0:12

What's up gang.

0:12

Welcome to this episode of Under

0:15

The Log podcast where we talk to

0:15

men and women that recently

0:18

completed GORUCK. Today we're

0:18

talking to Cory Parsons about

0:21

his very first GORUCK event, the

0:21

Battle of the Bulge tough up in

0:25

Columbus and among other things,

0:25

we're gonna talk about Corey's

0:28

training, which involved going

0:28

on to rocks and his nutrition

0:33

plan, which involves Burger

0:33

King, Wendy's and McDonald's.

0:37

Yep, it's awesome. Before we get to our interview,

0:46

we wanted to share some advice

0:49

that we thought could have

0:49

seriously helped out Cory. And

0:52

that's the visit ruck dot

0:52

training. On the website, we

0:55

offer free training guides for

0:55

people wanting to do a GORUCK

0:58

heavy tough for light. Now

0:58

basic. These guides are great to

1:03

use as written or can be

1:03

modified to meet your personal

1:06

training needs. Check them out

1:06

at ruck dot training, or check

1:09

out the link in our show notes.

1:09

With that, let's catch up with

1:13

Corey. All right, hey, Cory, man,

1:23

Thanks a ton for coming on the

1:26

podcast. You know, we're gonna

1:26

be talking today about your

1:30

recent GORUCK Battle of the

1:30

Bulge tough up there in

1:34

Columbus. But when I was

1:34

emailing you, I noticed that the

1:39

email account that you're using

1:39

was connected to rogue tree

1:42

solutions.com. And so of course,

1:42

you know, I grabbed the URL

1:46

popped over there to check it

1:46

out. And I've got to say, Man,

1:48

like the promo video for your

1:48

company pretty much got me so

1:53

fired up. Like I was ready to go

1:53

grab a chainsaw, like climate

1:56

tree, cut it down. But you know,

1:56

you're you're a little too far

2:00

away to come down and cut down

2:00

some trees for me. But before we

2:04

get to talking about GORUCK and

2:04

all that stuff, man, tell tell

2:07

us a little bit about yourself.

2:09

Yeah, so first

2:09

off, Ryan, I appreciate you

2:12

having me on. These little

2:12

things are kind of cool. And I

2:15

enjoy them. So I appreciate

2:15

that. Yeah, so I'm, I'm 32. You

2:21

know, kind of background on the

2:21

whole go rock and that type of

2:26

workout and mindset. It's all

2:26

very new to me. My oldest

2:32

brother. He's pretty into it. He

2:32

does it quite a bit. He actually

2:37

He's my sales manager. He was in

2:37

the military. You know, he got

2:41

out. started working for me. And

2:41

him and my director of

2:46

operations. That's, you know,

2:46

every week in the ruck and it

2:50

turned into news, a lot of a lot

2:50

of playful banter between us

2:56

going back and forth. And that's

2:56

kind of what got me into it into

3:02

the go rockin community, I guess

3:02

you say so. But yeah, we, we

3:07

have some fun, man, we have a

3:07

tree company, a rogue tree

3:10

solutions. That's kind of what

3:10

started, you know, my

3:16

entrepreneurship. Since turned

3:16

into we've got three other

3:20

businesses. You know, one's a

3:20

corporate landscape company that

3:24

we pushed mainstream property

3:24

management for large

3:28

corporations. So we have that

3:28

and we have an investment

3:33

company that holds commercial

3:33

real estate. And we do

3:36

commercial leasing to other like

3:36

businesses, and you know, we got

3:41

an ambulance company, a couple

3:41

small manufacturing company

3:44

stuff like that, that we We

3:44

leased to. So, yeah, it's it's

3:49

busy man, I've got a got three

3:49

kids and I've got three

3:52

businesses. So it's, it's a lot.

3:52

Um, yeah. As far as you know,

3:59

the mindset of Rocky man at

3:59

something I just wanted to touch

4:03

on. Yeah, it's, it's very

4:03

unique. I was never into sports

4:08

a whole lot. Obviously, I've

4:08

always been very active outside.

4:12

You see in the promotional

4:12

videos, it's a very physical

4:16

demanding job. But over the

4:16

last, you know, the last two to

4:21

three years, I've honestly, I've

4:21

kind of lost the physical

4:25

aspect. You know, my, my day to

4:25

day operations now is it's a

4:30

mental game. I run the

4:30

businesses coordinate with our

4:35

commercial clients. So it's a

4:35

lot of meetings and behind the

4:38

computer for me at this point,

4:40

not as much actually

4:40

getting up in the trees, huh?

