Sunday, January 23, 2005
Notes on humping....
Humping can be fun. Remember Franklin street on Halloween Katie? That was a lot of fun. It seems, however, that the Marine Corps can take the fun out of anything. Every time I hump now my shoulders hurt, my head hurts, my feet hurt, I get bruises and abrasions on my back, and I wind up drenched in sweat. And we never hump anywhere fun anymore, it's always in the woods or on the side of a road. This kind of think might make a man write off humping altogether, if he didn't enjoy a little pain in his humping.
Now that you are completely horrified, by humping I am referring to a hike with a load on your back. We call it humping, probably because when you hike, you lean forward, causing you to appear to have a hump on your back. And no worries, Katie's mom, I was referencing a piggy back ride down Franklin which we actually have many pics of, you should see them.
All last week, we humped a little over two miles to the range in the morning and the same distance back to the barracks in the evening. We carried an ever increasing load, culminating in our load out for the overnight stay beginning on Wednesday morning and ending on Thursday night. I have never carried so much weight in my life. One of our female lieutenants, Greco, weighed her load and it totaled 95lbs. She stands 5'1" and weighs 110lbs. Several of the smaller females were having trouble standing up straight, if they did the would fall over backwards, which Genetti did several times in our hallway. Our load included our helmet, flack jacket, full FLC (vest which carries our magazines, canteens, etc), rifle, and one mother of a backpack. It's pretty high speed, it can carry a lot of stuff. That can be a bad thing.
Our hikes are pretty fast, depending on our load. With the full 95lb load out we were averaging 3 to 3.5MPH. Doesn't sound very fast, but it can be brutal when you are going up and down these Quantico hills and haven't had a good night's sleep in several days. On the days we only had a 50-55lb load, we were covering that 2.25mi to the range between 26 and 28 minutes every day which would be a little over 5mph. Now that's hauling ass.
When you hump you move in an almost power walk like fashion, because the last thing you want is to start running. Running will cause your load to bounce, crashing down on your back every time your feet touch the ground. You won't make it long that way. It is difficult if you are in the back of the company because of the dreaded accordion effect.
Think of the way cars take off from a stop light. The first guy takes off, then the next guy wakes up and takes off, so on and so forth. Instead of all of you taking off at the same time at the same speed, a gap forms between the cars. Good thing in driving, bad thing in humping. In a company of 250 lieutenants, the line is pretty long. We split into two lines on each side of the road when the trail is wide enough, but there are inevitable choke points which cause the line to slow down. Once the lead platoon gets through, they resume their original pace, but the next platoon has not yet made it through. A small gap opens up. The second platoon quickens its pace to catch up, opening a bigger gap behind them. The third platoon quickens its pace more, opening an even larger gap. By the time the sixth platoon in line gets through the choke point, they really have to haul ass to catch up to the company. One day that our platoon was in the rear, we hauled ass all the way up Cardiac Hill and probably another 50 meters past the crest of it before we caught up to the company.
Choke points aren't the only source of the accordion effect though, slow lieutenants are the most common cause. A struggling lieutenant will slow down for a moment, opening up a gap in front of them. In a hump, you never want to be out of arm's reach from the pack in front of you. Well, this lieutenant falls back, but then brings up a bust of energy and runs to catch up. Everyone hates this. The accordion effect ripples through the company and the poor bastard in the back is off to the races again.
The antithesis of the accordion effect, which is a lot more comical but still irritating, is the crashing halt. You mostly hump with your head down, watching the ground for holes and uneven terrain (twisting an ankle at speed with 95lbs on your back is a good way to wind up in sick bay) so you don't see the company come to a halt in front of you. The first thing you notice is the pack in front of you getting really close really quickly. With this added weight, you can't stop so you crash into the guy in front of you. The guy behind you crashes into you and so it goes down the line. It's a good thing civilians don't get to see this, they might lose some respect for us. ;)
The mood on a hump often follows the same path. Before it starts, everyone is nervous. "Can I make it?" is the usual worry. No one wants to fall out, wind up "on the truck." It's demeaning and a bad mark in your record. Once you make it to the operating forces, lieutenants are not allowed to fall out of humps. If you do, you will likely lose your command. Once we start humping, everyone starts to feel good. The pace is usually not as bad as we had all feared and everyone feels good. There is usually talking and a little joking. On Thursday, I discussed which car I should buy with Venechuck and Fond, who were behind me.
After a few hours, the mood begins to sour as the pain sets in and the flack jacket starts to restrict your breathing. Everyone stops talking and tempers get short. You start thinking really evil thoughts about what you are going to do to that motherfucker up front who can't keep pace and is causing you to have to run. You curse the asshole behind you who keeps kicking your heels because he's too close to you and out of step. Most of all, you just want this fucking hump to be over and you think about what you are going to do when it's over. If it's a hump home it's thoughts of a shower and good chow. If it's a hump out to the field, the only thing you think about is dropping that fucking pack.
