Can you teach old friends new tricks the answer, apparently, is yes. C.C. and I have been friends for a while now, actually he was one of our first and earliest supporters which was all the more interesting because he never did an event. I bothered him about it a while back and he said no thanks in a way that you say no thanks when you’re the nicest guy anyone has ever met, which he is.

But eventually I said we’ll get him, eventually.

C.C. has a background in story-telling, and years ago he sent me a note about how much he loved Java (a sure way to my heart), and that he wanted to interview him for his show, Passion Hit TV. And I could come, too. The piece is above, shot in NYC after we met face to face over Shake Shack burgers and fries. It’s a lot longer than a commercial and a lot more in depth and I never would have thought anyone wanted to hear it. But over the years countless people told me they watched it and somehow GORUCK made a lot more sense to them for all my ramblings. We didn’t pay C.C. a dime for his time, he just wanted to cover the story and when you’re young you don’t say no to free publicity even though most has very little staying power like C.C’s has.

He even took what became a favorite shot of mine (above), the one that got turned into the Java Is My Homeboy t-shirt, the logo for which will become the Java Forever logo.

So when it came time to do some more pieces ‘About GORUCK’ and our origins before we forget them ha ha, he was the obvious choice. The lesson lest all my rambling seem merely gratuitous praise for a friend, is that good things happen when you put your heart into something first and don’t ask for anything in return. I say this for myself as much as for any and everyone out there as it’s easy to get in our little worlds and stay there wondering what others can do for us or what we can do on our own.

But C.C. is far from perfect and still had a lot to learn insert that huge laugh of his as he reads this because I’m convinced you can’t fully understand Florida without flip-flops on and you can’t understand GORUCK without doing an Event.

After telling me he didn’t like flip-flops or hadn’t worn them in a decade or whatever it’s the same thing finally we were good on the flip-flop front he’s an evangelist for them now and check out C.C’s post on why he’s started rucking and explanation in the video and some behind the scenes from his first trip here, including lots of Monster.

C.C. Chapman lives in the greater Boston area and will be at the November 1 GORUCK Light in Boston. Link here in case you wanna show up and hang out with him under a ruck, GORUCK style. Next time he comes to Florida, he’ll have a patch AND flip flops on and no doubt a million more stories to help us tell. The ones he’s working on currently will be out this year.