4:44

Yeah, I actually

4:44

I haven't, I haven't been in a

4:46

tree for it's been probably over

4:46

two years at this point. And

4:52

mentally that's tough because

4:52

that's, that's what I mean. I'm

4:55

through and through a tree guy

4:55

as much as I am a business guy

4:58

and I feel Enjoy tree work. So,

4:58

you know, Dustin and Austin, my

5:07

two employees that that's, you

5:07

know, pretty into rock and

5:09

actually recently just they're

5:09

trying to launch a local ruck in

5:14

Wayne County ruck ruck. I'm

5:14

sorry, Wayne County. ruckwod.

5:17

Oh, nice. Yeah. So they're

5:17

trying to get people more

5:21

involved. And so they go every

5:21

weekend, and it got to the

5:25

point, they're like, Man, you

5:25

know, this probably isn't for

5:28

you. You can't I don't I don't

5:28

know if you're quite built for

5:31

this. And I know just a lot, a

5:31

lot of banter going back and

5:35

forth. Like I said, I, I don't

5:35

really do a whole lot of cardio,

5:40

I've had a little bit more of a

5:40

powerlifting type routine, I

5:44

guess you'd call it. Um, over

5:44

the last 10 years, that's

5:47

basically the form of lifting

5:47

I've done is is more of a

5:50

strength training. So it was

5:50

tough. I went rucking kind of

5:58

twice. I think I went two times

5:58

before the event in Columbus. So

6:03

it was a it was it was a battle

6:03

let

6:08

me get this straight

6:08

this. So this battle of the

6:11

bulge tough. Was your your very

6:11

first event?

6:14

Yes, sir. Yeah,

6:14

actually, but and third time

6:18

ever with a run that

6:19

third time ever with

6:19

a ruck on? And kind of all all

6:23

you do typically with training?

6:23

Is is like powerlifting. And

6:29

that's it. Correct?

6:30

Yeah. So

6:30

obviously, I didn't really know

6:33

what I was in for. Mentally, I'm

6:33

a very, I don't know, I call it

6:40

tough. Some people would call it

6:40

touched. I've got a very I don't

6:47

know the way to describe it. And

6:47

mentally, I'm good to go. So I

6:50

knew I knew that if I was there,

6:50

and I was looking at, like

6:55

people that no matter how bad

6:55

the pain got in the, you know,

7:00

being uncomfortable, like I was

7:00

ready to enter whatever,

7:04

whatever I could for as long as

7:04

I could until I broke Um, so

7:07

that was my mindset going into

7:07

it. That's

7:09

that's the right

7:09

mindset. But man, sometimes

7:13

shocking your body like that

7:13

you're gonna have the right

7:15

mind, but it can it can mess you

7:15

up. So like, did your your

7:19

brother those guys like? I mean,

7:19

obviously, you kind of if

7:25

they're doing it this regularly,

7:25

like you kind of know what

7:27

they're into. But like, did

7:27

they? Did they prepare you at

7:32

all? Or they were like, Hey, man, just sign up for this thing. And we'll see you there.

7:35

So they

7:35

basically, you know, they talked

7:38

about it, they did a couple

7:38

events throughout the summer.

7:43

And again, man, it's tough for

7:43

me, like I said, I have three

7:45

kids with the three businesses.

7:45

So it's tough for me to commit

7:50

to a weekend train regimen,

7:50

that, you know, they rock every

7:54

every Saturday. So that was a

7:54

little bit of an issue. And

8:00

another, they've mentioned, they

8:00

did a couple basics, and they're

8:03

like, Hey, you know, you should

8:03

come and it was always those

8:06

things that just never worked out. Well, then it kind of became a joke. Like, dude, you

8:08

always talk about doing one, but

8:11

you're never going to do it. So

8:11

I finally, you know, they just

8:16

kept pushing it. And they're

8:16

like, well, we're doing this

8:18

event in Columbus. And they're

8:18

like, you know, but it's

8:21

probably not for you. This isn't

8:21

one you want to do. Well, it

8:24

finally they just kept talking.

8:24

And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna do

8:27

it. So it family events have

8:27

kind of become a running joke.

8:32

Because, you know, Austin, he's

8:32

pretty close to our family. So,

8:36

you know, he'd be there and

8:36

we're talking and, you know,

8:38

they're talking about all that

8:38

condition. And I'm doing and I'm

8:41

sitting there with a

8:41

cheeseburger drinking a beer.

8:43

And I'm like, Yeah, no, I'll be

8:43

there guys. And it turned into a

8:46

running joke. And then, you

8:46

know, we get down there. And

8:50

then Honestly, it kind of hit me

8:50

about an hour before start time.

8:54

I'm like, oh, wow, like, I'm

8:54

here. To do this, like, Am I

8:58

like, am I gonna do this? So

8:58

there was, it was a it was kind

9:02

of one of those things, man, I

9:02

signed up. I guess it's kind of

9:05

like skydiving, like once you

9:05

get up there. It's now it's go

9:09

time. Like there isn't much of a

9:09

choice at this. Yeah,

9:11

once you jump out of the plane, you're committed,

9:13

you're committed.

