Robin Sage is the name of the 2-week culmination exercise for Special Forces Assessment and Selection. North Carolina turns into one giant scenario playing field for role players and those hoping to become Green Berets. At the SAGE 01 event put on by Castelmen Events (run by a former Green Beret), we'd get to learn skills and then put them to the test on missions over a 48 hour event.
TRAINING LEAD-UP
Sunday, Mar 14:
After finishing the Savannah GORUCK Tough/Basic, I drove up to Charleston, to help take care of my parents' house. Before I leave each time, I'd tuck in Opus the Penguin. It's always a nice little surprise whenever I come back to him.
HDT 23.5.2 (Legs) tapered version, with PT completed in 10 minutes, then a 1 mile shuffle ruck in 14:10. Followed by HDT 23.5.3 (Arms) tapered version, with PT completed in 10 minutes, then a 1 mile shuffle ruck in 15:04. Followed by HDT 23.5.CP (Jump Release), a 25 min BW AMRAP.
Now you can see why I was glad to have not signed up for the Cloverleaf! I had a lot of work to get done already.
Monday, Mar 15:
HDT March Madness was back for its second year. Round 1 was a 15 min BW AMRAP called "Sweat". I followed it up with HDT 23.6.2 (Arms) in 34 min, with a 9:36 run as well.
Tuesday, Mar 16:
To juggle the T/B and HDT Week 6 workouts and March Madness, I had to be strategic about when to load up on workouts to allow for maximal rest before the competitions.
HDT 23.6.3 (Core) with 41 min of PT and 12:28 min of strict rucking, then 2 mile ruck in 25:41 with 30# in the v3 shorty.
Wednesday, Mar 17:
Yoga - "Day 1 - Invite - BREATH - a 30 day Yoga Jouney" with Adriene on Youtube. My quads and the rest of my body was sore today.
Friday, Mar 19:
HDT March Madness "Tears" 25 min AMRAP. It's fun to watch as different people go live. You can see the strain on everyone's faces, as many of us struggle with the same parts of the workout. Some people are even more fun to watch if they talk to themselves / to us while working out.
This tournament started last year when COVID first came. Bryan used it as a way to raise money for No Kid Hungry, and it also gave us community when we'd otherwise be more isolated than usual.
I helped to pick weeds. When I was a little kid and our family lived at a different house, my dad would give me 25 cents per bucket of weeds that I picked. On this trip, I sent him pictures of each bucket that I picked, although the rate has gone up since then!
Saturday, Mar 20:My friend Mark Guenther created a virtual (or non-virtual) challenge called the Water Bucket WOD to raise money to fight water insecurity.
Here's how it worked: https://f3nation.com/water-bucket-wod/
I got out there at 6:30am, when it was still dark. That's when the parking at Isle of Palms beach is still free. It was cold. I had not planned my clothing appropriately for this part of the trip (the Charleston part). I had just worried about the Savannah part.
Mark encouraged us to post about it or even go live in the event page. There was a suggested date for it, but you could do the workout any time. It was cool to see people get in their WOD around the world.
(You can see in the blue areas where I had to put the buckets down and then do burpees.)
I was supposed to get back to Charlotte to do a 20 mile overnight ruck and then get ready to go back down south for Sage 01, but I couldn't get the car that I needed to swap out to start, so I ended up doing the 20 miler in CHS. I sent pictures to the crew in CLT along the way, to have a virtual connection and to let them know that I was still alive.
They video called me at one point, and sent a final picture as well.
They went much faster than I did, so I'm glad I wasn't having to physically keep up with them!
I had done a 20 miler in Charleston on a previous visit, but this time, I had the full 30# plate. I didn't crash this time, like I had the
last time I used a full 30#er doing an overnight in my neighborhood in CLT, so this was some nice redemption. Concrete sucks, though. I was able to avoid it most of the time, but it was unavoidable on the bridge. You could feel it in your feet.
My attempts at reviving the car didn't work, but fortunately, the nextdoor neighbors helped me find jumper cables to borrow, and then helped me jump my car.
