Note: Originally posted on Small Team Tactics
In this post I will direct you to one of my good friends's post about his experience in the GORUCK Challenge.
Patrick Rhone, of Minimal Mac fame, captured the essence of teamwork in his post The Challenge. Go read the post, but I'll quote some of it here.
After it was all said and done, and she gave me back my jacket, she said that if not for having it she surely would have quit. What she likely does not realize, and what I hope to make clear, is that keeping her from quitting is what got me through. If I had not given her the jacket I might have quit too.
I’ve heard more than a few Cadre in the course of my research about the Challenge tell the teams, "Look at the person to the left of you. Look to the person on the right. This is not about you. It’s about them!"
These words kept running through my head every time I wanted to give up. If I quit, I was not really letting myself down. I was letting down my teammates who I had pledged to be there for. Conversely, if I had quit, in a way I would be telling them they let me down. This idea rang no more true to me than when I gave Ayn my jacket. It was not about me, it was about her.
If you are considering taking the Challenge yourself, this is the biggest lesson I learned and can impart. Please realize that the point of the Challenge is to show you a side of yourself you never thought possible. A side that not only has the mental and physical strength to do it, but also the compassion and sacrifice to give yourself up for others so that they may do the same for you. Because the very essence of teamwork is to help everyone else get the job done knowing and trusting that they are doing the same for everyone else and you. Only then will you see that no one gets through this Challenge (or this life) alone. And this is why we do it.