My roommate had been training with 9 other Army Cadets, making up two 10 man teams, for 2 months in preparation for the 26.2 mile trek. The course, which wraps around the missile range, is considered by numerous marathon runners to be one of the most challenging courses they have experienced. The monday following spring break, the teams were informed that Army ROTC received a funds cut and would no longer beable to contribute any financial support to the teams. as a result the sponsors for the teams also withdrew their funding. This situation left the two teams with no money to cover the $1000 in entry fees and upwards of $3000 for transportation costs. As a result B team, the team my roommate was on, was cut and A team was told that if they could raise the money they would beable to attend the march.
After training for two months my roommate was not about to let funding prevent him from participating in this march. The Wednesday before the march he asked me if I would be willing to go march along with him even though I hadnt trained for it at all. I figured that it couldnt be any worse than combat patrols in Afghanistan so I said Id do it and we used our own funds to cover registration and travel costs. We passed it up our chain of command that we would be going and received go's from both Corps and ROTC so we figured it would be ok.
While we were packing our gear Thursday morning we were told by an upperclassman in our COC that we werent allowed to go. Having already spent $400 on bus tickets and registration we argued this. After receiving a long ass chewing from the Deputy Commandant we were told we could attend the march. Since the only available plane tickets were $800+ we opted to take a Greyhound... Biggest mistake ever, after 40 hours on a ghetto ass bus and being surrounded by ex-cons and lower class hillbillies we arrived in El Paso, Texas where we rented a car and made the 40 minute drive to Las Cruces, NM. We arrived to our hotel at 0600, showered, changed, than drove 20 minutes to White Sands Missile Range for registration. After being asked 10 times if we were doing the 12 mile march or the full 26.2 and receiving crazy looks when we said "the full 26.2" me and my roommate were somewhat demoralized, but still stoked.
We crashed out early and woke at 0300 to shower and get ready than arrived at the staging area at 0430. After a speech, a role call of the 3 remaining survivors of the Bataan Death March and those who passed away this past year. The cannon fired signaling the start of the march. The marchers moved out in waves marathon runners, than civilian light, military light, and lastly military heavy, my group. Me and my roommate stepped off using my iphone gps to follow a 12-14 min/mile pace. We began passing all the military heavy/light indiviuals and teams and made our way to the front of the civilian light. After 8 miles we hit the start of a 6 mile incline which took us up 1500ft in elevation. We made a huge mistake and under estimated this course and the hill kicked our asses. At mile 10 I began noticing signs of heat exhaustion which included tingles, shakes, and cramps. I ran out of water at almost the exact same time so I was in a bad spot. I pushed myself as hard as I could to make it to the water point at the 14 mile mark and collapsed. My roommate was an experienced outdoorsman so he began tending to me getting me water, bananas, oranges, and special gel shots designed to give the body a rapid recharge. As we saw the V Tech flag crest the hill behind us we stepped off because we wanted to beat the A team that Tech sent to show that they made a mistake not choosing him for the team. The next 6 miles were downhill so it was a time to catch some rest but than we went off road again. We read about the infamous sand pit and were warned of it by veterans of the march. The warnings did not prepare us for the mile of loose sand that destroyed our already battered feet and exhausted legs.
Every mile marker we passed brought us closer to the finish, but the course was full of hills and switchbacks which, in addition to our level of exhaustion, took a devastating effect on our morale. I dug deeper than ever before and kept myself going by thinking of two of my closest friends that were killed in combat while we were serving overseas. After following a wall surrounding the base housing we came to the final bend and the finish line was in sight. I was filled with excitement and a rush of energy and the urge to run to the finish but me and my roommate made the decision to speed up our walk and finish side by side.
It was the most amazing feeling to cross that finish line and hear the applause and cheers from the crowd. Ill never forget that feeling and the emotions that rushed through me but there was still no time to rest. We immidietly had to have our packs weighed to ensure they met the standard of 35lbs each. When they weighed they I was told that my pack, without the 7lbs of water, weighed 55lbs... This annoyed me because it meant that i carried an extra 20lbs which would have made the march alot less painful, but still would have been a challenge. As we walked to the car batered and broken I noticed a younger boy who i remember was behind us the entire march and I asked to take a picture of him. After talking to him I learned he was only 11 years old. This amazed both myself and my roommate and after a hand shake and a congrats to the youth he was approached by a Command Sergeants Major and was given a CSGM coin, for those unfamiliar with the military, this is a huge honor and sign of respect.
We hobbled to the car called a hotel and told them we would be needing a room for the night. Looking over my body i found that i received 2nd degree friction burns from my left hip, around my back, and around my right hip. The pain from them was excruciating, effecting me more then the blisters covering both of my heels.
This march was without a doubt the most physically and mentally demanding experience of my life, but I have never felt a greater sense of accomplishment. We finished 150th out of 5700 participants with our official time 08:05:11.