9:13

Absolutely. So

9:15

so that I'd love to

9:15

hear about a little bit more

9:18

about that. So, you know, you

9:18

sort of know what you're getting

9:22

into. Haven't definitely have

9:22

not trained adequately, I'll

9:27

just go ahead and tell you that

9:27

you you did not train

9:30

adequately. So it's an hour

9:30

before it's starting to dawn on

9:36

you. Like you, you roll up.

9:36

Like, like talk me through, like

9:41

rolling up. And and, you know, I

9:41

know even as somebody who's done

9:46

a fair amount of events, like,

9:46

just roll call is stressful,

9:51

like what's going to happen? And

9:51

then you know, usually there's a

9:54

welcome party. I don't know if

9:54

y'all had a little welcome party

9:56

or not, but like talk me through

9:56

like those emotions. And

10:00

thoughts and feelings just kind

10:00

of like in that right before it

10:03

starts into right when it's

10:03

like, oh crap, this is this is

10:07

happening.

10:08

And I think Ryan

10:08

To be fair, something leading up

10:12

to that point where this was a

10:12

kind of a crucial, crucial thing

10:17

to add to this. So with the tree

10:17

company, we're a state

10:20

contractor. We had a deadline,

10:20

state job and Youngstown that we

10:26

started the week of that go that

10:26

go ruck event. So we got down.

10:33

The job was, it was a tough one,

10:33

a lot of manual. You know, we

10:37

have a lot of equipment, but

10:37

there's sometimes equipment just

10:40

can't get in there. So it's a

10:40

lot of manual work. This

10:44

particular job, we had one of

10:44

our very vital piece of

10:49

equipment go down, and it turned

10:49

into we had X amount of time to

10:54

get it done. So the day of the

10:54

ruck event, you know, I'd say

10:59

most people probably, you know,

10:59

relax a little bit, maybe have

11:03

some late sleeping. We were you

11:03

know, we were up at 5am that

11:08

day, we were working on the road

11:08

by Daybreak was right around

11:12

seven o'clock. And we worked a

11:12

full 10 hour day. Ain't no

11:18

dragon stuff. Yep, and brush,

11:18

trying to get this job done. So

11:22

we get the job done. We

11:22

literally jumped in our

11:25

vehicles. And you know, this

11:25

wasn't just me, this was Austin

11:28

and Dustin. Yeah, jump in our

11:28

vehicles and we head down there.

11:32

So there wasn't a whole, you

11:32

know, there wasn't a whole lot

11:35

of time for any of us, of us

11:35

three to rest. So it was we

11:39

worked a very physical day to

11:39

the point where, you know, it's

11:44

people that's never done that

11:44

type of work. It's hard to

11:46

understand the physical aspect

11:46

of it. But

11:49

yeah, and I'd say

11:49

not just the physical for you. I

11:51

mean, that's that's a lot of

11:51

emotional stress. Right. So like

11:56

you're putting out trying to get

11:56

this thing done by deadlines.

11:59

You know, I've, I've had similar

11:59

experiences where it's like,

12:03

man, I'd love to, I'd love to

12:03

chill out today. But man, this

12:06

is like, this is this is nothing

12:06

but stress leading up to

12:10

something that's going to be physically and mentally stressful. And that, that just

12:12

turns it that that that just

12:15

makes it so much harder. For sure.

12:18

Yeah, absolutely.

12:18

And then you throw in the cold

12:20

factor. So you're outside all

12:20

day in the cold. Um, so you

12:25

know, I get down there. We're

12:25

all pulling into a park of

12:28

roses. where's where's the the

12:28

event took place? everyone's

12:33

kind of getting out of their

12:33

vehicles. And for me, like, it's

12:37

funny, Obama's snacks guy. Like,

12:37

if anything I do I have pockets

12:41

full of snacks. So like, if I'm

12:41

hunting it anything that I'm out

12:45

doing, I have to have snacks.

12:45

I'm I've been like that since I

12:47

was a little kid. So I show up.

12:47

And I've got like, No, I've got

12:51

these like gallon freezer bags

12:51

full of snacks. And Austin and

12:54

Dustin, they're loving it.

12:54

They're like, Dude, what do you

12:56

like? What do you think you're

12:56

doing? Like guys, like, if I'm

13:00

gonna do this long of like, this

13:00

much endurance of physical

13:04

activity, like, I got to have

13:04

some snacks. So that was funny.

