March 19, 2021 • 37 mins
In this episode of Under The Log we talk with Corey Parsons about completing the 2021 GORUCK Battle of the Bulge Tough in Columbus. This was Corey's first GORUCK Tough and he shares his thoughts on what it was like to do a Tough with absolutely no training. Like, none.
You can grab one of those free GOURCK Training Guides at https://ruck.training Hey, Corey, check out the Heavy Training Guide ;)
If you're feeling inspired to do a GORUCK event, you can find upcoming events right here.
The Under The Log Podcast is part of The Rucking Collective, a collection of websites devoted to the sport of rucking.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Burns (00:12):
What's up gang.
Welcome to this episode of UnderThe Log podcast where we talk to
men and women that recentlycompleted GORUCK. Today we're
talking to Cory Parsons abouthis very first GORUCK event, the
Battle of the Bulge tough up inColumbus and among other things,
we're gonna talk about Corey'straining, which involved going
on to rocks and his nutritionplan, which involves Burger
(00:33):
King, Wendy's and McDonald's.
Yep, it's awesome.
Before we get to our interview,we wanted to share some advice
that we thought could haveseriously helped out Cory. And
that's the visit ruck dottraining. On the website, we
(00:55):
offer free training guides forpeople wanting to do a GORUCK
heavy tough for light. Nowbasic. These guides are great to
use as written or can bemodified to meet your personal
training needs. Check them outat ruck dot training, or check
out the link in our show notes.
With that, let's catch up withCorey.
(01:23):
All right, hey, Cory, man,Thanks a ton for coming on the
podcast. You know, we're gonnabe talking today about your
recent GORUCK Battle of theBulge tough up there in
Columbus. But when I wasemailing you, I noticed that the
email account that you're usingwas connected to rogue tree
solutions.com. And so of course,you know, I grabbed the URL
(01:46):
popped over there to check itout. And I've got to say, Man,
like the promo video for yourcompany pretty much got me so
fired up. Like I was ready to gograb a chainsaw, like climate
tree, cut it down. But you know,you're you're a little too far
away to come down and cut downsome trees for me. But before we
get to talking about GORUCK andall that stuff, man, tell tell
(02:07):
us a little bit about yourself.
Corey Parsons (02:09):
Yeah, so first off, Ryan, I appreciate you
having me on. These littlethings are kind of cool. And I
enjoy them. So I appreciatethat. Yeah, so I'm, I'm 32. You
know, kind of background on thewhole go rock and that type of
workout and mindset. It's allvery new to me. My oldest
(02:32):
brother. He's pretty into it. Hedoes it quite a bit. He actually
He's my sales manager. He was inthe military. You know, he got
out. started working for me. Andhim and my director of
operations. That's, you know,every week in the ruck and it
turned into news, a lot of a lotof playful banter between us
(02:56):
going back and forth. And that'skind of what got me into it into
the go rockin community, I guessyou say so. But yeah, we, we
have some fun, man, we have atree company, a rogue tree
solutions. That's kind of whatstarted, you know, my
entrepreneurship. Since turnedinto we've got three other
(03:20):
businesses. You know, one's acorporate landscape company that
we pushed mainstream propertymanagement for large
corporations. So we have thatand we have an investment
company that holds commercialreal estate. And we do
commercial leasing to other likebusinesses, and you know, we got
(03:41):
an ambulance company, a couplesmall manufacturing company
stuff like that, that we Weleased to. So, yeah, it's it's
busy man, I've got a got threekids and I've got three
businesses. So it's, it's a lot.
Um, yeah. As far as you know,the mindset of Rocky man at
something I just wanted to touchon. Yeah, it's, it's very
(04:03):
unique. I was never into sportsa whole lot. Obviously, I've
always been very active outside.
You see in the promotionalvideos, it's a very physical
demanding job. But over thelast, you know, the last two to
three years, I've honestly, I'vekind of lost the physical
(04:25):
aspect. You know, my, my day today operations now is it's a
mental game. I run thebusinesses coordinate with our
commercial clients. So it's alot of meetings and behind the
computer for me at this point,
Ryan Burns (04:40):
not as much actually getting up in the trees, huh?
Corey Parsons (04:44):
Yeah, I actually I haven't, I haven't been in a
tree for it's been probably overtwo years at this point. And
mentally that's tough becausethat's, that's what I mean. I'm
through and through a tree guyas much as I am a business guy
and I feel Enjoy tree work. So,you know, Dustin and Austin, my
(05:07):
two employees that that's, youknow, pretty into rock and
actually recently just they'retrying to launch a local ruck in
Wayne County ruck ruck. I'msorry, Wayne County. ruckwod.
Oh, nice. Yeah. So they'retrying to get people more
involved. And so they go everyweekend, and it got to the
point, they're like, Man, youknow, this probably isn't for
(05:28):
you. You can't I don't I don'tknow if you're quite built for
this. And I know just a lot, alot of banter going back and
forth. Like I said, I, I don'treally do a whole lot of cardio,
I've had a little bit more of apowerlifting type routine, I
guess you'd call it. Um, overthe last 10 years, that's
basically the form of liftingI've done is is more of a
(05:50):
strength training. So it wastough. I went rucking kind of
twice. I think I went two timesbefore the event in Columbus. So
it was a it was it was a battlelet
Ryan Burns (06:08):
me get this straight this. So this battle of the
bulge tough. Was your your veryfirst event?
Corey Parsons (06:14):
Yes, sir. Yeah, actually, but and third time
ever with a run that
Ryan Burns (06:19):
third time ever with a ruck on? And kind of all all
you do typically with training?
Is is like powerlifting. Andthat's it. Correct?
Corey Parsons (06:30):
Yeah. So obviously, I didn't really know
what I was in for. Mentally, I'ma very, I don't know, I call it
tough. Some people would call ittouched. I've got a very I don't
know the way to describe it. Andmentally, I'm good to go. So I
(06:50):
knew I knew that if I was there,and I was looking at, like
people that no matter how badthe pain got in the, you know,
being uncomfortable, like I wasready to enter whatever,
whatever I could for as long asI could until I broke Um, so
that was my mindset going intoit. That's
Ryan Burns (07:09):
that's the right mindset. But man, sometimes
shocking your body like thatyou're gonna have the right
mind, but it can it can mess youup. So like, did your your
brother those guys like? I mean,obviously, you kind of if
they're doing it this regularly,like you kind of know what
they're into. But like, didthey? Did they prepare you at
(07:32):
all? Or they were like, Hey,man, just sign up for this
thing. And we'll see you there.
Corey Parsons (07:35):
So they basically, you know, they talked
about it, they did a coupleevents throughout the summer.
And again, man, it's tough forme, like I said, I have three
kids with the three businesses.
So it's tough for me to committo a weekend train regimen,
that, you know, they rock everyevery Saturday. So that was a
little bit of an issue. Andanother, they've mentioned, they
(08:00):
did a couple basics, and they'relike, Hey, you know, you should
come and it was always thosethings that just never worked
out. Well, then it kind ofbecame a joke. Like, dude, you
always talk about doing one, butyou're never going to do it. So
I finally, you know, they justkept pushing it. And they're
like, well, we're doing thisevent in Columbus. And they're
like, you know, but it'sprobably not for you. This isn't
(08:21):
one you want to do. Well, itfinally they just kept talking.
And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna doit. So it family events have
kind of become a running joke.
