After Action Review - Milton Memorial Tough - Frankfurt 2024

Introduction

A month ago, I attended the Milton Memorial Event in Frankfurt. Entirely organized by Kris from the MRC. It was… challenging.

Physically and mentally.

The challenge, the unpreparedness, and the physical strain

I’m not gonna’ sugarcoat it. The event was Horrible. Terrible. There is no way around it; I absolutely hated it. And that’s funny as hell. That’s funny because that’s on me. Me saying the event was like that is just me saying that I was not ready (even if I hoped and tried to be).

I was not prepared. Mentally. Physically. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have signed up. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have gone if I knew what I know now. Nothing could have stopped me from neither signing up nor attending. I knew it would be tough.

I knew it would be so-fkin-hard after not doing events for 8 years. Hell, I didn’t even exercise regularly throughout all those years. Still, I thought rucking for the past two months would be enough. It was.

But only for my feet. Let’s read that again. I thought… that rucking (and not doing squats, lunges, burpees) for the past two months would have been enough.

I realized how absolutely wrong (dumb) thinking that was already during the welcome party. Even that early on, my quads were burning. Even worse, my quads were constantly, after the welcome party, giving off that feeling of being about-to-blow-up bad. It’s a bad feeling to have. It’s a worrying feeling. It’s a really bad feeling to have for 7-8-9-10 hours. At the end of it, the last hour in particular, I was flagging SO-BAD, you wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. The whole left side of my body was dragging me down and making me walk diagonally.

In my right shoulder, I was fighting a re-occurring inflammation. My right elbow was going through something bad too (ruh-rohhh). At the very very end of it all, I wasn’t even able to do proper squats (let alone burpees! Nooope). Seriously. Even halfways through, I had to put a brake on my squats (putting your hand on the top of your thigh, creating a barrier stopping you from completing the movement in its entirety).

Training Regrets and Embracing The Pain; Lessons Learned

Obviously, I should have trained better.

• Trained more. Trained. Trained. Trained.
• I should have done squats. Hundreds of squats.
• I should have done lunges. Hundreds of lunges.
• I should have done burpees. Hundreds of burpees.

But I hadn’t done that, so I was suffering. No doubt about it. No way around it.

I have always said I like suffering. Hell, that I love suffering. I love pain. That’s still true. The only way I can explain why is … I find it to be grounding. Connecting me to the here and to the now. But oh-my-God, I hated this (and I say that with a grin)!

Anyway, that’s the After-Action Review for my own PERFORMANCE. Let me give you the AAR for the EVENT.

Event Organisation and Physical Demands

The event was great. It really was … Great.

Kris, the leader of Munich Rucking Crew (MRC), who is also the backbone (as well as the legs and the brain and the whole skeleton) of all things GORUCK Europe, was the one organizing the event. The one who planned the event. The one who not just put all the pieces together, but the one who painted the picture to be put together, and the one who cut the pieces to be put together to begin with. It was a worthy Memorial Event. Absolutely. Physical-wise, I think the welcome party in particular managed to actually live on the balancing scare, so to speak. You know how if something is too hard, too fast, too much, people might quit or reduce their performance? It wasn’t like that.

I have done a lot of what Kris does with events and community workouts these days, and I would say I am well versed on what to look for in assessing event, performance, team, individuals - all of it. I am also a deep thinker as anyone can tell you if you ask someone that knows me.

You know how if something is too easy, too short or too little, people might get bored and more than likely not get anything out of it? From my subjective impression, it wasn’t like that at all.

I am convinced that the event managed to live on the threshold of being too physically demanding. Just that it wasn’t. Just how it should be. But only because of how there were people who had never rucked before. Not that I got any idea that those people were as close to quitting as I was, at any point.

Still. An event like this – it is a fluid thing. It is dynamic.

It moves and it changes. It follows the wind, the breeze and the people.

You might be struggling at one part, you might be doing your best performance to the standard at another one, and you might be flowing through easily-like on yet another part.

Let me tell you one thing though. Let me tell you what I saw…

Observations of Individual Strength and Team Effort

I saw Strong People. I saw… Strength, in People.

I am not overselling anything when I say that - regardless of event shape and event demands - I saw people that were hella’ strong.

Hella’ good. Hella’ great.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. …I am not talking about physical strength (even if there was that, and a lot of it too). Anyone can train physical strength.

Physical strength naturally develops and evolves over time. No, I am talking about that… Attitude. Spirit. Mindset. Willingness.

