I heard about the Bataan Memorial March sometime back in my last few years of active duty in the Marine Corps, around 1995-6. I remember hearing the words ankle deep sand, uphill, blowing dust, 35 lbs. pack, and pretty much just shutting down the conversation right there. No, not interested, thanks, let me know how it goes. See, we did lots of stuff in the Corps that was hard, but ask pretty much any former Marine you know, and he or she will tell you that we didn’t tend to go looking for things to do that were hard just to do them. Sure, there were a few tweaked individuals out there…but overall, not so much.
I’ve since learned a little more about it. The Bataan Memorial March is a 26.2 mile course through the desert at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range. It is held yearly in the spring, in honor of those who were subjected to the REAL Bataan Death March in the Philippines in World War II. Generally, it is a military competition with teams and individual entrants from military units around the world, including military units from other countries. Germany, Canada and Great Britain are regular entrants, among others. There are also civilian divisions, in which a group of us intend to compete in March of 2010. I use the word “compete” loosely here though, as our agreed upon real goal for 2010 is simply to finish.
The course is recognized as being amongst the most challenging of the marathons out there, as well as one of the most rewarding. A highlight of the event is the presence of many of the remaining survivors of the real Death March, who are flown in yearly to share their stories, cheer on the participants, congratulate those who finish, and to just hang around and be crusty old hero types to help remind us of the efforts and hardships that those who have gone before us have survived.
For some reason though, having run across an article on the Memorial March a few months ago, something has changed. I think it’s the mid-life crisis brewing inside of me, but the thought of accomplishing something physically more challenging than most of what I did while on active duty, 15 years later is somehow appealing. Part of me says that if I can finish this course, then I’m still in the game. So I called some other former Jarheads I’m still in touch with, asked some friends I’ve made since, and suddenly we have a team together for this thing. I guess they have things to prove to themselves too.
So what will follow here in this blog over the coming months will be the adventures of training for this monster in the desert that will finish off with a write-up after the fact of what the actual march was like…provided I don’t die in the desert next spring. My wife wants me to put twitter on my iphone so that I can tweet during rest breaks on the march, if there is service out there. She suggests that it would be great if she and the girls can follow along mile by mile back home while I’m out struggling with rattlesnakes, scorpions, sand, the desert, 35 lbs. on my back and myself. If that works out, I’ll plan to include the transcript of the tweets in the final post so you can witness whatever weirdness transpires.
I’ve since learned a little more about it. The Bataan Memorial March is a 26.2 mile course through the desert at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range. It is held yearly in the spring, in honor of those who were subjected to the REAL Bataan Death March in the Philippines in World War II. Generally, it is a military competition with teams and individual entrants from military units around the world, including military units from other countries. Germany, Canada and Great Britain are regular entrants, among others. There are also civilian divisions, in which a group of us intend to compete in March of 2010. I use the word “compete” loosely here though, as our agreed upon real goal for 2010 is simply to finish.
The course is recognized as being amongst the most challenging of the marathons out there, as well as one of the most rewarding. A highlight of the event is the presence of many of the remaining survivors of the real Death March, who are flown in yearly to share their stories, cheer on the participants, congratulate those who finish, and to just hang around and be crusty old hero types to help remind us of the efforts and hardships that those who have gone before us have survived.
For some reason though, having run across an article on the Memorial March a few months ago, something has changed. I think it’s the mid-life crisis brewing inside of me, but the thought of accomplishing something physically more challenging than most of what I did while on active duty, 15 years later is somehow appealing. Part of me says that if I can finish this course, then I’m still in the game. So I called some other former Jarheads I’m still in touch with, asked some friends I’ve made since, and suddenly we have a team together for this thing. I guess they have things to prove to themselves too.
So what will follow here in this blog over the coming months will be the adventures of training for this monster in the desert that will finish off with a write-up after the fact of what the actual march was like…provided I don’t die in the desert next spring. My wife wants me to put twitter on my iphone so that I can tweet during rest breaks on the march, if there is service out there. She suggests that it would be great if she and the girls can follow along mile by mile back home while I’m out struggling with rattlesnakes, scorpions, sand, the desert, 35 lbs. on my back and myself. If that works out, I’ll plan to include the transcript of the tweets in the final post so you can witness whatever weirdness transpires.
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