13:07

Like, I see everyone else

13:07

getting out. And you know,

13:11

they've got the gear on, you

13:11

know, they, they look to part

13:14

and then like, here's me. And

13:14

I'm, the whole thing was kind of

13:18

comical, um, until the welcome

13:18

party started. And that was a,

13:24

you know, it was the main thing

13:24

right off the rip was, they're

13:28

going through everyone's gear

13:28

and you got to put it back in.

13:30

And I'm like, Man, this is, this

13:30

is gonna be fun. And it was cold

13:34

that night. You know, I think it

13:34

was we were right around just

13:38

below 20 degrees. So the cold

13:38

thing wasn't a huge, huge issue

13:45

for me. I wasn't too concerned

13:45

with it. We're out, you know, I

13:49

am outside all the time. So that

13:49

wasn't a big issue. But it

13:54

definitely definitely played a

13:54

part into you know, muscle

13:58

failure and muscle fatigue. So,

13:58

the welcome party starts off.

14:05

Aaron hand was our Cadre, he was

14:05

a very nice guy, very, just very

14:10

unique individual to talk to a

14:10

lot of respect for him. But

14:15

right off the rip, like he

14:15

starts drilling us and you know,

14:18

the PT starts. And that's

14:18

something I just don't do. Like,

14:23

I haven't done PT since

14:23

wrestling in high school. So

14:28

it's, we started doing it, and

14:28

it's funny like the guys, you

14:32

know, anyone that knows him, and

14:32

they they like to make fun of me

14:36

because I puke almost over

14:36

everything. Like, that's me,

14:39

man. I'm a puker. So they're,

14:39

they're, you know, they're all

14:43

making bets on that how quickly

14:43

the welcome party, I'm gonna

14:46

start throwing up I actually I

14:46

never threw up once in the

14:49

entire event which I would have

14:49

lost everything I had if I would

14:53

have bet against myself. So I

14:53

actually i i at one point in the

14:58

welcome party, I look over and I

14:58

see my brother, he's actually

15:02

puking. And that gave me Oh, I

15:02

love that. I loved it. So it was

15:08

good, though. So we're sitting

15:08

there. And we get done with that

15:12

with the the welcome party. And

15:12

we start getting, you know, the

15:18

Israeli leaders out. Everyone's

15:18

kind of divvying up the

15:21

sandbags, which there was a lot

15:21

of stuff that Aaron planned on

15:26

us to carry. So which that was

15:26

something I didn't really take

15:31

into consideration when thinking

15:31

about doing this event. So I

15:36

knew I had my back or my rock

15:36

on, you know, I think it was

15:40

just over 40 pounds with my

15:40

gear. And I was comfortable with

15:44

that, that ptl is like I can get

15:44

through the PT, the mileage I'm

15:48

not too concerned about. But the

15:48

amount of coupons they had to

15:52

carry, that was something I

15:52

never really took into

15:55

consideration. On right off the

15:55

rip. I'm on a four man team of

16:03

the width Israeli leader, I

16:03

believe I'm pronouncing that

16:06

correctly, which they had, I

16:06

want to say roughly 240 pounds

16:11

of weight on top of that. So we

16:11

start off, we start off walking

16:17

with it. And you know, mentally

16:17

I'm good. I'm in the rhythm. And

16:23

these guys, you know, we're all

16:23

kind of starting to get to know

16:26

one another, ask them questions.

16:26

And at that point in time, I

16:31

realized, like, I was definitely

16:31

in for a night of her when the

16:34

other three guys that I'm with,

16:34

they're all you know, they've

16:38

done multiple events. They're

16:38

talking about the food that they

16:42

consume for the last, you know,

16:42

three days leading up to the

16:45

event. And they're like, you

16:45

know, they're talking to me,

16:48

they're like, What did you eat

16:48

today? And I was like, Yeah, I

16:51

had fast food three times a day.

16:51

I woke up at five, I got my

16:56

McDonald's breakfast. At noon, I

16:56

got Wendy's and on the way down,

17:01

I had Burger King. And I was

17:01

like, dude, I I don't I didn't

17:03

have the convenience of sitting

17:03

at home. And, you know, in

17:08

preparing for this. So that was

17:08

at that point in time, I was

17:12

like, man, I may be over my

17:12

head.

17:20

Yeah, Cory straight

17:20

that a GORUCK tough with no

17:23

training at all. I mean, I gotta

17:23

give it to him for showing up

17:27

and giving us full measure of

17:27

effort. Of course, Cory could

17:31

have done himself a solid by

17:31

visiting ruck dot training and

17:35

grabbing one of those free go

17:35

ruck training guys that are

17:38

posted there. You know, he's a

17:38

busy dude with a family and like

17:41

three businesses. So he could

17:41

totally take one of the editable

17:45

versions that we provide and

17:45

modify it to meet his schedule

17:48

and his needs. Well, maybe he'll

17:48

check out our heavy guide. As

17:53

for you, I mean, you can do

17:53

whatever you want. But if you'd

17:56

like to show up to your event

17:56

prepared, go ahead and check out

17:59

ruck dot training. Alright, I'll

17:59

see how Cory story ends up.

