Move it! Move it! Move it!

BOOT CAMP CHALLENGE UNLEASHES DRILL INSTRUCTORS ON CIVILIANS

Tanya Mannes STAFF WRITER
September 27, 2009

Mike Szuch, a 51-year-old engineer who keeps in shape by running on his lunch hour, always admired the Marine Corps' reputation for physical discipline.

Yesterday, Szuch got to see how Marines are made, tackling the same obstacle course used by new recruits to one of the world's most elite fighting forces.

He was among an estimated 4,000 people yesterday who braved the eighth annual BootCampChallenge. The event is part of Fleet Week San Diego, which pays tribute to San Diego's military.

"A bunch of guys at work egged me on," said Szuch, who lives in Oceanside. His team of mostly middle-aged men hurdled over logs, struggled through push-ups, crawled under rope nets and ran a three-mile loop around the Marine Corps Recruit Depot -- all in the hot sun -- as 50 menacing drill sergeants barked orders.

Szuch finally made it to the finish line, his gray T-shirt soaked and his knees caked with sand. "I feel great," he said, dabbing his face with a towel. "I'm ready for a shower and a cold beer."

The event is comparable to the 6.2-mile World Famous Mud Run at Camp Pendleton. It gives civilians a taste of the 13-week bootcamp that 19,000 Marines complete at the depot each year.

It attracts triathletes, people from other military branches, yoga moms and desk-bound office workers. Part of the appeal is the intense atmosphere, with the drill instructors terrorizing participants into completing the course.

San Diego resident Tiffani Nielsen said she signed up because she needed a motivational boost. The 29-year-old graphic designer said she misses the coaching she got on her college track and soccer teams.

At the obstacle course, Nielsen scrambled over log barricades as Staff Sgt. Lance Weier stood over her and barked: "Run! Run! Run! Run! Get over the log! Get! Get!"

"I feed off of that," Nielsen said afterward. "I need to be pushed."

Nielsen ended up winning her women's division. "I really liked it!" she said. But she was also thinking about post-challenge refreshments. "I'm going to go have a steak sandwich and some orange juice."

MCRD recreation director Brent Poser, who organizes the event, said it builds community ties in a town important to the Corps. San Diego is one of just two U.S. facilities where recruits are trained to be Marines. The other is Parris Island, S.C.

"We are a vital part of San Diego, so we want people to come in and see what we do in a friendly environment," Poser said.

Szuch said he gained a deeper level of respect for the military: "I'm really proud of the Marines, of what they do."

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE RUN!

Dennis Melendez (center) of Los Angeles was the center of attention for a couple of enthusiastic drill instructors at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot yesterday as he struggled through the obstacle course. Melendez joined about 1,700 others who took part in the Marines' third annual Boot Camp Challenge at MCRD, which gives the public a taste of what recruits into the service go through. The event was part of the annual Fleet Week celebration here.

Earnie Grafton / Union-Tribune
Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

Civilians get some hard-Corps training Three-mile obstacle run held at MCRD

Michael Stetz STAFF WRITER

And how was the run, you ask? The one organized by -- gulp -- Marines. The setting was nothing if not sweet, what with the course winding through the historic and perfectly tailored grounds of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

However, it was the middle part of the BootCampChallenge held yesterday that, well, sucked the very life out of you.

Made you want to crawl off somewhere and cry. Made you want to toss your morning Grape Nuts.

You had to jump knee-high and then chest-high obstacles. You had to crawl and scamper in the dirt -- and never mind the very fashionable and expensive Nike tank top you were sporting.

You had to drop and give them perfect push-ups. You got sprayed with a hose -- twice.

You got to feel what's it's like to be a young, fresh-faced Marine recruit who faces these very obstacles.

All the while, of course, helpful drill instructors shouted things at you such as, "Let's go, let's go, let's go! and: "Walking? Why are you walking? This, for your information, is called a race!"

The drill instructors -- and there were 60 of them throughout the course -- would offer such thoughtful encouragement right in your ear and at considerable decibel levels.

This three-mile obstacle run helped kick off Fleet Week, the annual celebration of the military presence in the area. And, speaking for the 1,800 or so participants in this particular event, this reporter can only say: "Gee, thanks. It was really swell of you guys."

There also was a scheduled parade of Navy ships on San Diego Bay. (I should have gone to the parade.)

Frank Tan, 44, might agree. "It kicked my (rear end)," he said of the course. "I thought they made you jump over some bales of hay and that was about it. It was brutal."

But it was also -- and Tan would agree -- a blast.

Marines from years ago came, to reminisce about the place where they learned to become one of the few, the proud ...

Dennis Montoya, 68, went through recruit training at MCRD 50 years ago, and he itched for the chance to come back and check it out.

Training was tougher back in his day, he said. But this race, now in only its second year, was a great way to turn back the pages.

"It brought back memories," Montoya said. "A lot of tough memories, but fun ones, too."

