I have always seen those in the Man O' War group and how hard they are drilled. I said to myself I can never be involved in such because it's not something my strength can carry. A friend who is part of the group told me how it has helped her in doing exercise, and on a normal day, she can never be involved in exercise but here she is with a perfect body and shape, though she acts like a guy which made us tagged her as "she-boy". She has only a few female friends but hundreds of male friends as she has accustomed herself to the life of a male.
I never knew this was something waiting for me at the camp. The camp was fun and I missed those activities. The day we stepped out of the camp, I felt so sad missing a lot of friends and instructors but I couldn't go back there again. Though there is fun there, the activities are draining. The way the armies drill us every morning is something I would have loved to escape from but the way the camp was built, if you try to escape, you will be caught and once caught, be prepared to wash the toilets which smell like a corpse. I wonder how I was able to cope there for 21 days but the day I was leaving, it was a mixed feeling for me but I was still happy leaving.
Every platoon had their days with the man O' War instructors and for an hour plus, they would be drilled with tough activities like climbing on a single rope, climbing an iron without holding anything, carrying two weighty lifters, passing through a small car tyre etc. Those activities were fun, especially watching the fat ones trying to pass through the tyre where some would be stuck in it until an instructor would come over to help them out.
My platoon's day for the Man O' War activity came on a Wednesday and we were told to dress in our complete 7 over 7. This comprises of our cap, plain white top, khaki jacket and trousers, white socks and a jungle boot just like the one I am putting on here.
After the morning devotion, we set out on two single lines, one for the male and the other for the female as we had two Man o' War instructors leading the way and singing some funny songs as we sang along. We got to the venue where things had been set in order. The ropes were strong enough to carry us and every other thing was in order. We were all grouped into two where the first batch which I was among was led to a particular spot. They had tied the ropes so well and it was time to climb while placing our legs on each rope and our hands holding onto other ropes for us not to fall. Other corp members climbed it, some screamed while the courageous ones didn't. Then it was my turn 😃
With the support of the instructors, I climbed the rope gently and by the time I got to the last end as I was told to somersault to the other side, I looked down from where I was and my eyes started turning in 360 degrees. My eyes were red and tears were rolling down as the anxiety came on me. They kept telling me to do it and that nothing was going to happen as they were there to hold me firmly. With that, I still couldn't do it. I looked back thinking I might just go back from where I was coming from but I couldn't go. It was now a battle of "I can't go backwards, neither can I move forward". I remembered my late mother and started praying to her to save me 😀😀 my mind was gone completely. Who sent me work today? I just wanted to try it too not knowing this was how it would be.
After some minutes, one of the instructors forced me to somersault, oh my God, I felt my life ended in an instant, even when the photographer was beckoning on me to look forward for a shot, I didn't listen, I just jumped down and was panting like someone who got escaped from the kidnappers' den 😃
I moved to the next activity which was crawling through the car tyre to another location for the next activity which wasn't difficult to do. I was careful so that my chest wouldn't scratch the ground leaving me with injury even though I had a cut on my finger, though not something serious.
Another activity was to do a sit-up.
The sit-up exercise I found difficult to do on my own at home was something mandatory for me at the camp to do. It was so strenuous but I loved it. One of the instructors said we don't even need money to go to the gym to have a flat belly, but with their mandatory drilling, we would be reduced within the space of some hours. Though they weren't hard on us compared to the last set that came before us. It got to a point, I had to stop as I saw that my strength couldn't endure any again. In the end, we had fun with the drilling.
All images are originally mine.