6 years ago today, ten of us rucked the first ever Tough Mudder with “backpacks stuffed with bricks,” – because it sounded like fun and I was trying to sell a bag nobody had ever heard of (GR1). As this evolved into the GORUCK Challenge, still it took me a while to believe there were more of us out there who are weird enough to find this kind of thing fun. I mean, it sounds as crazy as your friends’ faces look when you describe to them what this is, lol.

For me, today is GORUCK’s birthday. 6 years ago, ideas about how easy this was gonna be found reality and reality won the first round. Youth is not for the weak. It’s been a bullet train, it’s been chaos and unbeknownst to me it became a struggle for what I wanted to do with my life. These 6 years, I’ve missed so many people I served with, I wish I could have done more.

But.

The weekends came and went and so did all the other days. I’ve reconnected with some awesome guys who became Cadre (like Joel, who I went to war with), and met you all, one by one. And the days have been fun, and rewarding, and I’ve felt like we’ve made a difference – which matters most to me.

This day after one of the craziest weekends on memory (Ruck U 001, Kids Events 001, Bridging the Gap 001, Party # 4 million at HQ), we’re grateful now more than ever for this growing community.

So Happy Birthday to all of us, and here’s to many more!