Townsville Bulletin journalists take on PT session with 3rd Battalion soldiers
How fit do soldiers need to be? Are their fitness sessions tough? Do you think two unfit journalists could do it? Well, against our better judgement we found out. WATCH THE VIDEO.
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As I flipped tyres and pushed jerry cans through the overgrown patch of grass at Lavarack Barracks my confidence was high – not even the PTI (physical training instructor) telling everyone we were “too f —king slow” could dampen my spirits.
Little did I know that my downfall lay just around the corner – the running.
As a journalist, most of our days consists of dashing around to various interviews or writing at our desks, and while I hit the gym a few times a week I knew that when I was asked to slot in with the soldiers at the 3rd Battalion for a fitness session, I was about to be humbled.
The 3rd Brigade public affairs officer sent me a reassuring “you won’t die” text, but you can see why this did nothing to calm my growing nerves.
But I accepted my fate and decided that if I was going to suffer, someone else from my office would suffer alongside.
Enter Holly Fishlock – the only person who couldn’t say no to me – Townsville Bulletin cadet.
Early Friday morning we jumped in the car, blasting music to distract ourselves from the brutal session ahead, and headed to base to meet with the other local media who were taking part.
Before we knew it, we had our army pants on and were being greeted by PTI corporal Mason Bond who welcomed us with a: “who’s great idea was this?”.
Then we were away, starting our warm up with a few burpees and a quick jog before splitting up into four sections with one journo per section.
It was smiles all around at this point because we all naively believed the same thing; ’surely they wouldn’t push a group of journos that hard’.
And wow, How wrong we were.
The first tyre flips, burpees and jerry can pushes got the blood pumping but my energy was still high as I ensured I kept up with the camo clad soldiers within my section, optimistic I wouldn’t let them down.
Then more tire flips came, and longer jerry can pushes, and more burpees and I couldn’t stop the wave of fatigue from setting in.
But I told myself lifting things and pushing things isn’t really that bad, as long as we don’t have to run with them.
As if he read my mind the command from the PTI came to hit the road and run, “great” I thought.
Our section picked up our gear and carried it to the road for an 800m lap and while my section looked ready to kick into gear, I was definitely feeling less so.
But only 100m in, it took another turn for the worst.
“You’re being too f – king slow” the PTI yelled, “run an extra 400m lap”.
Up until this point I was hoping my section was feeling confident in my abilities to keep up with them to maintain our lead – which we had been doing for most of the session so far – but that quickly slipped as I pulled them further behind the group.
It was at this point I thought I was going to throw up.
Their motivating words and commitment to staying together though was admirable and after what felt like much further than 400 metres we were back to our stores which laid on the road.
“Jami, you hop on the tire, someone stick with her” one of my members told the group, so I set off and rolled the tire as we restarted our 800m stores carry.
By the time I finished I was red faced, puffed and extremely deep in the hurt locker but I had finished the session and our section hadn’t come last, so I hadn’t totally embarrassed myself.
While I’m sure it wasn’t as intense or as lengthy as their usual battle PT sessions, they commended us on our efforts as Corporal Mason said “I saw some red sweaty faces, and that’s what we like to see”.
We were invited back next Friday for another session and although we laughed and smiled along, one sidewards glance and Holly and I knew we were on the same page: not likely.
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Originally published as Townsville Bulletin journalists take on PT session with 3rd Battalion soldiers
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