Because, you know, Austin, he'spretty close to our family. So,
you know, he'd be there andwe're talking and, you know,
they're talking about all thatcondition. And I'm doing and I'm
(08:41):
sitting there with acheeseburger drinking a beer.
And I'm like, Yeah, no, I'll bethere guys. And it turned into a
running joke. And then, youknow, we get down there. And
then Honestly, it kind of hit meabout an hour before start time.
I'm like, oh, wow, like, I'mhere. To do this, like, Am I
like, am I gonna do this? Sothere was, it was a it was kind
(09:02):
of one of those things, man, Isigned up. I guess it's kind of
like skydiving, like once youget up there. It's now it's go
time. Like there isn't much of achoice at this. Yeah,
Ryan Burns (09:11):
once you jump out of the plane, you're committed,
Corey Parsons (09:13):
you're committed.
Absolutely. So
Ryan Burns (09:15):
so that I'd love to hear about a little bit more
about that. So, you know, yousort of know what you're getting
into. Haven't definitely havenot trained adequately, I'll
just go ahead and tell you thatyou you did not train
adequately. So it's an hourbefore it's starting to dawn on
(09:36):
you. Like you, you roll up.
Like, like talk me through, likerolling up. And and, you know, I
know even as somebody who's donea fair amount of events, like,
just roll call is stressful,like what's going to happen? And
then you know, usually there's awelcome party. I don't know if
y'all had a little welcome partyor not, but like talk me through
(09:56):
like those emotions. Andthoughts and feelings just kind
of like in that right before itstarts into right when it's
like, oh crap, this is this ishappening.
Corey Parsons (10:08):
And I think Ryan To be fair, something leading up
to that point where this was akind of a crucial, crucial thing
to add to this. So with the treecompany, we're a state
contractor. We had a deadline,state job and Youngstown that we
started the week of that go thatgo ruck event. So we got down.
(10:33):
The job was, it was a tough one,a lot of manual. You know, we
have a lot of equipment, butthere's sometimes equipment just
can't get in there. So it's alot of manual work. This
particular job, we had one ofour very vital piece of
equipment go down, and it turnedinto we had X amount of time to
(10:54):
get it done. So the day of theruck event, you know, I'd say
most people probably, you know,relax a little bit, maybe have
some late sleeping. We were youknow, we were up at 5am that
day, we were working on the roadby Daybreak was right around
seven o'clock. And we worked afull 10 hour day. Ain't no
(11:18):
dragon stuff. Yep, and brush,trying to get this job done. So
we get the job done. Weliterally jumped in our
vehicles. And you know, thiswasn't just me, this was Austin
and Dustin. Yeah, jump in ourvehicles and we head down there.
So there wasn't a whole, youknow, there wasn't a whole lot
of time for any of us, of usthree to rest. So it was we
(11:39):
worked a very physical day tothe point where, you know, it's
people that's never done thattype of work. It's hard to
understand the physical aspectof it. But
Ryan Burns (11:49):
yeah, and I'd say not just the physical for you. I
mean, that's that's a lot ofemotional stress. Right. So like
you're putting out trying to getthis thing done by deadlines.
You know, I've, I've had similarexperiences where it's like,
man, I'd love to, I'd love tochill out today. But man, this
is like, this is this is nothingbut stress leading up to
(12:10):
something that's going to bephysically and mentally
stressful. And that, that justturns it that that that just
makes it so much harder. Forsure.
Corey Parsons (12:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then you throw in the coldfactor. So you're outside all
day in the cold. Um, so youknow, I get down there. We're
all pulling into a park ofroses. where's where's the the
event took place? everyone'skind of getting out of their
vehicles. And for me, like, it'sfunny, Obama's snacks guy. Like,
if anything I do I have pocketsfull of snacks. So like, if I'm
(12:41):
hunting it anything that I'm outdoing, I have to have snacks.
I'm I've been like that since Iwas a little kid. So I show up.
And I've got like, No, I've gotthese like gallon freezer bags
full of snacks. And Austin andDustin, they're loving it.
They're like, Dude, what do youlike? What do you think you're
doing? Like guys, like, if I'mgonna do this long of like, this
much endurance of physicalactivity, like, I got to have
(13:04):
some snacks. So that was funny.
Like, I see everyone elsegetting out. And you know,
they've got the gear on, youknow, they, they look to part
and then like, here's me. AndI'm, the whole thing was kind of
comical, um, until the welcomeparty started. And that was a,
(13:24):
you know, it was the main thingright off the rip was, they're
going through everyone's gearand you got to put it back in.
And I'm like, Man, this is, thisis gonna be fun. And it was cold
that night. You know, I think itwas we were right around just
below 20 degrees. So the coldthing wasn't a huge, huge issue
(13:45):
for me. I wasn't too concernedwith it. We're out, you know, I
am outside all the time. So thatwasn't a big issue. But it
definitely definitely played apart into you know, muscle
failure and muscle fatigue. So,the welcome party starts off.
(14:05):
Aaron hand was our Cadre, he wasa very nice guy, very, just very
unique individual to talk to alot of respect for him. But
right off the rip, like hestarts drilling us and you know,
the PT starts. And that'ssomething I just don't do. Like,
I haven't done PT sincewrestling in high school. So
(14:28):
it's, we started doing it, andit's funny like the guys, you
know, anyone that knows him, andthey they like to make fun of me
because I puke almost overeverything. Like, that's me,
man. I'm a puker. So they're,they're, you know, they're all
making bets on that how quicklythe welcome party, I'm gonna
start throwing up I actually Inever threw up once in the
(14:49):
entire event which I would havelost everything I had if I would
have bet against myself. So Iactually i i at one point in the
welcome party, I look over and Isee my brother, he's actually
puking. And that gave me Oh, Ilove that. I loved it. So it was
good, though. So we're sittingthere. And we get done with that
(15:12):
with the the welcome party. Andwe start getting, you know, the
Israeli leaders out. Everyone'skind of divvying up the
sandbags, which there was a lotof stuff that Aaron planned on
us to carry. So which that wassomething I didn't really take
into consideration when thinkingabout doing this event. So I
(15:36):
knew I had my back or my rockon, you know, I think it was
just over 40 pounds with mygear. And I was comfortable with
that, that ptl is like I can getthrough the PT, the mileage I'm
not too concerned about. But theamount of coupons they had to
carry, that was something Inever really took into
consideration. On right off therip. I'm on a four man team of
(16:03):
the width Israeli leader, Ibelieve I'm pronouncing that
correctly, which they had, Iwant to say roughly 240 pounds
of weight on top of that. So westart off, we start off walking
with it. And you know, mentallyI'm good. I'm in the rhythm. And
these guys, you know, we're allkind of starting to get to know
(16:26):
one another, ask them questions.
And at that point in time, Irealized, like, I was definitely
in for a night of her when theother three guys that I'm with,
they're all you know, they'vedone multiple events. They're
talking about the food that theyconsume for the last, you know,
three days leading up to theevent. And they're like, you
know, they're talking to me,they're like, What did you eat
(16:48):
today? And I was like, Yeah, Ihad fast food three times a day.
I woke up at five, I got myMcDonald's breakfast. At noon, I
got Wendy's and on the way down,I had Burger King. And I was
like, dude, I I don't I didn'thave the convenience of sitting
at home. And, you know, inpreparing for this. So that was
at that point in time, I waslike, man, I may be over my
(17:12):
head.