18:10

Well, it's, it's interesting, I

18:10

mean, because, you know, there,

18:14

there are so many people,

18:14

especially when you when you do

18:18

more and more of these. They

18:18

certainly take like all these

18:23

things into consideration. So it

18:23

becomes very much like, you

18:26

know, like an athlete training

18:26

for a marathon or something like

18:29

that, you know, they, they, they

18:29

have training regimens and

18:34

guides to help them figure out

18:34

how to prepare and then, you

18:39

know, they have taper periods

18:39

with their rucking. And, you

18:42

know, people are watching their

18:42

nutrition, their hydration plans

18:45

going in, it's like, you know,

18:45

it, there's all this going into

18:50

it. But, you know, there's also

18:50

those of us who are just like,

18:54

Man, you know what, I'm here.

18:54

Right? That's all I got. There.

18:59

There was nothing. But it is

18:59

super fun to hear from you like,

19:05

because, you know, I'm sure

19:05

there there are folks that that

19:08

totally just sign up completely

19:08

unprepared. And you kind of look

19:14

out there and you're like, Oh,

19:14

hey, you you didn't know what

19:17

you're getting into. And so it's

19:17

always fun to see those folks

19:20

and to come alongside them and,

19:20

and see them figure it out as

19:24

they go. And obviously you made

19:24

it You made it to the end so you

19:28

figured it out. Like how, like,

19:28

how much harder was it than you

19:39

thought it would be?

19:42

Oh, it was it was

19:42

one of the hardest mental and

19:47

physical pain that I've ever

19:47

honestly been in. And I am I am

19:54

more than comfortable admitting

19:54

that. It is the worst part and

19:59

again, Lack of conditioning was

19:59

was a huge issue for me. We got

20:04

to, you know, one point, and we

20:04

did the Robbie Miller water. Oh,

20:08

yeah. That's, that's that's not

20:08

a joke of a workout. And it

20:14

honestly it gave me a whole new

20:14

respect for you know, quote

20:17

unquote crossfitters. And then

20:17

type of individuals that do that

20:21

type of workout routinely. And

20:21

then you throw in the cold

20:26

aspect in the ground. We didn't

20:26

have snow at the time. But the

20:30

ground was literally hard as a

20:30

rock. So you're doing your your

20:35

wad on this frozen ground? which

20:35

definitely, you know, that threw

20:41

a twist to it. After the Robbie

20:41

Miller WOD. Cadre wasn't too

20:49

happy with us at one point for

20:49

something that was going on. So

20:52

he pointed to a log in though

20:52

that was laying in the woods.

20:57

Yeah, like, you know, it was

20:57

like you guys need to carry

21:00

that. I'm not sure if he

21:00

understood it at the time, he

21:04

realized how long from from the

21:04

from where you could stand? And

21:08

look, it looked like the log was

21:08

about 15 feet? Well, it once it

21:13

went out of the leaves that went

21:13

about another probably 15 to 20.

21:18

So there was I think there was

21:18

five of us on this log. And,

21:23

man, it was tough. It was tough.

21:23

So

21:25

so so I love that

21:25

y'all got Under The Log. I mean,

21:30

this is obviously the Under The

21:30

Log podcast. And so I am super

21:38

interested. I mean, you're a

21:38

tree guy, like you've you've

21:41

been under some logs in your

21:41

life, like, right? Like, how,

21:45

how different was this for you?

21:47

So the biggest

21:47

issue with the logs was, so when

21:52

we picked it up, I believe

21:52

Dustin was on the very end of

21:56

it, and I was on the front of

21:56

it. The issue was his height

22:01

difference. You have a guy

22:01

that's 6162. And then you have a

22:06

guy in the middle, that might be

22:06

five, seven, it's an issue and

22:10

then you're trying to walk with

22:10

this. And I believe it was an

22:14

old lm log on it was it was

22:18

I knew that you were

22:18

gonna tell me exactly what kind

22:21

of tree it was.

22:22

Yeah, the problem

22:22

with it was it was skinny enough

22:27

that it had serious flex to it.

22:27

So every time you walked in the

22:32

different rhythms of the

22:32

individuals on it walking, it

22:36

literally the log had a bounce

22:36

to it the entire time, instead

22:39

of just sitting in, you know,

22:39

resting into your shoulder. The

22:44

entire thing was bouncing and

22:44

jumping. So I actually the whole

22:47

like backside of my skull was

22:47

bruised from it. My shoulder was

22:51

bruised from it. So I did feel

22:51

right at home when he was you

22:55

know, kind of told us to get a

22:55

hold of it. And not such a nice

23:02

request. We grabbed it, we

23:02

walked with it.

