cadre hadn't intended to make it possible to tie, but since land nav had no winner, we were in a tied position. It was time for a tie breaker. They wouldn't tell us what it was, but they said we'd need our life jackets. It was cold, so I was fearing the worst, and started jumping around to try to build up body heat in case we were going in the water again. Since it was a final challenge to determine the winner, I thought it may be an endurance competition, to see who could survive the longest in the water before tapping out from cold or fatigue.
The final challenge did require that we wear life jackets, but it was a race around the camp ground. Our team really wanted it, but the other team pushed hard, and came in first. I was happy, though. I was glad to see the other team succeed, and despite being on opposing teams, everyone had grown closer together.
It was satisfying when we got patched at the end. It was a wonderful weekend, meeting great people, and hearing all of Mark's stories from his time in the military, and from his knowledge of WWII history. I got to try and learn new things, too, and challenge myself in new ways.
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