Ryan Burns (17:20):
Yeah, Cory straight that a GORUCK tough with no
training at all. I mean, I gottagive it to him for showing up
and giving us full measure ofeffort. Of course, Cory could
have done himself a solid byvisiting ruck dot training and
grabbing one of those free goruck training guys that are
posted there. You know, he's abusy dude with a family and like
(17:41):
three businesses. So he couldtotally take one of the editable
versions that we provide andmodify it to meet his schedule
and his needs. Well, maybe he'llcheck out our heavy guide. As
for you, I mean, you can dowhatever you want. But if you'd
like to show up to your eventprepared, go ahead and check out
ruck dot training. Alright, I'llsee how Cory story ends up.
(18:10):
Well, it's, it's interesting, Imean, because, you know, there,
there are so many people,especially when you when you do
more and more of these. Theycertainly take like all these
things into consideration. So itbecomes very much like, you
know, like an athlete trainingfor a marathon or something like
that, you know, they, they, theyhave training regimens and
(18:34):
guides to help them figure outhow to prepare and then, you
know, they have taper periodswith their rucking. And, you
know, people are watching theirnutrition, their hydration plans
going in, it's like, you know,it, there's all this going into
it. But, you know, there's alsothose of us who are just like,
Man, you know what, I'm here.
Right? That's all I got. There.
(18:59):
There was nothing. But it issuper fun to hear from you like,
because, you know, I'm surethere there are folks that that
totally just sign up completelyunprepared. And you kind of look
out there and you're like, Oh,hey, you you didn't know what
you're getting into. And so it'salways fun to see those folks
(19:20):
and to come alongside them and,and see them figure it out as
they go. And obviously you madeit You made it to the end so you
figured it out. Like how, like,how much harder was it than you
thought it would be?
Corey Parsons (19:42):
Oh, it was it was one of the hardest mental and
physical pain that I've everhonestly been in. And I am I am
more than comfortable admittingthat. It is the worst part and
again, Lack of conditioning waswas a huge issue for me. We got
(20:04):
to, you know, one point, and wedid the Robbie Miller water. Oh,
yeah. That's, that's that's nota joke of a workout. And it
honestly it gave me a whole newrespect for you know, quote
unquote crossfitters. And thentype of individuals that do that
type of workout routinely. Andthen you throw in the cold
(20:26):
aspect in the ground. We didn'thave snow at the time. But the
ground was literally hard as arock. So you're doing your your
wad on this frozen ground? whichdefinitely, you know, that threw
a twist to it. After the RobbieMiller WOD. Cadre wasn't too
(20:49):
happy with us at one point forsomething that was going on. So
he pointed to a log in thoughthat was laying in the woods.
Yeah, like, you know, it waslike you guys need to carry
that. I'm not sure if heunderstood it at the time, he
realized how long from from thefrom where you could stand? And
look, it looked like the log wasabout 15 feet? Well, it once it
(21:13):
went out of the leaves that wentabout another probably 15 to 20.
So there was I think there wasfive of us on this log. And,
man, it was tough. It was tough.
So
Ryan Burns (21:25):
so so I love that y'all got Under The Log. I mean,
this is obviously the Under TheLog podcast. And so I am super
interested. I mean, you're atree guy, like you've you've
been under some logs in yourlife, like, right? Like, how,
how different was this for you?
Corey Parsons (21:47):
So the biggest issue with the logs was, so when
we picked it up, I believeDustin was on the very end of
it, and I was on the front ofit. The issue was his height
difference. You have a guythat's 6162. And then you have a
guy in the middle, that might befive, seven, it's an issue and
(22:10):
then you're trying to walk withthis. And I believe it was an
old lm log on it was it was
Ryan Burns (22:18):
I knew that you were gonna tell me exactly what kind
of tree it was.
Corey Parsons (22:22):
Yeah, the problem with it was it was skinny enough
that it had serious flex to it.
So every time you walked in thedifferent rhythms of the
individuals on it walking, itliterally the log had a bounce
to it the entire time, insteadof just sitting in, you know,
resting into your shoulder. Theentire thing was bouncing and
(22:44):
jumping. So I actually the wholelike backside of my skull was
bruised from it. My shoulder wasbruised from it. So I did feel
right at home when he was youknow, kind of told us to get a
hold of it. And not such a nicerequest. We grabbed it, we
walked with it.
Ryan Burns (23:06):
Like when like when he said to go get the log? Was
there like part of you that waslike, Oh, yeah, this is this is
my jam. I got this, y'all.
Corey Parsons (23:14):
I did, I did. And I don't think we ever came off
in the log until he told us, youknow, we had it, we got to a
point where he wanted us to dosome PT. And thank God, he
didn't have to take it back up.
Because when we got done withthat, it was brutal man. I will
tell you the worst part of thenight where i, where i had to
(23:39):
dig very deep, is I want to sayit was around two or three in
the morning. You know, he wantedto simulate some of the
conditions of the battle theball, and some of the issues
that those guys had. Keeping.
Keep in mind the ground being Itwas literally it was worse than
(24:02):
crawling on concrete, becausethat the field that we were in,
had a lot of raised areas ofdirt. So it was like it was like
trying to crawl on, like raisedgranulated like little nuts. So
it was that that was brutal. Andwe went I don't even know the
(24:23):
distance we went but we were onour hands and knees for probably
an hour and a half to two hoursdragging, you know, all the
coupons. And there was a hillthat you know, he made us. He
made us climb to the top. Andthen there was like a team that
was falling behind and he madelike all of them send me like
(24:44):
casualties. So we went back downthe hill and we had to start
dragging. You know, once we gotall the coupons up, we had to
start dragging guys up. And atthe end of that I was like I was
teetering on it like I don'tknow, I don't know how much more
I can do this like My, my kneeswere just completely shot. And
(25:05):
then he, you know, I think itwas a little bit of on purpose
but sits and talks about theevents of the Battle of bodge,
which brings a whole newperspective to your quote
unquote, what you think the painthat you're in is a fragment to
what these other guys know whatthey went through years ago. So,
(25:29):
yeah, that's, that's a veryunique twist to it. So right, so
no matter how much pain youthink you're in, it's not that
bad. And so that's what I keptthinking about, like, this isn't
that bad? Like, yeah, this couldbe 10, you know, 10 times worse,
a million times worse, to whatthose guys actually went through
in the Battle of the Bulge.
Ryan Burns (25:50):
Yeah, and I think that's the, that's the special
thing about like, like eventslike this, that are built
specifically around things likeparticular battles and
experiences, because, you know,I mean, obviously, I love to
just go out and do a little bitof suffering for the fun of it.
(26:10):
It's a weird hobby. But, youknow, that's, that's something
that I enjoy. But when there'sevents like this, where it's
connected to something thathappened in our history, like to
go into experience, even just amicrocosm of that, but then to
(26:31):
think about, you know, theirlisten to the Cadre, explain
what these what these folks wentthrough. It just really puts it
into context and helps youconnect to that. That event in a
much deeper way. I mean, youknow, it's interesting that you
(26:52):
guys were in Columbus, and itwas 20 degrees. I mean,
obviously, the Battle of theBulge occurred in really cold
and challenging conditions. Youknow, I talked to some folks
that did the Battle of the Bulgein Orlando, and I'm not sure if
where it's, that episode will bebefore or after years, but, you
(27:15):
know, they were one of the guyswas talking about the challenge
of like, trying to think andconnect to this battle of the
bulge event, while they're likeon a beach. And it's like 65
degrees in right. So, you know,for you guys to experience that
20 degree weather clock, youknow, climbing up on a frozen
ground. I mean, that's whatthose that's what those guys
(27:36):
actually experience, likefreezing temperatures, solid
ground, snow and and all that.