Sunday, Mar 21:
HDT 23.6.1 (Legs) with 34 min PT and 1 mile ruck with 25L v3 rucker (a nice change after using the shorty v3 for the Overnight) in Altra Torin Plush (also a nice change), followed by Sanddoom 20 min AMRAP with 40# for the first time. I was actually OK on the presses, and it went better than expected. It was nice active recovery, and helped to loosen me up.
Monday, Mar 22:Yoga - "Day 30 - Begin - BREATH - A 30 day yoga journey" - with Adriene on Youtube. It was really interesting to do this video, because there were no verbal cues. Adriene just did her own flow, and you could follow along with her if you wanted. There was music, too, which you don't normally have on her videos. It was nice for the mood.
I feel like I've been beating up my body for the past 6 weeks (or year), and now, I get to relax at last.
Tuesday, Mar 23:
10 mile trail run in 1:56:56 (Lake Loop, Academy Loop, Parkway, Parade). Used the Innov8 X-Talon. I don't have the quads that I used to. It felt good to get oxygen in my body, though.
Thursday, Mar 25:
Joined Cabarrus Ruck Club for round 2 of the water bucket WOD. On my way there, I was slightly late because I had to take pictures of a cute little turtle on my sidewalk.
SB said that we had a choice between borrowing water from the Christians at the nearby church spigot, or from the veterans at the memorial fountain.
SAGE 01
SB and I went down to GA to pick up Alicia, before going to a hotel close to the start point. Packing was different for this event, because we pretty much just had to worry about gear, and not dead weight. It was challenging to make it all fit, though.
We met at a school parking lot in Woodstock, GA. We began with layout out gear and doing some PT together. It's a way for the Cadres to make sure that you'll be physically capable of the 48 hour adventure. We had five Cadres, who would be leading different portions of the event. There were two additional role players, too. With nine participants, we would be getting a lot of one-on-one interaction.
After PT, we rucked four loops around a trail system surrounding the school. They were timed, but we had to stick together as a group. Two people struggled with it, but even then, we helped each other with carrying rucks. Those two ended up being fine during the rest of the event, though.
Before we moved out, we learned how to move in a ranger patrol formation. Be 10m apart, so that if opposing forces threw a grenade at the group, only one person would get the blast. You can also stagger yourselves, and have watch over either the left side or right side. The person in the back periodically turns around to make sure that we're not being followed or attacked from behind. They can also try to cover up traces that the group has walked through. The stagger also helps to reduce the visibility of the foot traffic.
On our way in, we had a team building exercise where we went down a steep incline to cross the road and get to a bridge. Rather than using the bridge like a normal person would, we used the sides of the bridge as barriers that we had to move ourselves and our sandbags across. We were also issued rifles that we had to keep with us at all times.
This was also an opportunity for the cadres to observe how we worked as a team. Even without a specific TL designated yet, who would naturally take the lead? How well would we communicate and help each other? Each time we moved into a new position, we had to have people pulling security in multiple directions.
We crawled through a drainage tunnel next, which was fun. We then went into a deep creek, which was our way of infiltrating into the area. We didn't know exactly where we were going or how long we'd be in the water. It was challenging carrying the coupons in the deep water, with our rucks and rifles as well. The current ended up pulling my boonie hat and buff out of my unclosed BDU cargo pockets, unfortunately.
On one section, we learned a little bit about analyzing footprints. You can see whether the pedestrian was carrying heavy weight (if toes are dug in). You may be able to guess if they are male or female (women have smaller gaits and have feet turned a bit more inwards than men). You can estimate whether they were going fast or slow (if toes are dug in). Weapons can also leave prints.
When we exited the water, we went up the bank to a wider grassy are where we learned how to get into wedge formation, and we practiced that.
We learned hand signals for stopping and freezing. Upon freezing, we would get down and get quiet to pull security. We learned about making rally points at notable landmarks periodically, based on the point person's call. The navigator would typically be second in line. The team leader would typically be third. The TL could be called up if the point person wanted to confer with them about something up ahead.
