My heart sank as we ran up the dirt road to our rucksacks. We saw groups carrying telephone poles and others doing push-ups. I quickly ran to one of the Sergeants and gave him our five points. He looked at my group and said “You idiots only found five points!?” “Roger Sergeant.” He looked at me and yelled “Well do push-ups you fucking faggots! You would have found all of your points if you hadn’t been sleeping! You shits want to sleep out there then you’ll pay for it here!” We joined our buddies and pushed until we were told to do flutter kicks.
After a while we were sent to the wood line and continued to run until 9:00pm. We were given five minutes to eat our MRE’s and after got smoked until midnight. The weather was tolerable until we stopped sweating. It then became evident how cold it was and how quickly we were losing body heat.
We were given more points and told we had three hours to find each of them. We rushed off to plot our points and turned on our red lens flashlights. I was exhausted and poured my bottle of Tabasco sauce into my eyes to keep from falling asleep. We struggled through swamps and rugged terrain for the next three hours. My feet and pants were soaked and I could feel the skin on my thighs and feet rub off with every step I took. By the time we headed back to the starting point my body was racked with pain and discomfort.
As we got close I could see groups pushing. “You fucking cunts only found two points!? Are you fucking kidding me!? Push-ups you faggots!” We were smoked until about 4:30am and then told we could sleep. The ground was covered with a light frost and all we were allowed to sleep under was our paper thin ponchos. I could see my breath hanging in the frigid air and my pants and boots were frozen. My Ranger buddy and I clung to each other trying to share body heat. We would shake each other awake whenever we started shivering uncontrollably.
We managed about five minutes of sleep in our frozen stupor and were woken up and told to stand at parade rest. I saw our Sergeants crowd around their fire and heard one say “Jesus it’s cold out here! Good thing we have this fire but I think we need some more wood!” He turned to us and shouted “Hit the wood line motherfuckers!” We scrambled painfully across the field and returned with more firewood. We were told to line up with our rucks in three circles, one inside the other. We were instructed to run in opposite directions with the inside and outside groups running clockwise and the middle circle moving counter clockwise. We ran with our rifles over our heads and shouted “boots!” every time our left foot hit the ground. This exercise was called “mind erasers.” We were completely exhausted, freezing and sleep deprived. Ten minutes into this exercise I was on a whole new plane. The world moved slow and fast at the same time. My body was beyond exhaustion, my mind was over loaded and I was unable to put a thought together.
After an hour we were told to hit the wood line again and were smoked until noon. We quickly ate our last MRE of Cole Range and were given new points. As we set out my body was seared with pain in every area. My brain was hardly functioning. I could no longer feel the burn of Tabasco when I poured it into my eyes. I was forced to resort to a more extreme measure to stay awake. I took out my can of Copenhagen and snorted the tobacco through my nose. We were no longer able to think coherently. We easily got lost and confused. We constantly had to back track to re-shoot our azimuth. I snorted half a can of chew and cut my earlobe with my knife and still struggled to stay awake.
We returned with four points and got smoked for sleeping. I threw-up water and bits of chew and was soon covered with it. We were instructed to low crawl through “Just Cause Pond” and then hit the wood line. We repeated this until one of our Sergeants said “Alright fuckers! Change into your extra set of BDU’s!” We rushed out of the water and put on dry clothing. As soon as I got into my new clothes I felt energized and refreshed. “Hit the pond you fucking cocksuckers!” our Drill Sergeant yelled when everyone was finished getting dressed. We ran to the pond, crawled through the cold filthy water and hit the wood line again. We got back and did flutter kicks in the pond and watched five Drill Sergeants urinate in the water. We were told to get up and the five biggest students in the class were told to lay in the Sked-co’s the Medic had set out. We secured them to the sleds, picked them up and followed our Sergeant through a stagnant swamp. We fell into the thick mud as we struggled to keep the Sked-co above the surface. It took us two hours to get back to our rucks. When we arrived we were told to drag the Sked-co’s to the wood line.
We were smoked until night fall and rushed into the woods in search of our new points. When we stopped to shoot a new azimuth I put a pinch of Copenhagen into my lip and snorted another pinch. I took off my boots and socks to remove a couple of pebbles. My feet were missing patches of skin and my toes were bleeding. The remaining flesh was snow white and wrinkled. I put my socks and boots on quickly trying to function as best I could. The simplest tasks became challenging and at times overwhelming. I had to think about each step and focus to stay upright.
We returned finding only one point and again were smoked for sleeping. I was delirious. Everything was a blur, my feet felt like cinder blocks and my brain was completely numb. We pushed a Humvee around the field and would crash into the back of it when the Sergeant inside would hit the brakes. When he grew bored with his ride he had us low crawl across the field. My fingernails were torn up as I pulled myself across the grass and rocks with my bloody hands. I soon felt the familiar sting of fire ants and started laughing hysterically.
After a blur of time we ran to the tree line and were sent back and forth over and over. One time while running back I saw my girlfriend and heard her say “I love you baby, I’m right here.” I started crying and struggled to keep running. We were stopped and told to drink from our canteens until they told us to stop. When I had finished three quarters of my two quart canteen we were told to put our foreheads on the muzzle of our rubber duckfn3 and spin until we were told to hit the wood line. I took my head off and immediately fell to the ground. I tried to stand but the world was spinning too fast. I vomited and fell into the pond where I breathed in the stagnant water. I crawled out and threw up again.
When we got back to our rucks we did mind erasers shouting “Airborne Ranger” at the top of our lungs. We were stopped at 2:00am and given a class on how to tie half hitch, clover hitch, and figure eight knots. I was too far gone to even care or laugh at what we were being taught.
When the lesson ended at 3:00am we were told “Get some sleep fuckers! The boss will be here soon!” I was lying under my poncho trying to fight off the unbearable cold holding on to my Ranger Buddy to share warmth. It started to rain. I was shaking from the cold and we began to laugh uncontrollably. The laughter stopped when a Sergeant yelled “Hit the wood line fuckers!” We painfully started running and heard “Low crawl through the fucking pond and then to the tree line goddamnit!” I crawled through the water and felt like a million pins were being pushed into my body. I struggled to breathe and as soon as I got out of the water it began raining harder. My skin continued to feel the pain of imaginary pins. We returned to our ponchos and were told to sleep. The only warmth we would feel during the two hours is when we would urinate on each other.
It was impossible to sleep for all of us. At 6:00am we were told to put our rucks on and practice patrolling across the field that we had crossed so many times. The rain continued. We were told to take a knee and pull security. We were left like that for an hour in the freezing rain. My brain was numb. I didn’t even feel or care when I saw blood pool around my knee. We were still in the field when the bus came and we sprinted towards it. A Sergeant yelled at us as we limped across the field. He came over and began tearing rucks off of Privates’ backs, ripping them open and throwing the contents into the pond. We all scrambled to help retrieve their belongings and we were smoked for taking too long.
We finally left Cole Range and slept on the way to the barracks. Upon arrival we were smoked in the puddles on the basketball court for sleeping. When the Sergeants were done with us we were told to change into PT’s and be back on the basketball courts for some good news. We returned in four minutes and were smoked for taking too long.