And so, like, for you, like, didyou know much about the Battle
of the Bulge before? And like,how did how did this event kind
of informed that particularbattle for you?
Corey Parsons (27:57):
Yeah, so I obviously anything military, I
try to think about history, whyespecially, you know, World War
Two battles. So I was definitelyfamiliar with the Battle of the
ball just familiar with, youknow, the amount of casualties
that went into it. But think,some small things that you kind
(28:19):
of don't think about. So yeah,you obviously, the normal person
understands the, the the aspectof war, right, and you know, the
possibility of getting killed,wounded or captured. But you
kind of forget about the littlethings that has to happen for
those. So the amount of foodthat has to get brought into
(28:42):
those, you know, you look at thetrenches that those guys hand
dug, and frozen ground. It's notlike they had excavators and
they were hand digging all of usso so even before your actual
battle, which most people wouldprobably agree that's probably
the toughest environment youcould be in. But just the
(29:03):
environment leading up to that Ithink a lot of people just kind
of look past and you, you don'trealize how miserable that that
would have been, you know, justdigging trenches alone. Yeah,
with a spade shovel. It's toughto even try to put yourself in
those shoes. And I'm not sayingthat the go rock event was even
a comparison. But it makes yousit and think about things and
(29:26):
there ain't much other things tothink about when you're laying
on a hill at three in themorning, and it's you know, 18
degrees and you're, most of yourbody's wet from sweat. And then
I think, you know, Aaron did anawesome job of highlighting what
some of those guys went throughand casualty numbers and their
(29:47):
sacrifices. So when you'relaying there, and you're looking
up at the sky, and your body atthis point, like I was at that
point, I pretty much had becomenumb most of my body was numb to
The cold and the pain. And thenat that point, it kind of
transitioned from physical andthe mental. And I just sat there
and you kind of just, it was avery like that feeling.
(30:10):
Honestly, it was kind ofpriceless. Like you're sitting
there, you're at complete musclefailure, you're transitioning
into a mental game, and you'relistening to Cadre, you know,
kind of preach these facts.
That's a very unique feeling.
Ryan Burns (30:26):
So, like, you're on the other side of it. Now,
you've, you, you, you completeda GORUCK. Tough, you, you made
it despite your complete lack ofpreparation. Like, what do you
like? what's the takeaway foryou? Like, what do you leave
this event with? coming out onthe other end?
Corey Parsons (30:51):
Yeah, so I think it's changed a little bit.
Morning of I was, I looked, youknow, basically was like Dustin
Austin, this is great. There'sno reason for me to ever do
anything like this again. Itwas, I was really questioning
some serious life decisions ifI'm being completely honest. Um,
(31:13):
and, you know, it's kind ofcool, though. You know, going
back to my company, that myrucksack for example, my guys
bought that for me forChristmas. So that was kind of
cool.
Unknown (31:26):
The,
Corey Parsons (31:28):
the camaraderie of me, Dawson, you know, Austin
out there, kind of going throughthe same amount of pain
together. It's, that was a verycool experience, you know,
especially when you tie thatinto the business side of it.
Yeah. You know, guys, we justwent through, you know, 12 hours
(31:48):
of hell, there's anything atwork, we we'd get through
anything, let's just, we justpush forward. That's the only
thing we can do. So the eventitself, looking at it now. I
definitely, I've been trying tofigure out what I want to do. So
I have been trying to rock withthe guides almost every weekend
since then. I'm trying to getsome different tolerances build
(32:11):
up. Yeah. You know, this pastweekend, it was an ass kicker,
man, we have roughly, we hadroughly a foot of snow on the
ground. And we went out I thinkwe did five or six miles on
Saturday. So you It definitely,I definitely want to do another
(32:34):
one. I'm just figuring out kindof which side they see this. For
me the winter events. I feelmore comfortable with the summer
stuff, man. Some of that seems,you know, you start doing that
stuff in 90 degree heat. It'stough. I think it'd be very
taxing.
Ryan Burns (32:52):
Yeah, it's tough.
And it's it's cool to hear like,I think your your story is
similar to many folks. I mean, Iknow it was mine, you get done
with that first event. Andyou're like, oh, that was really
cool. hardest thing I've everdone. And I'm glad that I'll
never do that again. And thenlike, like two weeks later, you
(33:14):
find yourself on the go ruckwebsite looking at events, and
you're like, what am I doing?
Corey Parsons (33:20):
Yeah, well, for me, physical, you know, I was
probably a week after the eventphysically, I was, I was rough.
But even hours after event, Ifelt completely different
mentally than I probably I everhave, you know, even with
achievements or any type ofaccomplishments. Mentally, I
(33:42):
felt 100% recharged after theevent, which was to me was
weird. That was hard for me toeven try to, you know, a lot of
people's asked me about theevent sense. And that's
something hard to explain for meis I think, honestly, I did be
the one to see if I still coulddig deep as a as an individual.
(34:05):
Which, you know, not that myjobs made me lazy this point,
but it's taken me out of aphysical game, turret, you know,
put me into a mental, a mentalaspect day to day. So I wanted
to make sure like, I could stilldig deep and walk through those
doors if I needed to. So thatwas that was kind of one thing
with it. But you know, to Ithink a lot of people would
(34:29):
agree that's done them at somepoint of the of the event, it
does shift from a physical to amental aspect. I knew
physically, I could get to it.
But again, going back to thatmental state, I wanted to make
sure mentally I could dig deepenough. And that's what was
super cool. So now, my mind saysWell, what like, how much more
could you endure? So you know,I've talked with the guys and I
(34:55):
was like, you know, I'm justgonna sign up for a heavy and
they just They just they thinkit's the funniest thing in the
world. And they're like, there'sno way you could do a heavy and
I'm not saying I can or can'tbut I do before this year's up I
do want to sign up for one andgive it a whirl,
Ryan Burns (35:14):
Cory man that is that's friggin awesome. Like, I
love the the, the connectionsand that you made and
transferring it over to I meanthe relationship with with you
and your guys at the businesslike that, that that bond that
you formed like the the thatexperience of mental clarity on
(35:39):
the other side and commitment towhat you want to do at work. I
mean, I think that's so awesome.
And I love that like you're likealright, I think I want to do
the heavy and and just listeningto you. I think you're the kind
of guy that like not now thatthis is this is it like, you're
you're gonna do what you need todo to get that heavy. And let me
(36:01):
just tell you, man, you're gonnalove it. Like it'll be hard.
it'll it'll take probably alittle more preparation than you
had for your tough but manearning that heavy patch. It's
it's special man. And and so Iwant you to stay in touch and
(36:22):
let me know whenever that thatheavy comes around. And we'll
we'll have you back on thepodcast and we'll talk about how
the heavy was compared to thetough.
Corey Parsons (36:33):
Oh, that sounds great. Awesome, man.
Ryan Burns (36:35):
Well, thank you for your time, Cory, and all the
best man.
Corey Parsons (36:40):
Appreciate it, Ryan and now you have a great
day. You too.
Ryan Burns (36:46):
I love it. Cory just like so many of us going from
now. I don't think I'm evergonna do that again. To You know
what? I think I want to do aheavy classic go ruck, y'all.