In case of attacks, depending on whether it was close or far, we could meet force with more force (when they were close) by calling out the direction of fire and storming them, or we could do the peel with the front covering fire before going through the middle, and repeating down the line, until we got back to the rally point. We practiced this a number of times, with the cadres indicating when we were being attacked, whether it was close or far, and from what direction. We had to respond accordingly.
We got to a spot on the trail where we met with local forces. Our TL had to convince them to let us establish a little Forward Operating Base (FOB) there, and we had to gain their trust. We offered our engineering services in exchange, building a road for them by clearing out some undergrowth and lining a newly built trail with wood.
There was a frame of a structure by the water, and we used our tarps to build shelter cover, wood to build up a little wall to protect against the wind. We also tried to clear the ground of undergrowth, and we tried to level it. At first, we thought we were building a place for the cadres to sleep, but it ended up being where we'd be sleeping.
In our new base, we got a lesson on first aid. "Stop the Bleeding, Start the Breathing".
We practiced using tourniquets. Wide is better than narrow, to avoid nerve damage. UV rays degrade plastic. If you need one, you're likely to need two. Check every 5 minutes to make sure it's still working. Educate the casualty that it may hurt more than the wound itself, and it should. Bright ones are easier to see over clothes and at the hospital. Packing the wound with gauze or quickclot afterwards provides good redundancy. Use gauze if you can't use a TQ there, and add a compression bandage / Israeli bandage. Knots in the Israeli bandage can help with compression. Cold, clammy skin indicates significant blood loss and maybe shock. It can progress into elevated heart rate and breath rate. Once there's 2L of blood loss, they may not make it.
AIRWAYS:
Screaming means that they can breath. Make sure the tongue isn't obstructing the airway. If you use an NPA, start with the bevel pointing towards the septum. Roll them to their side with right knee bent and left arm out so that they don't choke on their own fluids. Switch sides if they're still hyperventilating. You want the bad side down, so that the good lung can work and expand more freely. If something penetrated the lung, don't remove it. Blue lips mean not enough O2. Use a chest seal for anything between belt and neck. Manually let air out, if you don't have a ventilated chest seal. Claw at the skin when you're looking for wounds, since skin is elastic. Don't use quickclot in the chest, because it grabs extra tissue when you remove it. 10-14 breaths per minute is normal. If it's more than that, it's a sign of diminished lung function.
We learned a little bit about maps with point plotting and reading topography.
We got much more extensive practice with GPS units, though. We split up into a boys team (with 4 people) and a girls team (with 5 people!). We plugged coordinates into the units and then navigated to them. We then played games where we found a special spot for the other team to locate, by giving them coordinates to that spot. We transmitted the coordinates to them, and searched for each others' spots. We did this enough times so that everyone on each team got some hands-on practice. This was done in near darkness.
Overnight, we had to come up with a rest plan where we could take turns pulling security, having two people stand watch - one near the shelter, and the other facing the entrance. We never knew if we'd be attacked by the cadres or role players overnight, so we had to stay vigilant. Everyone else slept in a circle of sorts, and we'd take each others' spots as we relieved each other. Bathrooms were a bit more difficult, because you're supposed to go with a buddy. We dug a boys' latrine and a girls' latrine a ways away from the shelter. Especially when it's chilly, you want to use the restroom more.
We learned how to build a water filtration system with sand and carbon, and then we built a fire pit to boil the water. Some people even drank it, but it was all from the same cup, so I skipped that.
We went on more missions in the morning, getting in good patrolling practice. We were even attacked by role players at several points. After a while, going on patrol felt very natural. AT had the back, and I was second to last. We got good and comfortable with our roles. SB ended up being TL for most of the event, haha. The bad guys tried to sneak up on us a number of times, but we were always vigilant, so they never got close.
We went up to Cadre Flash's house, where we got more lessons in maps and first aid.
