Chapter 4: Qualifying

Deciding the events that he was going to use to try to qualify, was an agonizing series of choices. The easiest four were running, some type of exercise, an obstacle course, and unarmed combat. Though Bret was an 'expert' shooter, this was the Marines. Everyone was 'expert' or better. He could do excellent and be in the top five percent and still get a terrible placing depending on the number of participants. He had to be very careful, and realistically evaluate his abilities in each event. So Bret began to make his list.

He decided to take advantage of his years of running, and picked the mile in the short running category since sprinting was not his best running attribute. Then he'd take advantage of his running base by running the 20 mile in the long distance running category. His reasoning was the mile took stamina and he had his best shot at finishing in the top 100 in the mile. The 20 mile was a no brainer to Bret. He was fairly certain there were only 100 runners in the Marines that could compete at 12.5 mile and 20 mile distances. Now a finish in the top 100 in either would be a good score. Divided the 100 into two races and the lowest he should finish should be 50th and he could possibly get a top five. He also reasoned that the 100 runners also knew that the number was small, and would run the shorter of the two races.

The unarmed combat category was also a no brainer, as he could probably compete and dominate in one of the four events. Wrestling, boxing, and Judo were three disciplines that didn't interest him. The remaining discipline of Tae Kwan Do/Karate was the best and what he had spent most of his youth practicing. Bret thought he had a realistic chance at a top five in Tae Kwan Do.

The events in the category of exercise were a toss-up. With the events of sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups, he looked at it as a go either way. He knew he could do over 500 sit-ups but so could a lot of others if they tried. He decided to try the sit-ups. If he got lucky, great ... if not, no loss.

The events of the obstacle courses made for a tough decision. The events were a 2 mile, and a 3.5 mile regular course, a 5 mile orienteering course, in the mountains, and a 4.5 mile steeplechase. Bret felt he could reasonably compete in either regular course but the steeple chase was intriguing. Since most of Bret's running over the years had been through parks, wilderness, and open spaces, the thought of jumping over hurdles didn't intimidate him in the slightest. At 4.5 miles it might be just oddball enough to get him a top 100 finish.

Having just finished boot camp, a lot of the categories he just didn't have any knowledge or experience of, to make up for his disadvantage. Over half of the categories required training he had not received. The only hope Bret had of qualifying, was to take advantage of his physical strengths, and mental acuity.

By elimination, Bret decided he had to take a chance on his shooting skills. The pistol events were the Glock 27 automatic at 15/25 meters standing/kneeling, 25/50 meters standing/kneeling and 50/100 meters kneeling/prone. Hoping that few would try the 50/100 meters kneeling/prone and he could get lucky he selected this. For the rifle the events were with the M-16. The distances were 100/200 meters, 200/300 meters, 300/500 meters. Bret selected the 300/500 meters hoping to get lucky with a small field. The sniper events were with the Barrett M821A, a 50 caliber sniper rifle. The distances were 500/750meter, 750/1000 meters, 1000/1250 meters, 1250/1500 meters, and 1500/1750 meters. Bret decided the 1500/1750 was the best distances for him.

As a last minute decision, Bret decided to try concealed advancement. The events were 1 mile, 1.5 miles, and 2.5 miles. Bret thought the 2.5 miles course sounded like it would be fun.

With his limited training and experience, Bret thought he could only reasonably compete in these 9 events. He projected his scores as follows. Tae Kwan Do a top five, the twenty mile run a top five, the 4.5 mile steeplechase atop 25. The mile run a top 50, sit-ups a top 100 and any of the shooting would be lucky at a top 200. So his best case scenario was about a score of 85 which would get him on a squad, which would be all he could hope for.

Bret's first event was the 20 mile run starting at 6:30 am, on the first day of qualifying. The weather was cool, with a slight overcast and practically no wind. As Bret had hoped, there were only 87 runners signed up. This promised to be a good start to his competition. At the start, Bret began at his normal training pace. At the five mile mark he was in fifteenth place, and was feeling great. At the ten mile mark, Bret had caught three runners, and was running easily. At fifteen miles Bret was fifth, and was feeling strong. He decided to push a little.

At eighteen miles, Bret was now in second, about three hundred yards behind. He was now feeling the pace, for the first time. With one mile left, something happened that had never happened, before! He saw people yelling his name, and cheering him on! Feeling a tremendous surge of energy, he started to run full out. He caught the lead runner with a hundred yards to go. His adrenalin rush carried him the rest of the way to the finish.

To his total amazement, he had a ONE, in his first event! The girls, the twins and the Gunny converged on him to congratulate him on a run well done.

Bret asked Gunny Wilson if he and his wife, would join Bret and the girls for Dinner. After calling Julie, the Gunny agreed and now Bret had to ask the girls. Bret was terrified since he had never asked a girl to go out, let alone three pretty girls at once. Noticing his terror the girls did not laugh but graciously said yes. Never having eaten in a restaurant, Bret asked the Gunny's advice and they all ended up at an Outback Steakhouse.

Totally out of his element Bret had to ask for advice about everything. With the girls assistance he got an ice tea, a salad with ranch dressing, a Blooming Onion for an appetizer, a porterhouse steak medium well with a baked potato with sour cream and butter. The girls, Gunny and his wife had tears in their eyes watching Bret enjoy so many first in his life. Since Bret insisted the twins be included, the two of them sat by their mother giggling and smiling as Bret played with them the whole evening.

Relaxing in the girls' living room, Bret could not stop talking about his experience eating in a restaurant. The wonderful tastes of the food, the adventure of being waited on, and the variety of choices offered on the menu, and the wonder of the deserts. Everyone was amazed the race never was a topic of conversation. As Bret was saying good night, he couldn't thank everyone enough for this truly magnificent day.