Well, thanks for listening tothis episode of Under The Log
for show notes, links to stuffthat we talked about. And a full
(37:06):
transcript of the episode visitus at Under The log.com. Of
course, we'd love it if yousubscribe to the podcast, tell
all your friends about it andmaybe leave us a positive rating
and review. Okay, that's it forme. We'll see you next time on
the next episode of Under TheLog.
What's up gang.
Welcome to this episode of UnderThe Log podcast where we talk to
men and women that recentlycompleted GORUCK. Today we're
talking to Cory Parsons abouthis very first GORUCK event, the
Battle of the Bulge tough up inColumbus and among other things,
we're gonna talk about Corey'straining, which involved going
on to rocks and his nutritionplan, which involves Burger
(00:33):
King, Wendy's and McDonald's.
Yep, it's awesome.
Before we get to our interview,we wanted to share some advice
that we thought could haveseriously helped out Cory. And
that's the visit ruck dottraining. On the website, we
(00:55):
offer free training guides forpeople wanting to do a GORUCK
heavy tough for light. Nowbasic. These guides are great to
use as written or can bemodified to meet your personal
training needs. Check them outat ruck dot training, or check
out the link in our show notes.
With that, let's catch up withCorey.
(01:23):
All right, hey, Cory, man,Thanks a ton for coming on the
podcast. You know, we're gonnabe talking today about your
recent GORUCK Battle of theBulge tough up there in
Columbus. But when I wasemailing you, I noticed that the
email account that you're usingwas connected to rogue tree
solutions.com. And so of course,you know, I grabbed the URL
(01:46):
popped over there to check itout. And I've got to say, Man,
like the promo video for yourcompany pretty much got me so
fired up. Like I was ready to gograb a chainsaw, like climate
tree, cut it down. But you know,you're you're a little too far
away to come down and cut downsome trees for me. But before we
get to talking about GORUCK andall that stuff, man, tell tell
(02:07):
us a little bit about yourself.
Corey Parsons (02:09):
Yeah, so first off, Ryan, I appreciate you
having me on. These littlethings are kind of cool. And I
enjoy them. So I appreciatethat. Yeah, so I'm, I'm 32. You
know, kind of background on thewhole go rock and that type of
workout and mindset. It's allvery new to me. My oldest
(02:32):
brother. He's pretty into it. Hedoes it quite a bit. He actually
He's my sales manager. He was inthe military. You know, he got
out. started working for me. Andhim and my director of
operations. That's, you know,every week in the ruck and it
turned into news, a lot of a lotof playful banter between us
(02:56):
going back and forth. And that'skind of what got me into it into
the go rockin community, I guessyou say so. But yeah, we, we
have some fun, man, we have atree company, a rogue tree
solutions. That's kind of whatstarted, you know, my
entrepreneurship. Since turnedinto we've got three other
(03:20):
businesses. You know, one's acorporate landscape company that
we pushed mainstream propertymanagement for large
corporations. So we have thatand we have an investment
company that holds commercialreal estate. And we do
commercial leasing to other likebusinesses, and you know, we got
(03:41):
an ambulance company, a couplesmall manufacturing company
stuff like that, that we Weleased to. So, yeah, it's it's
busy man, I've got a got threekids and I've got three
businesses. So it's, it's a lot.
Um, yeah. As far as you know,the mindset of Rocky man at
something I just wanted to touchon. Yeah, it's, it's very
(04:03):
unique. I was never into sportsa whole lot. Obviously, I've
always been very active outside.
You see in the promotionalvideos, it's a very physical
demanding job. But over thelast, you know, the last two to
three years, I've honestly, I'vekind of lost the physical
(04:25):
aspect. You know, my, my day today operations now is it's a
mental game. I run thebusinesses coordinate with our
commercial clients. So it's alot of meetings and behind the
computer for me at this point,
Ryan Burns (04:40):
not as much actually getting up in the trees, huh?
Corey Parsons (04:44):
Yeah, I actually I haven't, I haven't been in a
tree for it's been probably overtwo years at this point. And
mentally that's tough becausethat's, that's what I mean. I'm
through and through a tree guyas much as I am a business guy
and I feel Enjoy tree work. So,you know, Dustin and Austin, my
(05:07):
two employees that that's, youknow, pretty into rock and
actually recently just they'retrying to launch a local ruck in
Wayne County ruck ruck. I'msorry, Wayne County. ruckwod.
Oh, nice. Yeah. So they'retrying to get people more
involved. And so they go everyweekend, and it got to the
point, they're like, Man, youknow, this probably isn't for
(05:28):
you. You can't I don't I don'tknow if you're quite built for
this. And I know just a lot, alot of banter going back and
forth. Like I said, I, I don'treally do a whole lot of cardio,
I've had a little bit more of apowerlifting type routine, I
guess you'd call it. Um, overthe last 10 years, that's
basically the form of liftingI've done is is more of a
(05:50):
strength training. So it wastough. I went rucking kind of
twice. I think I went two timesbefore the event in Columbus. So
it was a it was it was a battlelet
Ryan Burns (06:08):
me get this straight this. So this battle of the
bulge tough. Was your your veryfirst event?
Corey Parsons (06:14):
Yes, sir. Yeah, actually, but and third time
ever with a run that
Ryan Burns (06:19):
third time ever with a ruck on? And kind of all all
you do typically with training?
Is is like powerlifting. Andthat's it. Correct?
Corey Parsons (06:30):
Yeah. So obviously, I didn't really know
what I was in for. Mentally, I'ma very, I don't know, I call it
tough. Some people would call ittouched. I've got a very I don't
know the way to describe it. Andmentally, I'm good to go. So I
(06:50):
knew I knew that if I was there,and I was looking at, like
people that no matter how badthe pain got in the, you know,
being uncomfortable, like I wasready to enter whatever,
whatever I could for as long asI could until I broke Um, so
that was my mindset going intoit. That's
Ryan Burns (07:09):
that's the right mindset. But man, sometimes
shocking your body like thatyou're gonna have the right
mind, but it can it can mess youup. So like, did your your
brother those guys like? I mean,obviously, you kind of if
they're doing it this regularly,like you kind of know what
they're into. But like, didthey? Did they prepare you at
(07:32):
all? Or they were like, Hey,man, just sign up for this
thing. And we'll see you there.
Corey Parsons (07:35):
So they basically, you know, they talked
about it, they did a coupleevents throughout the summer.
And again, man, it's tough forme, like I said, I have three
kids with the three businesses.
So it's tough for me to committo a weekend train regimen,
that, you know, they rock everyevery Saturday. So that was a
little bit of an issue. Andanother, they've mentioned, they
(08:00):
did a couple basics, and they'relike, Hey, you know, you should
come and it was always thosethings that just never worked
out. Well, then it kind ofbecame a joke. Like, dude, you
always talk about doing one, butyou're never going to do it. So
I finally, you know, they justkept pushing it. And they're
like, well, we're doing thisevent in Columbus. And they're
like, you know, but it'sprobably not for you. This isn't
(08:21):
one you want to do. Well, itfinally they just kept talking.
And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna doit. So it family events have
kind of become a running joke.
Because, you know, Austin, he'spretty close to our family. So,
you know, he'd be there andwe're talking and, you know,
they're talking about all thatcondition. And I'm doing and I'm
(08:41):
sitting there with acheeseburger drinking a beer.
And I'm like, Yeah, no, I'll bethere guys. And it turned into a
running joke. And then, youknow, we get down there. And
then Honestly, it kind of hit meabout an hour before start time.
