My friend Derek worked with GORUCK to put on a custom Triple Light. It's unique because it's three Lights over the course of a weekend, with each event separated by 2 hours. It was also special because GORUCK replaced Lights with Basics in 2021, so this was potentially the last chance to ever do a Light again. The Light is similar to the Basic, except it has 10#/20# weight requirements for people <150#/>=150#, vs 20#/30# requirements that match the Tough weights.
With a custom event, the organizer gets to choose a theme and can work the a Cadre of his or her choosing (assuming they're available and wanting to join in on the fun) to build the event around that theme. This was going to be a historical event focused on the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, which took place on March 15, 1781, during the Revolutionary War. The site of the battle was in Greensboro (named after Nathanael Greene, who led the Patriot forces in the southern theater), NC. It's only a couple of hours north of me, and Cowpens and Kings Mountain are not far to the south of me. It's kind of mind-blowing to think about how we live in the middle of historic territory where the fate of our nation was fought for and determined.
The first event would start at 6pm on Friday, Apr 30. The second event started at 1am on Saturday. The third event would start at 8am. All three events had the same start point - Spencer Love Tennis Center, but the Cadre had different routes and activities planned for each event. The central location gave us a place to park, take naps in cars, and use the public restroom (when it was open).
Prior to the event, Cadre LDB suggested that we read a giant tome of a book - The Road to Guilford Courthouse by John Buchanan. Some people bought the $39 book on Amazon. Others got the audiobook. I heard that it was quite dry, haha. Fortunately, LDB gave us a list of key terms and names, so I just researched those prior to the event.
Derek even hired Tim Galloway, an amazing professional photographer, to document our weekend. He held raffles and sold paracord keychains to help supplement funds for the extras. He also arranged a cookout for afterwards! He was pulling out all the stops and really put a lot of effort into organizing it.
FIRST LIGHT
I drove up separately from SB, since I was potentially meeting up with my sister while in the area. It was also good to have more personal space for living in between events. I brought an extra weight plate for someone else. We formed up in a baseball field, where we did a ruck inspection via sprints back and fourth on the field to present different items. Even though it was early into a long weekend, it felt good to stretch out my legs with some speed. At the end, we had to pack up rucks quickly... something that I've done once or twice before. Cadre Barbarossa came along as well, since he and LDB went way back (with B being L's Cadre during Selection!).
We went back out into the parking lot, where we were each issued a piece of lumber, which would be our "musket" for the duration of the event. We had to keep it with us at all times unless told otherwise. We also filled up water jugs. After that, we did a welcome party. LDB, as a medic, understands the value of a good warmup before a hard effort, which I appreciate. We did a variety of movements for mobility, slick exercises, and yoga.
We grabbed our muskets, the drum team weight, the Declaration of Independence team weight, water jugs, and low-carry sandbags, and headed out for our first waypoint as darkness fell. Low carrying the sandbags and having to have the musket at the ready at all times made the movement more difficult. I had started off with the musket in my ruck but was told that this was not allowed after some time. As a result of the low carries and the swaps I was doing with my sandbag partner, I ended up losing my bladder nozzle at one point. That just reinforces why I prefer to use Nalgenes! Fortunately, SB is prepared and had a spare that I would've been able to use if I needed it. The release button for the Source Bladders does have a questionable design, because there's no guard against depressing the button, so I can see why people lose their nozzles often during low crawls.
A car met us at the first waypoint, which was the entrance of a wooded trail. SB ended up being the TL, since she had the most events under her belt. I was glad that her number was bigger, haha.
We were able to drop some coupons so that we could move fast. This evolution commemorated how the Patriots raced to and retreated across the Dan River when chased by Cornwallis's army about 10 days after the Battle of Cowpens. The chase was tough on the Loyalists, who had ditched many supplies in order to move faster, and they suffered as a result.
On the trail, we hustled, but it was single track, which created bottlenecks at certain points. Also, you can only move as fast as your slowest member. We started sharing rucks to help each other along. To me, the added ruck and the musket was perfect for Bragg Alpha Shooter training, so I was happy as a clam to do the work. I'm better at jumping in to physically help and physically be present, whereas others are better at coaching and encouraging people who are struggling.
