Find a Battle Buddy
Rucking alone is good. I do it all the time. But rucking with the right person is better.
Alone, you can build discipline. You can control your pace, your route, your load, and your thoughts. You can do the work without anyone watching. And that’s important.
But eventually, you need a battle buddy. Not a walking partner. Not someone who shows up to talk about work, complain about their knees, or attempt to negotiate the route down from five miles to three before you start.
A battle buddy. Someone who makes you better. Someone who shows up on time, ready to go.
Someone who does not let you shortchange yourself. Someone who knows when to talk, when to shut up, when to push the pace, and when to say, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We’re not done.”
That kind of person is rare, but find one anyway.
Because there is a harder version of you that only shows up when another hard person is walking beside you.
You’ll go faster, farther, and harder because they’re there.
You’ll stop negotiating with your weakness because you don’t want them to hear you.
That is the power of a battle buddy. They can’t carry your ruck for you, but they make damn sure you keep carrying it yourself.
When you know someone is waiting at the trailhead, it’s harder to roll over and hit snooze. When you know someone is stepping out, it’s harder to sandbag.
Iron sharpens iron. But only if both pieces are actually iron. So choose carefully.
Don’t settle for someone who lets you be comfortable, or someone who turns every ruck into a therapy session (although there is a time for that).
Find someone who wants to get to the top of the mountain and understands that the point is not just in the miles.
The point is becoming harder to kill and harder to break.
Then be that person for them. Be their battle buddy.
Keep the standard when they start looking to quit.
Because the best battle buddies do not just help you finish the ruck. They help you become the kind of person who finishes.
So find one.
And when one of you starts to fade, the other one says the only thing that matters:
“RTFU.”
John
Life is Hard. Be Harder.
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As always, a great post and so true. I would like to point out, though that your battle buddy doesn’t necessarily have to be there physically. He can be there in your head, whispering in your ear, “Stop being a pu**y, RTFU!”
My father was a World War II POW and was in forced marched across Czechoslovakia into Germany, in the middle of winter ahead of the advancing Russian armies. Many of his buddies died along the way. Whenever I’m struggling on a hike or a run or whatever I just think of how good I’ve got it and how I need to shut the ruck up and get my ass in gear.