I'm like, oh, wow, like, I'mhere. To do this, like, Am I
like, am I gonna do this? Sothere was, it was a it was kind
(09:02):
of one of those things, man, Isigned up. I guess it's kind of
like skydiving, like once youget up there. It's now it's go
time. Like there isn't much of achoice at this. Yeah,
Ryan Burns (09:11):
once you jump out of the plane, you're committed,
Corey Parsons (09:13):
you're committed.
Absolutely. So
Ryan Burns (09:15):
so that I'd love to hear about a little bit more
about that. So, you know, yousort of know what you're getting
into. Haven't definitely havenot trained adequately, I'll
just go ahead and tell you thatyou you did not train
adequately. So it's an hourbefore it's starting to dawn on
(09:36):
you. Like you, you roll up.
Like, like talk me through, likerolling up. And and, you know, I
know even as somebody who's donea fair amount of events, like,
just roll call is stressful,like what's going to happen? And
then you know, usually there's awelcome party. I don't know if
y'all had a little welcome partyor not, but like talk me through
(09:56):
like those emotions. Andthoughts and feelings just kind
of like in that right before itstarts into right when it's
like, oh crap, this is this ishappening.
Corey Parsons (10:08):
And I think Ryan To be fair, something leading up
to that point where this was akind of a crucial, crucial thing
to add to this. So with the treecompany, we're a state
contractor. We had a deadline,state job and Youngstown that we
started the week of that go thatgo ruck event. So we got down.
(10:33):
The job was, it was a tough one,a lot of manual. You know, we
have a lot of equipment, butthere's sometimes equipment just
can't get in there. So it's alot of manual work. This
particular job, we had one ofour very vital piece of
equipment go down, and it turnedinto we had X amount of time to
(10:54):
get it done. So the day of theruck event, you know, I'd say
most people probably, you know,relax a little bit, maybe have
some late sleeping. We were youknow, we were up at 5am that
day, we were working on the roadby Daybreak was right around
seven o'clock. And we worked afull 10 hour day. Ain't no
(11:18):
dragon stuff. Yep, and brush,trying to get this job done. So
we get the job done. Weliterally jumped in our
vehicles. And you know, thiswasn't just me, this was Austin
and Dustin. Yeah, jump in ourvehicles and we head down there.
So there wasn't a whole, youknow, there wasn't a whole lot
of time for any of us, of usthree to rest. So it was we
(11:39):
worked a very physical day tothe point where, you know, it's
people that's never done thattype of work. It's hard to
understand the physical aspectof it. But
Ryan Burns (11:49):
yeah, and I'd say not just the physical for you. I
mean, that's that's a lot ofemotional stress. Right. So like
you're putting out trying to getthis thing done by deadlines.
You know, I've, I've had similarexperiences where it's like,
man, I'd love to, I'd love tochill out today. But man, this
is like, this is this is nothingbut stress leading up to
(12:10):
something that's going to bephysically and mentally
stressful. And that, that justturns it that that that just
makes it so much harder. Forsure.
Corey Parsons (12:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then you throw in the coldfactor. So you're outside all
day in the cold. Um, so youknow, I get down there. We're
all pulling into a park ofroses. where's where's the the
event took place? everyone'skind of getting out of their
vehicles. And for me, like, it'sfunny, Obama's snacks guy. Like,
if anything I do I have pocketsfull of snacks. So like, if I'm
(12:41):
hunting it anything that I'm outdoing, I have to have snacks.
I'm I've been like that since Iwas a little kid. So I show up.
And I've got like, No, I've gotthese like gallon freezer bags
full of snacks. And Austin andDustin, they're loving it.
They're like, Dude, what do youlike? What do you think you're
doing? Like guys, like, if I'mgonna do this long of like, this
much endurance of physicalactivity, like, I got to have
(13:04):
some snacks. So that was funny.
Like, I see everyone elsegetting out. And you know,
they've got the gear on, youknow, they, they look to part
and then like, here's me. AndI'm, the whole thing was kind of
comical, um, until the welcomeparty started. And that was a,
(13:24):
you know, it was the main thingright off the rip was, they're
going through everyone's gearand you got to put it back in.
And I'm like, Man, this is, thisis gonna be fun. And it was cold
that night. You know, I think itwas we were right around just
below 20 degrees. So the coldthing wasn't a huge, huge issue
(13:45):
for me. I wasn't too concernedwith it. We're out, you know, I
am outside all the time. So thatwasn't a big issue. But it
definitely definitely played apart into you know, muscle
failure and muscle fatigue. So,the welcome party starts off.
(14:05):
Aaron hand was our Cadre, he wasa very nice guy, very, just very
unique individual to talk to alot of respect for him. But
right off the rip, like hestarts drilling us and you know,
the PT starts. And that'ssomething I just don't do. Like,
I haven't done PT sincewrestling in high school. So
(14:28):
it's, we started doing it, andit's funny like the guys, you
know, anyone that knows him, andthey they like to make fun of me
because I puke almost overeverything. Like, that's me,
man. I'm a puker. So they're,they're, you know, they're all
making bets on that how quicklythe welcome party, I'm gonna
start throwing up I actually Inever threw up once in the
(14:49):
entire event which I would havelost everything I had if I would
have bet against myself. So Iactually i i at one point in the
welcome party, I look over and Isee my brother, he's actually
puking. And that gave me Oh, Ilove that. I loved it. So it was
good, though. So we're sittingthere. And we get done with that
(15:12):
with the the welcome party. Andwe start getting, you know, the
Israeli leaders out. Everyone'skind of divvying up the
sandbags, which there was a lotof stuff that Aaron planned on
us to carry. So which that wassomething I didn't really take
into consideration when thinkingabout doing this event. So I
(15:36):
knew I had my back or my rockon, you know, I think it was
just over 40 pounds with mygear. And I was comfortable with
that, that ptl is like I can getthrough the PT, the mileage I'm
not too concerned about. But theamount of coupons they had to
carry, that was something Inever really took into
consideration. On right off therip. I'm on a four man team of
(16:03):
the width Israeli leader, Ibelieve I'm pronouncing that
correctly, which they had, Iwant to say roughly 240 pounds
of weight on top of that. So westart off, we start off walking
with it. And you know, mentallyI'm good. I'm in the rhythm. And
these guys, you know, we're allkind of starting to get to know
(16:26):
one another, ask them questions.
And at that point in time, Irealized, like, I was definitely
in for a night of her when theother three guys that I'm with,
they're all you know, they'vedone multiple events. They're
talking about the food that theyconsume for the last, you know,
three days leading up to theevent. And they're like, you
know, they're talking to me,they're like, What did you eat
(16:48):
today? And I was like, Yeah, Ihad fast food three times a day.
I woke up at five, I got myMcDonald's breakfast. At noon, I
got Wendy's and on the way down,I had Burger King. And I was
like, dude, I I don't I didn'thave the convenience of sitting
at home. And, you know, inpreparing for this. So that was
at that point in time, I waslike, man, I may be over my
(17:12):
head.
Ryan Burns (17:20):
Yeah, Cory straight that a GORUCK tough with no
training at all. I mean, I gottagive it to him for showing up
and giving us full measure ofeffort. Of course, Cory could
have done himself a solid byvisiting ruck dot training and
grabbing one of those free goruck training guys that are
posted there. You know, he's abusy dude with a family and like
(17:41):
three businesses. So he couldtotally take one of the editable
versions that we provide andmodify it to meet his schedule
and his needs. Well, maybe he'llcheck out our heavy guide. As
for you, I mean, you can dowhatever you want. But if you'd
like to show up to your eventprepared, go ahead and check out
ruck dot training. Alright, I'llsee how Cory story ends up.
