Giddy Up Cavalry!

Giddy Up Cavalry!!

As Cameron's regiment is historically a cavalry unit, the soldiers have a tradition in which they go on a "Spur Ride" to "earn their spurs", which are then worn over their boots on certain days and at events. In typical Army fashion they dumb it down to get families involved at the "Spouse's Spur Ride". This Spur Ride was a test of physical and mental endurance in which the spouses proved they were worthy of being spur-holders through a series of grueling, near impossible tasks (just kidding, everyone who showed up got their spurs).

Here I am after completing the first task- camouflage. We had to paint our faces in the same technique the soldiers are instructed, with only one mirror between 8 of us on our team. Some got more carried away than others- I didn't do my neck or ears, knowing if I did I would be walking around Berlin with camo paint in crevices all weekend (more on that in later post).

The other events were a jog in a chemical suit/mask (NOT comfortable, very sweaty), a physical fitness test, medical litter carry/triage, and a low crawl obstacle course/grenade throw. The low crawl was the worst, I took the push ups as punishment because they were easier than crawling and getting grass stained. After the low crawl we had to cover each other to move our positions forward, which is what I am doing in this picture- running between sand bag "cover".

Don't worry, the gun is fake.

This after I got a "go" on grenade tossing (also fake) and successfully completed all the physical tasks and sweat off most of my camo paint.

The final task was going before the "Spur Board"- we were asked questions pertaining to the Regiment and Squadron. After answering all correctly we completed the arduous Spur Ride.

Our team earned the most points and won the Golden Spur, which will be displayed in the Squadron headquarters with a plaque with all of our names. Wohoo, I will be a part of SQDN history! As Cameron said, "well, at least one of us has made it into the display case". My certificate is hanging in a place of honor next to Cameron's Ranger School diploma.