We went down to the water, where we had to build rafts that could transport our gear. There were three groups, and not a ton of wood to choose from, but we did our best. I used square lashing techniques that I learned from TA prep.
The current was quite strong, but my teammates were stronger. The rafts started coming apart in the current, so we had to re-tie on the move, or just resort to holding the thing together with our hands sometimes. Once we got to our landing spot, we got out of the water and SB navigated us back to our home base. Here, we learned that bodies of water are not reliable on maps, because they can change over time. Our home base showed up on the opposite side of the river from what we expected!
We went back to Flash's house, patrolling more and encountering OPFOR. We also got to put our medical skills to the test with a couple of casualties. They got dressed up with some realistic-looking practice gear. I've underestimated the shock value of what real gore would look like, when I've done first aid classes in the past. This wasn't even super gory, either.
We built a fire. We were thrown into a scenario at one point where our local forces caught someone who they thought was a traitor, and we had to figure out how to de-escalate the situation without alienating anyone or being involved in any crimes. It was really tough. The role players don't let off. At one point, I tried to reason with them, and they were put off by a woman speaking to them, haha. That was pretty unexpected, but reasonable to encounter.
We got an impromptu leadership lesson. We learned about the qualities of a good leader, and we had to pick the two that we felt were most important. It was interesting to see what everyone picked, and why. Each participant was a leader of some form in their own right, so it was really cool that the Cadres recognized that even civilians could contribute something valuable to the conversation about leadership. In parentheses, I put the number of votes each one got, and I highlighted the two that I picked in bold font.
- Judgement (1)
- Justice (1)
- Dependability (3)
- Integrity (3)
- Decisiveness (3)
- Tact
- Initiative (3)
- Enthusiasm (1)
- Bearing
- Understanding (1)
- Courage (4)
- Knowledge (5)
- Loyalty (2)
- Endurance (1)
We made hot meals out of canned food, which we were forced to eat all of. They wanted us to have enough energy for the culminating exercise, which would be hard. I loved the sardines in mustard. The oranges were nice, too.
For our next mission, we had to establish another base, with three groups each building one shelter and fire on each corner of a triangle. We did a lean-to with a tarp on the bottom and a tarp as a wall + roof. The wind changed directions at times, which was difficult on the shelter. The fire had a hole that allowed oxygen to come in. We also built a little barricade like we had at our main tent, from which we could shoot behind cover (really just concealment) if attacked.
Originally, after we finished this, we were supposed to go do recon on a barn somewhere and provide a SALUTE report (Size of enemy unit, Actions of enemy, Location, Uniform, Time when observed, Equipment). But before we could do that, some Other Governmental Agency (OGA) guys came in, telling us about a downed pilot that we had to rescue. We set off into the night, walked up some steep hill sides, and up to a park where we laid for a while. We moved up to the baseball field where we pulled security. A few of us went out to where intel told us the pilot was located. We used our first aid skills to get him in good enough condition to help him move. He was disoriented, so I stuck with him to try to boost his morale to keep him moving towards our base. The ground was uneven and rough, but we made it, and the OGA was happy.
We took turns on a rest plan again on the second night. Each group of three had an individual rest plan. We rotated among the three. I was so cold at night, so after a while, I didn't even bother taking any rest turns. It was more comfortable to stay awake and keep the fire going. I was really lucky to have found pine tar. We would only learn about it the next morning, but that thing burned hot and long.
We were awakened early in the morning, and were told that the political situation had changed, and we had to exfil quickly. We took down our shelters, put out the fires, and got ready to move out. We went back along the trails, through water, and arrived back at the school, where kids coming in for the morning must've had many questions.
We moved to a different parking lot, where we celebrated the endex with coffee and donuts. It was a fun event, different from the usual. I really enjoy skill-based events. I know I'm physically capable of a lot, so it's good to grow in new ways, and to get to enjoy the cool stuff that you get to do as a result of being fit.
For reference, here was SB's AAR of the same event:
(It's always fun to see the same event from another person's perspective.)
No comments:
Post a Comment