Why I Love GORUCK Light

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_01
People like Rubin who offer up sandy kisses and people like Mark who offer up cheeks are GORUCK’s magicians. They smile and they laugh and they run around with rucks on and they ask who needs carried next and they pull more rabbits I mean friends out of the hat to come and drink beers and smile with a growing GORUCK Nation.

I just saw their latest magic show called GORUCK Light and I’ll tell you it’s their most fun one to date and I can’t remember smiling so much during anything resembling training like I did at Light.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_02
I gave my class the following scenario: All the world needs is peace and love. And our job is to spread the good word, so I hereby appoint you all the Peace and Love Committee. GORUCK Light is no Bed-In for Peace John Lennon Yoko Ono style, instead you’ll be moving all over the Beaches, building rapport and performing random acts of kindness. And since people the world over love sugar cookies, we’ll bring them everywhere to demonstrate love’s powers.

In case you’re new to GORUCK, we baked them ourselves and the recipe is pictured above. Yes, they’re pretty awesome and come highly recommended.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_03

OK, so Light ≠ Easy but it does equal fun. The so-called welcome party of The Challenge is borderline non-existent. They learned to love one another in the Tunnel of Love and we baked a couple sugar cookies and I thanked the class for helping us test the 60lb sandbags and promised them that their mission was vital to the community they were going to be visiting.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_04

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_05

Building rapport starts with police, and with fire. If you’re new in town, any town, or if you’ve been in a town forever, stop in and say thanks. Bring smiles and sugar cookies and they’ll love you for it. This was the first random act of kindness of the Peace and Love Committee.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_06

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_07

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_08

The Peace and Love Committee needed an ambassador to wave and smile and say things like peace and love to all. And then the stars aligned and I found a golden-ish carriage and though we were short an elephant, the class happily carried its ambassador everywhere we went.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_09

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_10

Peace and love to all.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_11

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_12

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_13

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_14

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_15

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_16

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_17

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_18

Kiss kiss wave wave peace peace.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_19

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_20

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_21

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_22

And excuse me but would you mind helping me out. I need some more sugar on my cookie thanks a million have a great day peace and love to all.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_23

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_24

The Tunnel of Love, come one come all.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_25

So above is Stroud’s best side and he was a vital member of the Tunnel of Love and he’s another one of our magicians and you won’t meet a nicer guy. My intro to all things Stroud, including Stroud x Ranger Panties, was at Selection 000, which he finished and he’s been a staple at the Team House since. And this pic is the most fitting introduction I could give him to anyone who doesn’t know him and even more fitting to those who do.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_26

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_27
More Stroud, more peace and love.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_28

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_29
Shadow crews seems to make the world go round at GORUCK. So thanks for coming out and thanks for guarding the Carriage of Love while we were in the Tunnel of Love. Your role was vital.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_30

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_31

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_32
It’s summertime and be safe at the beach and thank your local lifeguards. You can’t buy many of them beers but you sure can present them sugar cookies.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_33

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_34
And if it’s someone’s birthday you can all gather round and sing happy birthday and make the birthday boy blush with just a kiss.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_35

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_36
Speaking of shadowers and magicians, Kovac was back and he’s still training up for Selection. I offered his services to the Peace and Love Committee to help carry 60 lbs of sugar aka sand for the home stretch and he happily obliged. Imagine that. I saw him twitching to get in on Light, smiles and all. But he’s better off for now to just keep ruckin’ and show up ready for Selection. If there is anything more different from Light, it’s Selection. As Jules Winfield said, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same f*@%$%# sport. Wanna suffer, do Selection. Wanna have fun, do Light.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_37

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_38
And the Carriage of Love and the ambassador and the Peace and Love Committe trekked on, building goodwill and inviting all to partake.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_39
And then Stroud needed a turn as ambassador, a natural extension of his role as a GORUCK magician. So I present you his worse side and his waving hand of peace and love. This wouldn’t be so funny if he weren’t such a good bud, of course. Maybe like a lot of you out there, he was skeptical of Light. I’ve done a Challenge and I finished Selection, why would I want to do Light – that kind of deal. And by the end – hell, by an hour in – he was like man Light is where it’s at. It’s all fun, all smiles, and no beat down. We’re lucky to have such friends at GORUCK and when you see Stroud around, give him a kiss from me. You get to pick which side, of course, but you have my vote.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_GORUCK Speedos