Mario Ayala, who went to bootcamp at MCRD 20 years ago, came back with his wife and three children. He ran the race and survived -- somehow.

"Bootcamp was easier," he said. "I was in better shape."

Most of the participants were civilians who were lured to the race for a number of reasons, one of them being the chance to see where the famed Marine basic training actually takes place.

You eat the dirt the recruits eat. You sweat where they sweat. You get your knees skinned where they get theirs.

And then, thankfully, you get to go home. The recruits don't have it that easy.

The race drew both men and women. It drew young and old. It drew clean-cut former military types and biker-looking folks.

It was a true melting pot of runners looking to be tested.

And oh, they were. Marines fired people up, asking them before the start of the run to give a "war yell." Who knew they were serious?

They urged everyone to finish, noting that the course was a "mere three miles." And it appeared that every one did, even sailors.

Runners hit the finish line dirt-stained and sweaty. They were smiling and aching. One had a bloody nose.

"I'm too old for this," said Mark Johnson, 52, who ran the race with his daughter, Shea. "But it was fun, challenging."

Shea loved every minute of it. She's 16, though -- bless her.

3,000 grind it out at MCRD challenge 60 drill instructors motivate runners

Elizabeth Fitzsimons STAFF WRITER
October 8, 2006

At the Marine Corps Recruit Depot yesterday morning, a man with a long, gray ponytail ran toward the obstacle course, and into a drill instructor's line of sight.

"HEY, WILLIE NELSON!" the drill instructor screamed. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT, WILLIE NELSOOOOON!"

The ponytailed man ran off, and the screeching abuse rained down on others who followed in the BootCampChallenge. The race gives civilians a taste of a Marine recruit's life, with a three-mile course filled with obstacles and 60 menacing drill instructors to encourage them.

It was the fifth annual running of the event, and the largest crowd yet at 3,000. Runners must pass through trenches, foxholes and tunnels, and crawl under netting.

More than a mile into the race, runners pass through a series of log obstacles, some 5 feet high and others 8 feet.

At a row of 5-foot logs, a woman fell backward, but sprang back up, saying to a nearby drill instructor she thought was concerned, "I'm all right."

"I KNOW YOU'RE ALL RIGHT. I DIDN'T ASK IF YOU WERE ALL RIGHT!"

As runners pawed the logs, searching for something to grip so they could swing a leg over, another drill instructor stood over them.

"LET'S GO! LET'S GO! IT AIN'T FREAKIN' 14 FEET HIGH!"

Each drill instructor is red-faced and sweating through his shirt. Their veins swell, their eyes bulge, their voices go scratchy.

When Gunnery Sgt. Tracy Reddish yells, his whole body vibrates, and he bounces like he's on a pogo stick doing double time.

"WHAT IS THE HOLD-UP OVER HERE?" he screamed to a group floundering on the logs. "TAKE YOUR TIME! YOU'RE JUST SLOWING EVERYONE DOWN!"

The log obstacles behind them, exhausted runners slowed to walk. But not for long.

Staff Sgt. Jesse Saltzman was on them.

"OH, WE'RE NOT WALKING, 253, WE'RE RUNNING!" Saltzman screamed at a woman wearing that number. She looked up in surprise and got going.

All the while, the public-address system blared the classic cadences used by the Marines while marching and running -- among them, "Mama, Mama, can't you see, what the Marine Corps' done for me?"

Bringing up the rear was a group of four women, wives of the drill instructors, and they got extra-special attention.

When Judy Hornsby dropped at a push-up station, drill instructors swarmed over her, shouting over each other.

Jamie Bowens had never heard her husband yell like that.

"His face was red, dripping," Bowens said. "It was kinda scary."

After the race, Lou Briones, 58, of Los Angeles stretched out on the grass, bare-chested and shoes off. He rested his ankle on a bag of ice.

"I landed real hard on my heel," Briones said. "Everyone got some cuts and bruises. There's no way to avoid getting scraped up."

With his time of 23 minutes, 13 seconds, Briones was second in his age group, the same place he took last year. The men who came in first and third were the same guys, too.

For training, Briones ran and did push-ups. He knew what to expect, since he had been a Marine recruit at MCRD in 1966.

"It's a lot harder now," Briones said. "I'm about 40 pounds heavier than I was then."

Amy Crawford, 29, of Murrieta brought her husband and two children to cheer for her at the finish line, which she crossed after about 39 minutes.

"It was a lot harder than I expected," Crawford said.

And there were the drill instructors: "They were not nice."

Crawford was yelled at for not saying "Yes, sir" and for going too slow, she said. But then she got used to it.

"Definitely towards the end, it got me going," she said.

And that's just what the drill instructors like to hear -- when they're not busy screaming at someone, of course.

All that yelling and carrying on can be tiring. But the payoff is huge.

"You dig a little deeper when you know someone is relying on you to accomplish something," Reddish said.

Yesterday, runners got an authentic taste of bootcamp, he said, adding that the only difference with the civilians was that "they don't have to listen to us."