Assault Course

Fresh out of the chute for the Hellcats, on the first full day of Jacks Valley, they were put on the Assault Course. Holy cow. The baddest of the Jacks Valley courses.  An 11 out of 10 on the Sucktitude meter.

The end of the day on the Assault Course for Graham

But, let’s start by revisiting the course description.

Assault Course (Official Description)

Mission: The Assault Course teaches hand-to-hand combat skills and rifle fighting techniques while allowing basic cadets to practice these elements in controlled scenarios and pugil-stick competitions. The second-half of the course requires basic cadets to demonstrate these skills by completing the pugil-stick competition and negotiating a course of 18 obstacles/stations and demonstrating hand-to-hand and rifle fighting techniques in a controlled, but mentally and physically challenging environment. The course is designed to assess basic cadets' mental and physical stamina and confidence.

Training on hand-to-hand combat skills. 

WebGuy Translation: You run around and hit stuff with your rifle. Then, for the pugil-stick competition, you get padded sticks and a helmet and you smack other basics.

Mom always said no running with scissors, but rifles were OK.

WebGuy Rating (Fun Level Scale 1 - 10) The Assault Course is Negative 50. Pugil-Stick Competition is 8 if you are landing blows, but Negative 8 if you are taking them.         
                

Last one holding the rifle wins. Winner, winner chicken dinner for Graham.

We were able to find thirty-four photos of Graham posted by the WebGuy team of photographers. The most of any day of basic training thus far. And truth be told, I may have been better off emotionally not seeing any! It appears the Hellcats were really taken through the wringer. Graham seems to have fared fine, and we even found a little cheeky photo of him at the end of it all. So, while I’m 100% sure it was probably one of the toughest days of his life, his head remains most assuredly screwed on right.

Note: You can see all the photos of Graham that we found of the Assault Course at this Flickr album. This album is currently sorted from newest to oldest photo. 

Here’s a few additional photos that I believe captured Graham’s day on the Assault Course.

Graham leads the Hellcats onto the set of Apocalypse Now.

Fun core work, with rifles.

Quiet reflection.

Wait a minute. Smiling? You're still smiling?

I really needed to see the personality come out after all that. He's good for another day.