Military Discipline

Old School Discipline

This story is partly based on my own experience and next to that inspired by a few good men i know from Meetfighters. It is about joining a special forces preparation center at my early 40’s with a strict regime of performance and obedience to the rules of discipline and training out of the comfort zone.

It all started when I met Rick, the owner of the special forces preparation center, in the local supermarket. I knew him from the judoteam we joined together in our youth and had not seen him for a long time. I still remembered him running with a backpack when he was at home during his training to become a marine. He was and still is in great shape and told me he had bought a former farmhouse at the edge of the woods near by and about the SF Preparation center he was establishing at that moment. He invited me for a drink at his new residence to catch up later that week.

I met Rick at his farm with a large yard and barn and he told me about his plans to build a gym with rather basic equipment, a large judo mat and a boxing ring in the barn and an obstacle course outdoor, partly in the woods and a couple of bunk bed rooms at the attick He was inspired by a comparable preparation center in the UK where he had been working as a “Sergeant Master” as he called it. I asked Rick if I could sign up for training at his center and he grinsed “You could certainly use some discipline training to get in shape again but participation is not without obligation and you will have to pass the same selection process as all other members” I was curious about the conditions to participate and asked him if he would share them with me. “Not after a test of strength” Rick smiled and invited me to put on a GI and enter the mats lying on the concrete floor in the barn. Old times revived en Rick still enjoyed to make me suffer and exhausted me completely. After a cold shouwer Rick asked me “Are you prepared to start training for at least 10 hours a week? Sure I am I said in an overconfident moment. Rick gave me an envelope and said “Read this regulations of participation en report to me for admission Saturday morning at 06.00 punctual at the entrance of the barn”.

I felt a bit overwhelmed when I drove home and was more than curious about the regulations for participation. Reading them at home I was a bit surprized about the intensive selection process Rick had already mentioned. It included the following rules:
• Training in the local gym 3 times a week on set times for at least a half year.
• Maximum of 3 omitted workouts, only with written prior permission.
• Penalty notes in case of absence, oven with permission.
• Penalty notes for arriving too late at the training.
• Mandatory training in clear white tight cotton shorts.
• Follow the coaches instructions without comments.
• 4-weekly testing and reporting of performance / progression.
• Payment in the form of forced labour on the first Saturday morning of the month.

I had to take a handwritten and signed copy of these regulations with me and hesitated when writing them down and signing but decided to report for admission that Saturday morning as I had promised to Rick.