(18:10):
Well, it's, it's interesting, Imean, because, you know, there,
there are so many people,especially when you when you do
more and more of these. Theycertainly take like all these
things into consideration. So itbecomes very much like, you
know, like an athlete trainingfor a marathon or something like
that, you know, they, they, theyhave training regimens and
(18:34):
guides to help them figure outhow to prepare and then, you
know, they have taper periodswith their rucking. And, you
know, people are watching theirnutrition, their hydration plans
going in, it's like, you know,it, there's all this going into
it. But, you know, there's alsothose of us who are just like,
Man, you know what, I'm here.
Right? That's all I got. There.
(18:59):
There was nothing. But it issuper fun to hear from you like,
because, you know, I'm surethere there are folks that that
totally just sign up completelyunprepared. And you kind of look
out there and you're like, Oh,hey, you you didn't know what
you're getting into. And so it'salways fun to see those folks
(19:20):
and to come alongside them and,and see them figure it out as
they go. And obviously you madeit You made it to the end so you
figured it out. Like how, like,how much harder was it than you
thought it would be?
Corey Parsons (19:42):
Oh, it was it was one of the hardest mental and
physical pain that I've everhonestly been in. And I am I am
more than comfortable admittingthat. It is the worst part and
again, Lack of conditioning waswas a huge issue for me. We got
(20:04):
to, you know, one point, and wedid the Robbie Miller water. Oh,
yeah. That's, that's that's nota joke of a workout. And it
honestly it gave me a whole newrespect for you know, quote
unquote crossfitters. And thentype of individuals that do that
type of workout routinely. Andthen you throw in the cold
(20:26):
aspect in the ground. We didn'thave snow at the time. But the
ground was literally hard as arock. So you're doing your your
wad on this frozen ground? whichdefinitely, you know, that threw
a twist to it. After the RobbieMiller WOD. Cadre wasn't too
(20:49):
happy with us at one point forsomething that was going on. So
he pointed to a log in thoughthat was laying in the woods.
Yeah, like, you know, it waslike you guys need to carry
that. I'm not sure if heunderstood it at the time, he
realized how long from from thefrom where you could stand? And
look, it looked like the log wasabout 15 feet? Well, it once it
(21:13):
went out of the leaves that wentabout another probably 15 to 20.
So there was I think there wasfive of us on this log. And,
man, it was tough. It was tough.
So
Ryan Burns (21:25):
so so I love that y'all got Under The Log. I mean,
this is obviously the Under TheLog podcast. And so I am super
interested. I mean, you're atree guy, like you've you've
been under some logs in yourlife, like, right? Like, how,
how different was this for you?
Corey Parsons (21:47):
So the biggest issue with the logs was, so when
we picked it up, I believeDustin was on the very end of
it, and I was on the front ofit. The issue was his height
difference. You have a guythat's 6162. And then you have a
guy in the middle, that might befive, seven, it's an issue and
(22:10):
then you're trying to walk withthis. And I believe it was an
old lm log on it was it was
Ryan Burns (22:18):
I knew that you were gonna tell me exactly what kind
of tree it was.
Corey Parsons (22:22):
Yeah, the problem with it was it was skinny enough
that it had serious flex to it.
So every time you walked in thedifferent rhythms of the
individuals on it walking, itliterally the log had a bounce
to it the entire time, insteadof just sitting in, you know,
resting into your shoulder. Theentire thing was bouncing and
(22:44):
jumping. So I actually the wholelike backside of my skull was
bruised from it. My shoulder wasbruised from it. So I did feel
right at home when he was youknow, kind of told us to get a
hold of it. And not such a nicerequest. We grabbed it, we
walked with it.
Ryan Burns (23:06):
Like when like when he said to go get the log? Was
there like part of you that waslike, Oh, yeah, this is this is
my jam. I got this, y'all.
Corey Parsons (23:14):
I did, I did. And I don't think we ever came off
in the log until he told us, youknow, we had it, we got to a
point where he wanted us to dosome PT. And thank God, he
didn't have to take it back up.
Because when we got done withthat, it was brutal man. I will
tell you the worst part of thenight where i, where i had to
(23:39):
dig very deep, is I want to sayit was around two or three in
the morning. You know, he wantedto simulate some of the
conditions of the battle theball, and some of the issues
that those guys had. Keeping.
Keep in mind the ground being Itwas literally it was worse than
(24:02):
crawling on concrete, becausethat the field that we were in,
had a lot of raised areas ofdirt. So it was like it was like
trying to crawl on, like raisedgranulated like little nuts. So
it was that that was brutal. Andwe went I don't even know the
(24:23):
distance we went but we were onour hands and knees for probably
an hour and a half to two hoursdragging, you know, all the
coupons. And there was a hillthat you know, he made us. He
made us climb to the top. Andthen there was like a team that
was falling behind and he madelike all of them send me like
(24:44):
casualties. So we went back downthe hill and we had to start
dragging. You know, once we gotall the coupons up, we had to
start dragging guys up. And atthe end of that I was like I was
teetering on it like I don'tknow, I don't know how much more
I can do this like My, my kneeswere just completely shot. And
(25:05):
then he, you know, I think itwas a little bit of on purpose
but sits and talks about theevents of the Battle of bodge,
which brings a whole newperspective to your quote
unquote, what you think the painthat you're in is a fragment to
what these other guys know whatthey went through years ago. So,
(25:29):
yeah, that's, that's a veryunique twist to it. So right, so
no matter how much pain youthink you're in, it's not that
bad. And so that's what I keptthinking about, like, this isn't
that bad? Like, yeah, this couldbe 10, you know, 10 times worse,
a million times worse, to whatthose guys actually went through
in the Battle of the Bulge.
Ryan Burns (25:50):
Yeah, and I think that's the, that's the special
thing about like, like eventslike this, that are built
specifically around things likeparticular battles and
experiences, because, you know,I mean, obviously, I love to
just go out and do a little bitof suffering for the fun of it.
(26:10):
It's a weird hobby. But, youknow, that's, that's something
that I enjoy. But when there'sevents like this, where it's
connected to something thathappened in our history, like to
go into experience, even just amicrocosm of that, but then to
(26:31):
think about, you know, theirlisten to the Cadre, explain
what these what these folks wentthrough. It just really puts it
into context and helps youconnect to that. That event in a
much deeper way. I mean, youknow, it's interesting that you
(26:52):
guys were in Columbus, and itwas 20 degrees. I mean,
obviously, the Battle of theBulge occurred in really cold
and challenging conditions. Youknow, I talked to some folks
that did the Battle of the Bulgein Orlando, and I'm not sure if
where it's, that episode will bebefore or after years, but, you
(27:15):
know, they were one of the guyswas talking about the challenge
of like, trying to think andconnect to this battle of the
bulge event, while they're likeon a beach. And it's like 65
degrees in right. So, you know,for you guys to experience that
20 degree weather clock, youknow, climbing up on a frozen
ground. I mean, that's whatthose that's what those guys
(27:36):
actually experience, likefreezing temperatures, solid
ground, snow and and all that.
And so, like, for you, like, didyou know much about the Battle
of the Bulge before? And like,how did how did this event kind
of informed that particularbattle for you?
