The second part of training camp that made a big impact on me was the bond that was formed between the men on my squad. There were only 15 of us men with about 45 women, so you can imagine we needed to rely heavily on one another. However, the bond we formed in only a week is indescribable. The first night there, the 15 of us meet and within minutes we were pouring out hearts out to one another like we were life long friends.
On one day the men in the squads were sent to Currahee Mountain. This mountain is made famous in the movie Band of Brothers, where the WWII U.S. paratroopers would train. The men of my squad were told me had one hour to make the 3 mile journey to the 1,735-foot summit. The catch was that three of the 16 of us had to be blindfolded and at all times 3 people had to be carried (eventually we got to the point where 6 people had to be carried at all times). This was one of the most humbling experiences of my life teaching me that I needed to rely on others in order to overcome some obstacles. After getting to the summit in a little over 40 minutes, and we talked about the experience and jogged back down the mountain shouting military cadences and enjoying each other’s company. We went up that mountain as men from L squad but returned as brothers in Christ. I cannot wait to spend a month with all of these guys doing ministry during “MANistry” month.