Like experienced surfers on a new wave or just a really good and challenging wave.

They flow. They smile. They do what they can - which is often a lot - when they can.

They volun-tell themselves to go pick up that other person’s ruck. That other person’s sandbag. They volun-tell themselves that it is not good enough to chase the lightest sandbag. That it is not good enough to go chase that flag-carrying just because it’s easier. On the contrary, those things are not good enough when they are still able—able to do more, so much more. You see them move between people and places, like…

You see them change out with someone else when they have been carrying a sandbag for a bit, letting someone else take their share of it all.

Because it’s not about carrying as much as possible as long as possible. It is about team effort. It is about letting others also experience that they do their share of the work being demanded. But these –Strong People?

Those I said that you see move between people and places? Yeah…

if it’s a challenge to get people to volunteer for more carrying, you will probably see them getting back on a sandbag heavier than the one they just got off. Like, only a minute later. Only 30 seconds later. Despite already having carried for 2-5-10 minutes straight.

They’ll be back at it until they’re yelled at. Until they are told to stay the hell off it because some of us not-so-strong people see that too. Even if we are not as strong of a surfer as they obviously are, some of us cannot stand for that.

That skewed effort. That imbalance. –and this is how they inspire,

no… this is how they Push the rest of us to be better too. Because it is better that we, the watchers and the almost-to-be bystanders, get on that sandbag again - because we can, if they can - instead of them picking it all up again. Inspiring others and pushing us to do more by being as grand as they are – that is something special. Something great.

Something beautiful, and I love that part of the event. It improves everything. It is what makes it, makes all of it, better.

So, let me tell you and understand me when I say this:

I saw a lot of Strong People. I saw People that Inspired, and I saw Good People, Grand People, Great People.

I saw future Selection-attendees. I knew beforehand, before even starting the event, that several people attending were training for this year’s Selection. –and you know what?

I actually saw Selection attendees too. I actually saw Selection attendees that were more likely to Finish than not. Again, I’m not judging physical strength.

Instead, I am looking at… The Attitude. The Mindset. The Mettle. The Spirit and how they flow on the waves.

By all that is or could be Holy, there were master surfers in there, even pure natural talent.

A Worthy Tribute to Honor An Amazing Person

I DIGRESS. Let me get back to the AAR for the event. The event was great. It was Worthy.

Milton… Milton would have loved it. Milton would have smiled, he would have laughed, he would have cried, and he would have – he would have loved it. I know he would have. We all know that he would have, because we were there for it. We were there for him. We were there for his son. We were there for his family.

We were there and we were proof of something, someone, being left behind. The most amazing, inspiring, solid, heart-filling, stoic, compassionate, supporting man that we have gotten to know. Fuck. It was all… Worthy.

Goddangit, Kris. You did hella’ good. –and we love you only more for it. For those who attended, for those who take a moment to reflect on it all also afterwards, post-event… A thank-you will never be enough. It will never be enough to me.

Final thoughts and acknowledgements

We rucked to Milton’s places. We got to know his story as different pieces of his life, as told by his son Sam. As told by his friends. As told by his comrades and the people who were fortunate enough to take part in even just a sliver of his golden thread of life.

We got to know his places of significance, where life took turns and steered him towards who he became place by place, experience after experience. Person after person.

He was important to me. He was important to one. I think we all could have said that pre-event. The event though… It told us that… he was important to me. He was important to one. … and he was important to Others. To More Than One. To More Than Me. … and it was so, so, so good to see and to hear.

May you sit at Harambe’s table and may you laugh your butt off at life for ever and ever on.

I loved you, Milton. We all loved you. Kris, I only love you more for this. This was not a small thing. This opportunity. This experience. This thing worthy of history books in our community, this part of my own Book of Life.

Summary

In this After-Action Review of the Milton Memorial Tough in Frankfurt, I share my honest and raw experience of an event that was both emotionally significant and (for me) physically exhausting. With months of (limited) preparation, the challenge was tougher than I anticipated, revealing my own physical and mental limits after being away from events (and regular training) for 8 years.

Organized by Kris from the Munich Rucking Crew, this event wasn’t just about endurance; it was a heartfelt tribute to Milton. The true impact of the event came from the shared stories and the camaraderie among participants, all united in honouring Milton’s legacy. Read on to find out how this experience tested us all and left a lasting impression.

This article was originally published at Instagram.com.