Below is Colborne's story of Day 2.
Day 2 — A Lot of Water
The alarm went off bright and
early again as we had another session with The Program. This time, we
weren't doing dry-land training. We were working out in the pool at the
University of Massachusetts. Now, don't get me wrong, I love swimming in
the ocean or at the lake, but I wouldn't consider myself a strong
swimmer, so I was nervous. However, after doing our first length across
the pool, I realized some guys were in much worse trouble than I was,
and I guess with the Marines watching us like hawks every second, I was
in no trouble of drowning.
By far, the most challenging part of
Day 2 was treading water while wearing sweatshirts! Now, it was very
much our own fault that we kept screwing up and having to restart, but
treading water (with breaks every time we messed up) for what I think
ended up being an hour and 15 minutes is enough to drain you a bit. I
must say, a special thanks goes out to Tommy Cross and some of
the other strong swimmers who really helped a few of us weaker swimmers
out. I certainly won't forget that and I don't think the others will
either.
Having completed The Program, I can now look back and
understand how much of an impression it left on me and the other guys as
well. Despite having a few choice words for our instructors in mind
throughout the entire process (of course never spoken in fear of having
to do more push-ups, flutter kicks or mountain climbers), I think we all
found out a lot about ourselves and our resolve to not quit, no matter
how challenging it was.
It was great to get on the ice finally in
the afternoon, but I believe the pace of the ice was quite slow due to
our previous exertion. Also, the nerves and rust from not skating much
was pretty apparent by some of the passes and plays that were being made
(or not made) out there.
Once again, it was an early dinner and
early night to bed for everyone.
On Wednesday, Colborne will share his experience of being a "super vet" and demonstrating drills for his teammates.