Our staff platoon commander, Capt. Sullivan, after an incident with our platoon singing a particularly nasty cadence in earshot of the CO's office, told us one day: "Marines don't chant, we just hump and bitch about humping."
Now that you are completely horrified, by humping I am referring to a hike with a load on your back. We call it humping, probably because when you hike, you lean forward, causing you to appear to have a hump on your back. And no worries, Katie's mom, I was referencing a piggy back ride down Franklin which we actually have many pics of, you should see them.
All last week, we humped a little over two miles to the range in the morning and the same distance back to the barracks in the evening. We carried an ever increasing load, culminating in our load out for the overnight stay beginning on Wednesday morning and ending on Thursday night. I have never carried so much weight in my life. One of our female lieutenants, Greco, weighed her load and it totaled 95lbs. She stands 5'1" and weighs 110lbs. Several of the smaller females were having trouble standing up straight, if they did the would fall over backwards, which Genetti did several times in our hallway. Our load included our helmet, flack jacket, full FLC (vest which carries our magazines, canteens, etc), rifle, and one mother of a backpack. It's pretty high speed, it can carry a lot of stuff. That can be a bad thing.
Our hikes are pretty fast, depending on our load. With the full 95lb load out we were averaging 3 to 3.5MPH. Doesn't sound very fast, but it can be brutal when you are going up and down these Quantico hills and haven't had a good night's sleep in several days. On the days we only had a 50-55lb load, we were covering that 2.25mi to the range between 26 and 28 minutes every day which would be a little over 5mph. Now that's hauling ass.
When you hump you move in an almost power walk like fashion, because the last thing you want is to start running. Running will cause your load to bounce, crashing down on your back every time your feet touch the ground. You won't make it long that way. It is difficult if you are in the back of the company because of the dreaded accordion effect.
Think of the way cars take off from a stop light. The first guy takes off, then the next guy wakes up and takes off, so on and so forth. Instead of all of you taking off at the same time at the same speed, a gap forms between the cars. Good thing in driving, bad thing in humping. In a company of 250 lieutenants, the line is pretty long. We split into two lines on each side of the road when the trail is wide enough, but there are inevitable choke points which cause the line to slow down. Once the lead platoon gets through, they resume their original pace, but the next platoon has not yet made it through. A small gap opens up. The second platoon quickens its pace to catch up, opening a bigger gap behind them. The third platoon quickens its pace more, opening an even larger gap. By the time the sixth platoon in line gets through the choke point, they really have to haul ass to catch up to the company. One day that our platoon was in the rear, we hauled ass all the way up Cardiac Hill and probably another 50 meters past the crest of it before we caught up to the company.
Choke points aren't the only source of the accordion effect though, slow lieutenants are the most common cause. A struggling lieutenant will slow down for a moment, opening up a gap in front of them. In a hump, you never want to be out of arm's reach from the pack in front of you. Well, this lieutenant falls back, but then brings up a bust of energy and runs to catch up. Everyone hates this. The accordion effect ripples through the company and the poor bastard in the back is off to the races again.
The antithesis of the accordion effect, which is a lot more comical but still irritating, is the crashing halt. You mostly hump with your head down, watching the ground for holes and uneven terrain (twisting an ankle at speed with 95lbs on your back is a good way to wind up in sick bay) so you don't see the company come to a halt in front of you. The first thing you notice is the pack in front of you getting really close really quickly. With this added weight, you can't stop so you crash into the guy in front of you. The guy behind you crashes into you and so it goes down the line. It's a good thing civilians don't get to see this, they might lose some respect for us. ;)
The mood on a hump often follows the same path. Before it starts, everyone is nervous. "Can I make it?" is the usual worry. No one wants to fall out, wind up "on the truck." It's demeaning and a bad mark in your record. Once you make it to the operating forces, lieutenants are not allowed to fall out of humps. If you do, you will likely lose your command. Once we start humping, everyone starts to feel good. The pace is usually not as bad as we had all feared and everyone feels good. There is usually talking and a little joking. On Thursday, I discussed which car I should buy with Venechuck and Fond, who were behind me.
After a few hours, the mood begins to sour as the pain sets in and the flack jacket starts to restrict your breathing. Everyone stops talking and tempers get short. You start thinking really evil thoughts about what you are going to do to that motherfucker up front who can't keep pace and is causing you to have to run. You curse the asshole behind you who keeps kicking your heels because he's too close to you and out of step. Most of all, you just want this fucking hump to be over and you think about what you are going to do when it's over. If it's a hump home it's thoughts of a shower and good chow. If it's a hump out to the field, the only thing you think about is dropping that fucking pack.
Our staff platoon commander, Capt. Sullivan, after an incident with our platoon singing a particularly nasty cadence in earshot of the CO's office, told us one day: "Marines don't chant, we just hump and bitch about humping."
// posted by Josh @ 1/23/2005 09:12:00 PM 
