Hi,
It has been long since I last had one of those Army treks. You start walking at some point and ends in another. Just for the sake of walking. We at least had some urban fighting training after 10km of walking.
In basic training you start slow, and then speed up. First 1km trek, then 3km, 5km, 7km, 12km, 15km, 21km, 36km…. the length of those army treks depends on your corps. For Armor corps the last trek is around 10-20km. For Engineering corps it is around 40-45km. For infantry the last trek ends in 42-70km of walking. Well they are infantry, they are practicing on walking 🙂… Paratroopers brigade used to have 90km trek 😱
The last trek is the Beret Trek, either 10km or 90km you got your Corps Beret at the end of it. Each Corps has a different beret color, in Infantry corps each brigade has a different beret color. I, in Engineering corps, got the grey beret, we refer it as Silver one 😊
The 10 km trek we had yesterday, was really a jump for us. As reserve duty soldiers, it is was OK. Even when were only drafted 5 days ago. The rest were 18 years old soldiers were carrying around 50% of their body weight.
Back in basic training, and as a commander and a Sargent, I was carrying my 6 magazines full of bolts, my water sack, an helmet, and the rest of my fighting gear (no wonder you end up with knee problems). Now days I had my pockets full of water bottles an candies 🍫🍬🍭😋. Just you had in the Israeli TV show Tironot (basic training).
My feet were also a mess. In basic training we got used to everything slowly, including the shoes. Although I have them for some years, I only use it once in a while. That is not good for your feet. After army treks in basic training some had to spend couple of days in flip flops, barely walking. I am not at that point. But still not used to it. 😬
Take care
Gad
Hard to see, but there are two lines of soldiers walking
Maybe here you can see it better – soldiers walking
Yep, guessed right – still walking
My fighting gear ready for an army trek…
My feet at the end of this 10km trek. I still remember my friend telling me that his brother was sent to the hospital after 90km army trek, so they remove the socks from his feet…