Corey Parsons (27:57):
Yeah, so I obviously anything military, I
try to think about history, whyespecially, you know, World War
Two battles. So I was definitelyfamiliar with the Battle of the
ball just familiar with, youknow, the amount of casualties
that went into it. But think,some small things that you kind
(28:19):
of don't think about. So yeah,you obviously, the normal person
understands the, the the aspectof war, right, and you know, the
possibility of getting killed,wounded or captured. But you
kind of forget about the littlethings that has to happen for
those. So the amount of foodthat has to get brought into
(28:42):
those, you know, you look at thetrenches that those guys hand
dug, and frozen ground. It's notlike they had excavators and
they were hand digging all of usso so even before your actual
battle, which most people wouldprobably agree that's probably
the toughest environment youcould be in. But just the
(29:03):
environment leading up to that Ithink a lot of people just kind
of look past and you, you don'trealize how miserable that that
would have been, you know, justdigging trenches alone. Yeah,
with a spade shovel. It's toughto even try to put yourself in
those shoes. And I'm not sayingthat the go rock event was even
a comparison. But it makes yousit and think about things and
(29:26):
there ain't much other things tothink about when you're laying
on a hill at three in themorning, and it's you know, 18
degrees and you're, most of yourbody's wet from sweat. And then
I think, you know, Aaron did anawesome job of highlighting what
some of those guys went throughand casualty numbers and their
(29:47):
sacrifices. So when you'relaying there, and you're looking
up at the sky, and your body atthis point, like I was at that
point, I pretty much had becomenumb most of my body was numb to
The cold and the pain. And thenat that point, it kind of
transitioned from physical andthe mental. And I just sat there
and you kind of just, it was avery like that feeling.
(30:10):
Honestly, it was kind ofpriceless. Like you're sitting
there, you're at complete musclefailure, you're transitioning
into a mental game, and you'relistening to Cadre, you know,
kind of preach these facts.
That's a very unique feeling.
Ryan Burns (30:26):
So, like, you're on the other side of it. Now,
you've, you, you, you completeda GORUCK. Tough, you, you made
it despite your complete lack ofpreparation. Like, what do you
like? what's the takeaway foryou? Like, what do you leave
this event with? coming out onthe other end?
Corey Parsons (30:51):
Yeah, so I think it's changed a little bit.
Morning of I was, I looked, youknow, basically was like Dustin
Austin, this is great. There'sno reason for me to ever do
anything like this again. Itwas, I was really questioning
some serious life decisions ifI'm being completely honest. Um,
(31:13):
and, you know, it's kind ofcool, though. You know, going
back to my company, that myrucksack for example, my guys
bought that for me forChristmas. So that was kind of
cool.
Unknown (31:26):
The,
Corey Parsons (31:28):
the camaraderie of me, Dawson, you know, Austin
out there, kind of going throughthe same amount of pain
together. It's, that was a verycool experience, you know,
especially when you tie thatinto the business side of it.
Yeah. You know, guys, we justwent through, you know, 12 hours
(31:48):
of hell, there's anything atwork, we we'd get through
anything, let's just, we justpush forward. That's the only
thing we can do. So the eventitself, looking at it now. I
definitely, I've been trying tofigure out what I want to do. So
I have been trying to rock withthe guides almost every weekend
since then. I'm trying to getsome different tolerances build
(32:11):
up. Yeah. You know, this pastweekend, it was an ass kicker,
man, we have roughly, we hadroughly a foot of snow on the
ground. And we went out I thinkwe did five or six miles on
Saturday. So you It definitely,I definitely want to do another
(32:34):
one. I'm just figuring out kindof which side they see this. For
me the winter events. I feelmore comfortable with the summer
stuff, man. Some of that seems,you know, you start doing that
stuff in 90 degree heat. It'stough. I think it'd be very
taxing.
Ryan Burns (32:52):
Yeah, it's tough.
And it's it's cool to hear like,I think your your story is
similar to many folks. I mean, Iknow it was mine, you get done
with that first event. Andyou're like, oh, that was really
cool. hardest thing I've everdone. And I'm glad that I'll
never do that again. And thenlike, like two weeks later, you
(33:14):
find yourself on the go ruckwebsite looking at events, and
you're like, what am I doing?
Corey Parsons (33:20):
Yeah, well, for me, physical, you know, I was
probably a week after the eventphysically, I was, I was rough.
But even hours after event, Ifelt completely different
mentally than I probably I everhave, you know, even with
achievements or any type ofaccomplishments. Mentally, I
(33:42):
felt 100% recharged after theevent, which was to me was
weird. That was hard for me toeven try to, you know, a lot of
people's asked me about theevent sense. And that's
something hard to explain for meis I think, honestly, I did be
the one to see if I still coulddig deep as a as an individual.
(34:05):
Which, you know, not that myjobs made me lazy this point,
but it's taken me out of aphysical game, turret, you know,
put me into a mental, a mentalaspect day to day. So I wanted
to make sure like, I could stilldig deep and walk through those
doors if I needed to. So thatwas that was kind of one thing
with it. But you know, to Ithink a lot of people would
(34:29):
agree that's done them at somepoint of the of the event, it
does shift from a physical to amental aspect. I knew
physically, I could get to it.
But again, going back to thatmental state, I wanted to make
sure mentally I could dig deepenough. And that's what was
super cool. So now, my mind saysWell, what like, how much more
could you endure? So you know,I've talked with the guys and I
(34:55):
was like, you know, I'm justgonna sign up for a heavy and
they just They just they thinkit's the funniest thing in the
world. And they're like, there'sno way you could do a heavy and
I'm not saying I can or can'tbut I do before this year's up I
do want to sign up for one andgive it a whirl,
Ryan Burns (35:14):
Cory man that is that's friggin awesome. Like, I
love the the, the connectionsand that you made and
transferring it over to I meanthe relationship with with you
and your guys at the businesslike that, that that bond that
you formed like the the thatexperience of mental clarity on
(35:39):
the other side and commitment towhat you want to do at work. I
mean, I think that's so awesome.
And I love that like you're likealright, I think I want to do
the heavy and and just listeningto you. I think you're the kind
of guy that like not now thatthis is this is it like, you're
you're gonna do what you need todo to get that heavy. And let me
(36:01):
just tell you, man, you're gonnalove it. Like it'll be hard.
it'll it'll take probably alittle more preparation than you
had for your tough but manearning that heavy patch. It's
it's special man. And and so Iwant you to stay in touch and
(36:22):
let me know whenever that thatheavy comes around. And we'll
we'll have you back on thepodcast and we'll talk about how
the heavy was compared to thetough.
Corey Parsons (36:33):
Oh, that sounds great. Awesome, man.
Ryan Burns (36:35):
Well, thank you for your time, Cory, and all the
best man.
Corey Parsons (36:40):
Appreciate it, Ryan and now you have a great
day. You too.
Ryan Burns (36:46):
I love it. Cory just like so many of us going from
now. I don't think I'm evergonna do that again. To You know
what? I think I want to do aheavy classic go ruck, y'all.
Well, thanks for listening tothis episode of Under The Log
for show notes, links to stuffthat we talked about. And a full
(37:06):
transcript of the episode visitus at Under The log.com. Of
course, we'd love it if yousubscribe to the podcast, tell
all your friends about it andmaybe leave us a positive rating
and review. Okay, that's it forme. We'll see you next time on
the next episode of Under TheLog.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.