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_42

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_43
One final mission with a serious time hack. Light can’t be all fun and games, you know. So we had to buy beers to bribe our way back into a Cadre Team House full of Cadre. It’s not the world’s worst mission, after all, and the Peace and Love Committee accepted it happily.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_44

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_45
And despite rumors floating around, you have to be clean to party at the Team House, so the team locked arms and rinsed off and got ready for the rest of the party and then I heard some laughs over by the Carriage of Love but I didn’t think much of it at first so I chilled with the bathers.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_46

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_47

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_48
And then finally I walked over to find the dude who said hey this is my couch, man, I threw it away this morning. And I was like no it’s not a couch it’s a Carriage of Love and do you wanna go drink some beers with us at the Cadre Team House?

GORUCK Light_Neptune Beach_Cadre Team House

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_50
Java assumed his rock star status, sandbags were emptied and the smiles continued.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_51

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_52

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_53
The descent was inevitable and fast forward 12 hours to waking up on the Team House floor and sending me a text from Georgia about how you tried to take the trash out and thanks and sorry because actually you didn’t. Oh wait, that was Rubin. Love ya, man, and come back anytime.

GORUCK Light_Florida_Fun in the Sun_54
If you are the company you keep, I’ll let the world judge me by the friends I’ve met through GORUCK. But more importantly, we needed more beer and that was maybe the last random act of kindness of the Peace and Love Committee on this day. We had done right by the world and made people smile and love one another and, like I said, all you need is peace and love. And some magicians and some beers and some smiles and and some friends and GORUCK Light has them all and that’s why I love it.

17 comments

  1. Stuart says:

    Looks like fun at the beach. I can only hope the Nasty Recon Light is as much of a blast next weekend!

  2. Ty says:

    I’ve grown to accept there is, at all times and all places, the possibility of hidden product placement for new rucks… you’re sly. But was that a hydration pack?

    Your time, location, repetition and focus may have given it away.

  3. 'Mark Wesley' says:

    Just for the record, I didn’t offer Joshua Rubin any cheek, in fact I had no idea he was puckering up. I was just smiling and rucking on. Good Livin’

  4. jason says:

    Why yes, Ty, that’s a new ruck that houses a bladder. Of course it’s part of our process to send new stuff through our Events, making so-called product placement inevitable. But more importantly, we get the benefit of feedback from the people using new stuff.

    And maybe I’m doing something right if I don’t sneak anything past you?

  5. Ty says:

    @jason – that’s why you guys are the best, and own my wallet. My comment meant nothing but praise..now I hang my head and wait patiently haha.

  6. Chris says:

    “The so-called welcome party of The Challenge is borderline non-existent.” = over an hour welcome party. That’s what it was in Philly.

  7. jason says:

    Chris, let’s focus on the future, man. 🙂 And yeah, when we started Light we thought of it as 1/2 of a Challenge, but we’ve evolved our approach so Light has evolved with it.

  8. Chris says:

    @Jason,

    Certainly wasn’t a complaint! I was seeing stars and loving every second.

    Also, fully agree Sean here.

  9. max baird says:

    @Jason: glad to see the Goruck Speedos made an appearance at the Light. Rubin told me he’d be wearing his…my small contribution to ‘exposing’ goruck to the world

  10. Yami says:

    Inspired by your peace and love challenge!!! Inspired by the photo of Emily doing the Chin Mudra!!! I LOVE IT!
    Namaste!!!!

  11. Bill says:

    Hey Jason

    I plan on doing a Goruck Light but I’m looking for the traditional half-Challenge approach. I hope you stick with your original format; it seems in keeping with the spirit of Goruck 🙂

  12. jason says:

    Hey Bill, every Cadre will be a little different for sure. And I can’t imagine you’ll feel cheated when it’s over, also the spirit of GORUCK to under promise and over deliver. 🙂 back atcha.

  13. Another Chris says:

    When’s the G.I. Joe/Goruck shirts coming out? I want one of those for training for the Challenge.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *