“March or Die”

[Evan Lacer]

This is oriented towards soldiers, but some of the advice is transferable to Camino walking.

A Basic Guide To Military-Style Movement on Foot

 

[RJM]

Long distance marches (humps) certainly do keep one in shape.
I remember quite often being exhausted, thirsty and doing my best to not be the one catching hell from a non empathetic platoon sergeant or squad leader lol.
I'm not a smoker, but I remember being amazed at how many guys lit up a smoke when we would take a break.

 

[Petsu]

Long distance marches (humps) certainly do keep one in shape.
I remember quite often being exhausted, thirsty and doing my best to not be the one catching hell from a non empathetic platoon sergeant or squad leader lol.
I'm not a smoker, but I remember being amazed at how many guys lit up a smoke when we would take a break.

In the Finnish army the length of the brakebwas measured by 'one cigarret'. Well, propably no anymore .

 

[mikebet]

Makes me want to tell a war story (LOL). At basic training (1967, Ft. Dix, NJ) my company had to march out to the rifle range every day for two weeks or so, about an hour's fast march. It was done with full pack, gear and weapon -- the old M-14 was pretty heavy -- and at a militarily brisk pace. A lot of guys had trouble keeping up. But one day our baby-faced 2nd lieutenant decided to show the troops what a real soldier he was and lead the column. He carried no pack, no weapon, or even a canteen. Of course he set off on a blistering pace, but since I was not going to let the little twerp show me up I stayed right behind him as the column of exhausted troops stretched out. I'm glad I stayed with him, because at one point our crusty old first sergeant pulled up alongside in his car, surveyed the now-decimated formation and angrily yelled out the window, "Lieutenant, what the hell are you doing?" I learned something about the actual chain of command that day.

 

[Petsu]

Makes me want to tell a war story (LOL). At basic training (1967, Ft. Dix, NJ) my company had to march out to the rifle range every day for two weeks or so, about an hour's fast march. It was done with full pack, gear and weapon -- the old M-14 was pretty heavy -- and at a militarily brisk pace. A lot of guys had trouble keeping up. But one day our baby-faced 2nd lieutenant decided to show the troops what a real soldier he was and lead the column. He carried no pack, no weapon, or even a canteen. Of course he set off on a blistering pace, but since I was not going to let the little twerp show me up I stayed right behind him as the column of exhausted troops stretched out. I'm glad I stayed with him, because at one point our crusty old first sergeant pulled up alongside in his car, surveyed the now-decimated formation and angrily yelled out the window, "Lieutenant, what the hell are you doing?" I learned something about the actual chain of command that day.

After my reserve officer course I stayed with three others as a trainer for the next course. In that time there was several weeks between the courses.
One morning I had the task to take the students for a run. During the weeks inbetween I had done no sports whatsoever, so after a few hundred meters my chin and calves got totally stuck, so "Ok, boys, lets do some streching" . Then we continued, but my running was very painfull, so after a couple of hundred meters I called a stop again, instructed the students the route they should take, gave them a free pace to do it and walked slowly, slowly to the barracs.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

In boot camp we would have a morning mile run in formation. I hated it. Too damn slow and not far enough.

 

[Canada Wanders]

I am getting flashbacks from this post!

 

[Evan Lacer]

At basic training (1967, Ft. Dix, NJ) my company had to march out to the rifle range every day for two weeks or so, about an hour's fast march. It was done with full pack, gear and weapon -- the old M-14 was pretty heavy -- and at a militarily brisk pace. A lot of guys had trouble keeping up. But one day our baby-faced 2nd lieutenant decided to show the troops what a real soldier he was and lead the column. He carried no pack, no weapon, or even a canteen. Of course he set off on a blistering pace, but since I was not going to let the little twerp show me up I stayed right behind him as the column of exhausted troops stretched out.

Reminds me of the following passage from Tony Herbert’s book Soldier (1973), discussing the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment during the 1960’s:

The training exercises were increasing in number and intensity, and one afternoon, while I was leading a company on an exercise whose objective was to reach a road we had named “the probable line of demarcation,” I was having so much trouble that I began to move them at a slow walk and teach as we went. The radio operator interrupted me with a call from Golden Knight – General York. “He wants to know when you reach the road,” he said. “Tell him not for about another two hours,” I answered. But General York, for some reason or another, wanted my company to get to that road immediately as part of the training exercise. “Okay sir,” I said. I turned to the men and told them to strip their packs and run to the road, which they did.

General York was pleased. He was smiling. “See, Tony, you’re such a hard-ass you didn’t think these men could do it,” he said, glancing around my puffing company.

“Well, sir, if you’ll look around, you’ll see that they’re unarmed and completely stripped of equipment,” I said.

Somehow he found it merely a curious sight. He had interrupted a training exercise and given an order that made no sense – and now he thought it was funny.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Marching doesn't require top-level athletic condition, just regular fitness gets you far. In practical terms, you can assume that a 20-30 km (12.5-18.5 mi) with a 10-15 kg (22-33 lbs) load can be completed by a healthy person in 4-6 hours without being a sore noodle afterwards

That's 5K/hour nonstop.

Sure, when I was young, I could manage 6K/hour or higher with no need for rest before some hours had passed, but the only meaningful mitigation in the above is the limitation to "4-6 hours".

Marching is certainly not an equipment-sport

Anyone saying this with regard to footwear and with a straight face deserves some sort of acting accolade.

The socks should ... have flat seams

erm, no, they should have no seams at all, except at the very edges of your toes.

When socks are worn as layers, friction is soaked up by each sock to prevent the skin from blisters and chafing

With my own feet, that sounds like a recipe to ensure blistering.

As to the equipment photo, a lot of it looks good, but :

Rubbish hat
Bad synthetic raincoat
No inflatable mattress -- significant risk of exposure and loss of body heat

• 4-6 beers (cans weigh less than bottles)

This OTOH is BRILLIANT advice !!

 

[RJM]

That's 5K/hour nonstop.

Sure, when I was young, I could manage 6K/hour or higher with no need for rest before some hours had passed, but the only meaningful mitigation in the above is the limitation to "4-6 hours".

Anyone saying this with regard to footwear and with a straight face deserves some sort of acting accolade.

erm, no, they should have no seams at all, except at the very edges of your toes.

With my own feet, that sounds like a recipe to ensure blistering.

As to the equipment photo, a lot of it looks good, but :

Rubbish hat
Bad synthetic raincoat
No inflatable mattress -- significant risk of exposure and loss of body heat

This OTOH is BRILLIANT advice !!

Absolutely!
When I was in college I did occasional weekend wilderness backpacking trips with friends. We never weighed packs or gave a great deal of attention trying to keep them light. We'd go in perhaps 20 km's, find a place to camp overnight and repeat once or twice more circling back to the trailhead, depending on how much time we had. We would always freeze beer in cans and carry 2-3 apiece to drink on the first night. Smash down the aluminum can flat when done and carried them out. Thin, lightweight discs lol.
Looking back in retrospect we should have carried more water, but back then hydration just wasn't pushed like it is these days. We also wore cotton denim blue jeans, heavy leather lug soled boots and cotton flannel shirts and t-shirts, and no trekking poles or water bladders! Good heavens! lol

 

[henrythedog]

In my youth I graduated from Sandhurst, but went down a route which is about as far from infantry as it could be. My colleagues who went the other way are all sporting replacement hips and knees. What you can do when you’re young isn’t necessarily what you should have done when you’re old. I didn’t read the link as the opening picture shows someone who could never deploy with a beard like that.

I’m not sure if ‘bollocks’ is permitted on here; but there’s a lot of ‘cojones’ to be found on the internet.

 

[JabbaPapa]

We also wore cotton denim blue jeans, heavy leather lug soled boots and cotton flannel shirts and t-shirts, and no trekking poles or water bladders! Good heavens! lol

That's a near enough description of my normal pilgrim kit.

Though my army boots have rubber soles ; no trekking poles but a hiking staff ; and I have a great big black pilgrim cape.

 

[RJM]

That's a near enough description of my normal pilgrim kit.

Though my army boots have rubber soles ; no trekking poles but a hiking staff ; and I have a great big black pilgrim cape.

Oh my heavens. The gear geeks will tell you it's impossible to walk the Camino equipped like that, despite your walking the Camino equipped like that.