23:06

Like when like when

23:06

he said to go get the log? Was

23:09

there like part of you that was

23:09

like, Oh, yeah, this is this is

23:12

my jam. I got this, y'all.

23:14

I did, I did. And

23:14

I don't think we ever came off

23:20

in the log until he told us, you

23:20

know, we had it, we got to a

23:24

point where he wanted us to do

23:24

some PT. And thank God, he

23:29

didn't have to take it back up.

23:29

Because when we got done with

23:33

that, it was brutal man. I will

23:33

tell you the worst part of the

23:39

night where i, where i had to

23:39

dig very deep, is I want to say

23:45

it was around two or three in

23:45

the morning. You know, he wanted

23:49

to simulate some of the

23:49

conditions of the battle the

23:54

ball, and some of the issues

23:54

that those guys had. Keeping.

23:58

Keep in mind the ground being It

23:58

was literally it was worse than

24:02

crawling on concrete, because

24:02

that the field that we were in,

24:06

had a lot of raised areas of

24:06

dirt. So it was like it was like

24:12

trying to crawl on, like raised

24:12

granulated like little nuts. So

24:18

it was that that was brutal. And

24:18

we went I don't even know the

24:23

distance we went but we were on

24:23

our hands and knees for probably

24:27

an hour and a half to two hours

24:27

dragging, you know, all the

24:31

coupons. And there was a hill

24:31

that you know, he made us. He

24:36

made us climb to the top. And

24:36

then there was like a team that

24:40

was falling behind and he made

24:40

like all of them send me like

24:44

casualties. So we went back down

24:44

the hill and we had to start

24:47

dragging. You know, once we got

24:47

all the coupons up, we had to

24:50

start dragging guys up. And at

24:50

the end of that I was like I was

24:55

teetering on it like I don't

24:55

know, I don't know how much more

24:58

I can do this like My, my knees

24:58

were just completely shot. And

25:05

then he, you know, I think it

25:05

was a little bit of on purpose

25:11

but sits and talks about the

25:11

events of the Battle of bodge,

25:16

which brings a whole new

25:16

perspective to your quote

25:19

unquote, what you think the pain

25:19

that you're in is a fragment to

25:23

what these other guys know what

25:23

they went through years ago. So,

25:29

yeah, that's, that's a very

25:29

unique twist to it. So right, so

25:34

no matter how much pain you

25:34

think you're in, it's not that

25:37

bad. And so that's what I kept

25:37

thinking about, like, this isn't

25:40

that bad? Like, yeah, this could

25:40

be 10, you know, 10 times worse,

25:45

a million times worse, to what

25:45

those guys actually went through

25:48

in the Battle of the Bulge.

25:50

Yeah, and I think

25:50

that's the, that's the special

25:52

thing about like, like events

25:52

like this, that are built

25:56

specifically around things like

25:56

particular battles and

26:01

experiences, because, you know,

26:01

I mean, obviously, I love to

26:06

just go out and do a little bit

26:06

of suffering for the fun of it.

26:10

It's a weird hobby. But, you

26:10

know, that's, that's something

26:13

that I enjoy. But when there's

26:13

events like this, where it's

26:17

connected to something that

26:17

happened in our history, like to

26:24

go into experience, even just a

26:24

microcosm of that, but then to

26:31

think about, you know, their

26:31

listen to the Cadre, explain

26:35

what these what these folks went

26:35

through. It just really puts it

26:42

into context and helps you

26:42

connect to that. That event in a

26:48

much deeper way. I mean, you

26:48

know, it's interesting that you

26:52

guys were in Columbus, and it

26:52

was 20 degrees. I mean,

26:55

obviously, the Battle of the

26:55

Bulge occurred in really cold

27:01

and challenging conditions. You

27:01

know, I talked to some folks

27:04

that did the Battle of the Bulge

27:04

in Orlando, and I'm not sure if

27:08

where it's, that episode will be

27:08

before or after years, but, you

27:15

know, they were one of the guys

27:15

was talking about the challenge

27:18

of like, trying to think and

27:18

connect to this battle of the

27:21

bulge event, while they're like

27:21

on a beach. And it's like 65

27:26

degrees in right. So, you know,

27:26

for you guys to experience that

27:30

20 degree weather clock, you

27:30

know, climbing up on a frozen

27:34

ground. I mean, that's what

27:34

those that's what those guys

27:36

actually experience, like

27:36

freezing temperatures, solid

27:40

ground, snow and and all that.

27:40

And so, like, for you, like, did

27:49

you know much about the Battle

27:49

of the Bulge before? And like,

27:52

how did how did this event kind

27:52

of informed that particular

27:56

battle for you?

