Those who where there heard my story.
Held at the Crossfit Boston gym, about 100 people (having sold out the tickets to the event, which were $10 to cover costs) gathered to drink some PBR and hear the stories of some of our best trained soldiers. Speakers, of which there were five, were a major in the Green Berets, an Israel Defense Forces recon sniper who trained American snipers in urban combat and ended up unofficially becoming a patrolling member of a Marine sniper unit in Fallujah, Iraq, two enlisted Green Berets, and an enlisted member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), the elite “Night Stalkers” of Black Hawk Down fame. Their stories ranged from poignant (one Green Beret’s description of a mission to rescue a kidnapped 11 year old boy named Wi’am) to hilarious (the description of shitting his pants during that unexpectedly long mission). The IDF soldier’s story of losing his brother Marines (because he did, in effect, become one of them) to a pair of IEDs, that he barely survived, was heart-wrenching, and he could not even complete that part of his War Story as it was still, after all this time, too painful for him. The stories of embedding in Afghan villages told by the major and one of the enlisted soldiers were hilariously different, as the officer talked about the positives and how he was proud of what he did, and the enlisted man discussed his boredom and the immature (his word, not mine) activities that took place during these missions. After each story, though, I felt like I, as someone who has never served in the military, had a better sense of what these men and women go through and experience, and I had a really great time. If you get the opportunity to attend one of these events, do so; it is a really, really fantastic opportunity. A lot of the money that GORUCK makes, through donations, sales, and event fees, goes to charities that work with veterans and military personnel.