SECOND LIGHT
The second Light started at 1am. It had gotten cold. Temps for the first Light had been on the cusp of requiring a windbreaker according to the packing list. One huge jacked guy named Jack didn't have a jacket. He borrowed one from a girl at first, and the fit was quite amusing, because he has arms the size of tree trunks. He ended up finding an alternative later, fortunately.... for him and for the coat.
We did another welcome party and yoga. This was helpful, as we were recovering from the first Light. For this event, we went into the National Military Park. We exercised good noise discipline as we went along the quiet roads. We stopped at a shelter for a history lesson, a workout, and to pick up a segment of a tree (not a log but a big, thick segment) that about 4 guys at a time carried.
We also made a stop at a statue of Nathanael Greene.
We didn't meet our time hack, so we had to do musket overhead holds and PT. It was rather grueling, but we made it and were patched.
THIRD LIGHT
For the third light, we knew we were close. Daylight had come. We were sore and tired, but we had hope. This time, Shannon led us in Yoga, since she's a certified instructor and could add some other moves into the mix.
We split up into Tories vs Whigs for a relay race. I was a Whig. We had to bear crawl out and back, and then take a spoon with a wooden egg out and back. If you dropped the egg, you had to stop and do 10 pushups before continuing, which ate up time but also made you even more tired when you had to resume. The physical exertion ramped up your heart rate just before you had to do something requiring a lot of focus and dexterity. It's a lot like shooter competitions, where you have to do PT right before having to shoot accurately. I was pretty confident in my abilities, so I volunteered to go twice when the team was down one person and needed to even things out with the other team. Fortunately, we pulled off the win, thanks to everyone doing their part (and in spite some doing their parts, haha). At the end, the losers had to do flutter kicks.
The focus of this event was the battle itself. While moving, we had to hold our muskets like we were marching for real this time, in formation. We walked to and stopped at each of the three battle lines that made up the Patriots' strategy, called "Defense-in-Depth". Once the first line put up their best effort and were about to be overtaken, they moved back to and regrouped with the second line, which fought again until they were forced to move back to the third line, which consisted of the Continental Army, who were the professionals. The third line was also overwhelmed after a while and retreated, which meant that they lost the battle, but they were able to get away and fight another day. The British suffered a 25% casualty rate, so although they technically won, they did so at great cost. They'd eventually move northwards to their doom at Yorktown.
While we were moving between the battle lines, we came across a juggling runner, which was quite a sight. I'm sure that we were a sight for others, but he was a sight for us.
Our last big effort for this event came in a battle re-enactment. We did a workout where we had to fire, reload via pushups, fire, do a bayonet charge down the field while yelling, do burpees, and run back. We did this many times. It was tiring, but it gave us more of an appreciation for what it felt like to physically have to fight, and we only did it for a short time compared to the 90-minute duration of the battle. It was hot, and there was a ton of pollen in the air that made my nose super runny the whole time.
We rucked back to the tennis center, where the cookout was waiting for us. We decided to patch there, instead of going the full way back to our cars only to double back. I borrowed a cell phone to tell my sister where to meet us. We thanked the cadres, especially LDB, for helping us put on the event. He had been specially selected because of how awesome his Zombies T/L had been. He had made each evolution unique and fun, and he even made the T activities different from the L, which mainly benefits the few people doing both, but shows the extra mile that he goes. LDB also patched Alicia, SB, and me with his new 5-event patch. We had done Bragg 2020, Zombies, and now the LLL with him.
AFTERWARDS
Hamburger patties with lots of mustard tasted so good after those three events. I was still hungry afterwards. My sister got a Bibimap and fries down the road, and then we went back to see the visitor center, which Cadre LDB had recommended that we check out. We walked out to the Nathanael Greene statue for some pictures with the patches, and then said our goodbyes. It was good to get to spend a little time with her.
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