27:57

Yeah, so I

27:57

obviously anything military, I

28:02

try to think about history, why

28:02

especially, you know, World War

28:07

Two battles. So I was definitely

28:07

familiar with the Battle of the

28:10

ball just familiar with, you

28:10

know, the amount of casualties

28:14

that went into it. But think,

28:14

some small things that you kind

28:19

of don't think about. So yeah,

28:19

you obviously, the normal person

28:24

understands the, the the aspect

28:24

of war, right, and you know, the

28:30

possibility of getting killed,

28:30

wounded or captured. But you

28:35

kind of forget about the little

28:35

things that has to happen for

28:38

those. So the amount of food

28:38

that has to get brought into

28:42

those, you know, you look at the

28:42

trenches that those guys hand

28:45

dug, and frozen ground. It's not

28:45

like they had excavators and

28:51

they were hand digging all of us

28:51

so so even before your actual

28:55

battle, which most people would

28:55

probably agree that's probably

28:59

the toughest environment you

28:59

could be in. But just the

29:03

environment leading up to that I

29:03

think a lot of people just kind

29:06

of look past and you, you don't

29:06

realize how miserable that that

29:11

would have been, you know, just

29:11

digging trenches alone. Yeah,

29:14

with a spade shovel. It's tough

29:14

to even try to put yourself in

29:19

those shoes. And I'm not saying

29:19

that the go rock event was even

29:22

a comparison. But it makes you

29:22

sit and think about things and

29:26

there ain't much other things to

29:26

think about when you're laying

29:29

on a hill at three in the

29:29

morning, and it's you know, 18

29:33

degrees and you're, most of your

29:33

body's wet from sweat. And then

29:39

I think, you know, Aaron did an

29:39

awesome job of highlighting what

29:44

some of those guys went through

29:44

and casualty numbers and their

29:47

sacrifices. So when you're

29:47

laying there, and you're looking

29:52

up at the sky, and your body at

29:52

this point, like I was at that

29:56

point, I pretty much had become

29:56

numb most of my body was numb to

30:00

The cold and the pain. And then

30:00

at that point, it kind of

30:03

transitioned from physical and

30:03

the mental. And I just sat there

30:07

and you kind of just, it was a

30:07

very like that feeling.

30:10

Honestly, it was kind of priceless. Like you're sitting there, you're at complete muscle

30:12

failure, you're transitioning

30:18

into a mental game, and you're

30:18

listening to Cadre, you know,

30:22

kind of preach these facts.

30:22

That's a very unique feeling.

30:26

So, like, you're on

30:26

the other side of it. Now,

30:30

you've, you, you, you completed

30:30

a GORUCK. Tough, you, you made

30:35

it despite your complete lack of

30:35

preparation. Like, what do you

30:42

like? what's the takeaway for

30:42

you? Like, what do you leave

30:45

this event with? coming out on

30:45

the other end?

30:51

Yeah, so I think

30:51

it's changed a little bit.

30:55

Morning of I was, I looked, you

30:55

know, basically was like Dustin

30:59

Austin, this is great. There's

30:59

no reason for me to ever do

31:04

anything like this again. It

31:04

was, I was really questioning

31:08

some serious life decisions if

31:08

I'm being completely honest. Um,

31:13

and, you know, it's kind of

31:13

cool, though. You know, going

31:16

back to my company, that my

31:16

rucksack for example, my guys

31:20

bought that for me for

31:20

Christmas. So that was kind of

31:23

cool.

31:26

The,

31:28

the camaraderie

31:28

of me, Dawson, you know, Austin

31:32

out there, kind of going through

31:32

the same amount of pain

31:36

together. It's, that was a very

31:36

cool experience, you know,

31:40

especially when you tie that

31:40

into the business side of it.

31:43

Yeah. You know, guys, we just

31:43

went through, you know, 12 hours

31:48

of hell, there's anything at

31:48

work, we we'd get through

31:51

anything, let's just, we just

31:51

push forward. That's the only

31:54

thing we can do. So the event

31:54

itself, looking at it now. I

32:00

definitely, I've been trying to

32:00

figure out what I want to do. So

32:04

I have been trying to rock with

32:04

the guides almost every weekend

32:07

since then. I'm trying to get

32:07

some different tolerances build

32:11

up. Yeah. You know, this past

32:11

weekend, it was an ass kicker,

32:16

man, we have roughly, we had

32:16

roughly a foot of snow on the

32:20

ground. And we went out I think

32:20

we did five or six miles on

32:25

Saturday. So you It definitely,

32:25

I definitely want to do another

32:34

one. I'm just figuring out kind

32:34

of which side they see this. For

32:39

me the winter events. I feel

32:39

more comfortable with the summer

32:43

stuff, man. Some of that seems,

32:43

you know, you start doing that

32:47

stuff in 90 degree heat. It's

32:47

tough. I think it'd be very

32:51

taxing.

32:52

Yeah, it's tough.

32:52

And it's it's cool to hear like,

32:56

I think your your story is

32:56

similar to many folks. I mean, I

33:01

know it was mine, you get done

33:01

with that first event. And

33:03

you're like, oh, that was really

33:03

cool. hardest thing I've ever

33:08

done. And I'm glad that I'll

33:08

never do that again. And then

33:14

like, like two weeks later, you

33:14

find yourself on the go ruck

33:17

website looking at events, and

33:17

you're like, what am I doing?

33:20

Yeah, well, for

33:20

me, physical, you know, I was

33:25

probably a week after the event

33:25

physically, I was, I was rough.

33:30

But even hours after event, I

33:30

felt completely different

33:34

mentally than I probably I ever

33:34

have, you know, even with

33:38

achievements or any type of

33:38

accomplishments. Mentally, I

33:42

felt 100% recharged after the

33:42

event, which was to me was

33:47

weird. That was hard for me to

33:47

even try to, you know, a lot of

33:49

people's asked me about the

33:49

event sense. And that's

33:52

something hard to explain for me

33:52

is I think, honestly, I did be

33:58

the one to see if I still could

33:58

dig deep as a as an individual.

34:05

Which, you know, not that my

34:05

jobs made me lazy this point,

34:09

but it's taken me out of a

34:09

physical game, turret, you know,

34:13

put me into a mental, a mental

34:13

aspect day to day. So I wanted

34:16

to make sure like, I could still

34:16

dig deep and walk through those

34:20

doors if I needed to. So that

34:20

was that was kind of one thing

34:24

with it. But you know, to I

34:24

think a lot of people would

34:29

agree that's done them at some

34:29

point of the of the event, it

34:32

does shift from a physical to a

34:32

mental aspect. I knew

34:37

physically, I could get to it.

34:37

But again, going back to that

34:40

mental state, I wanted to make

34:40

sure mentally I could dig deep

34:44

enough. And that's what was

34:44

super cool. So now, my mind says

34:48

Well, what like, how much more

34:48

could you endure? So you know,

34:55

I've talked with the guys and I

34:55

was like, you know, I'm just

34:57

gonna sign up for a heavy and

34:57

they just They just they think

35:01

it's the funniest thing in the

35:01

world. And they're like, there's

35:04

no way you could do a heavy and

35:04

I'm not saying I can or can't

35:09

but I do before this year's up I

35:09

do want to sign up for one and

35:13

give it a whirl,

35:14

Cory man that is

35:14

that's friggin awesome. Like, I

35:18

love the the, the connections

35:18

and that you made and

35:23

transferring it over to I mean

35:23

the relationship with with you

35:28

and your guys at the business

35:28

like that, that that bond that

35:32

you formed like the the that

35:32

experience of mental clarity on

35:39

the other side and commitment to

35:39

what you want to do at work. I

35:44

mean, I think that's so awesome.

35:44

And I love that like you're like

35:48

alright, I think I want to do

35:48

the heavy and and just listening

35:53

to you. I think you're the kind

35:53

of guy that like not now that

35:56

this is this is it like, you're

35:56

you're gonna do what you need to

36:01

do to get that heavy. And let me

36:01

just tell you, man, you're gonna

36:06

love it. Like it'll be hard.

36:06

it'll it'll take probably a

36:12

little more preparation than you

36:12

had for your tough but man

36:16

earning that heavy patch. It's

36:16

it's special man. And and so I

36:22

want you to stay in touch and

36:22

let me know whenever that that

36:26

heavy comes around. And we'll

36:26

we'll have you back on the

36:29

podcast and we'll talk about how

36:29

the heavy was compared to the

36:32

tough.

36:33

Oh, that sounds great. Awesome, man.

36:35

Well, thank you for

36:35

your time, Cory, and all the

36:38

best man.

36:40

Appreciate it, Ryan and now you have a great day. You too.

36:46

I love it. Cory just

36:46

like so many of us going from

36:50

now. I don't think I'm ever

36:50

gonna do that again. To You know

36:54

what? I think I want to do a

36:54

heavy classic go ruck, y'all.

36:59

Well, thanks for listening to

36:59

this episode of Under The Log

37:02

for show notes, links to stuff

37:02

that we talked about. And a full

37:06

transcript of the episode visit

37:06

us at Under The log.com. Of

37:10

course, we'd love it if you

37:10

subscribe to the podcast, tell

37:13

all your friends about it and

37:13

maybe leave us a positive rating

37:16

and review. Okay, that's it for

37:16

me. We'll see you next time on

37:21

the next episode of Under The

37:21

Log.