FROGMAN: Mission Cura Viet
MIssion Cura Viet
Late in the Vietnam war the SEAL presence had dwindled to just a dozen operators, including Michael Thornton - then a petty officer.
In October 1972 he joined 1 other SEAL and several South Vietnamese commandos on a mission to capture prisoners and recon an area north of there base at Cura Viet.
After being transported further north than intended, the team paddled to within a mile of shore and swam the remainder. The team patrolled inland only to discover they were actually in North Vietnam. Undaunted they patrolled silently thru an area teeming with the enemy, it was not until an attempted capture of a prisoner and subsequent gun shot that the enemy was alerted to there presence.
The ensuing running gunfight saw the 5 man patrol out maneuver and fend off nearly 150 enemy soldiers as they attempted to bring in naval support, which was beaten back by shore batteries. After nearly four hours, and Thornton having been wounded by a grenade, the team bounded back to the beach at dawn.
The OIC of the patrol suffered a severe headwound while attempting to cover the teams movements. Realizing his OIC was down, Thornton sprinted 400 meters back to him, shooting several enemy as they overran his comrade, and carried him back to the beach as danger close naval gunfire landed.
With no where else to go Thornton grabbed the severely wounded man as well as one of the wounded South Vietnamese who could not swim and hit the surf. With no where else to go Thornton and his team swam offshore - Thornton managing to keep both wounded men and himself afloat. They were finally rescued by the Navy ships nearby after 3 hours. This incredible feat of endurance, courage and stamina earned Michael Thornton the Medal of Honor.
The Challenge
Infiltrate the target, get into the fight and exfil back out. Simple right? Well nothing goes according to plan, good luck and happy swimming.
The Work
Multi Stage Event: Candidate has 48 Hours to complete all elements of the challenge.
Evolution 1: Infiltration
-Run 6 Miles
-Swim 2 Miles
-Run 6 Miles
Evolution 2: Enemy Contact
8 Rounds As Fast As Possible of:
-Sprint 200 Meters
-20x Burpee
-Rest no more than 5 Minutes-
On The Minute until failure to complete:
- 25m Shuttles, adding 1x 25 meter length per minute.
-rest 5:00-
On The Minute until failure to complete:
- 10x Burpees, adding 1x Burpee per minute
-Rest 5:00-
- 10m Shuttle Ladder
Begin with 20x 10m shuttles. Reduce by 1 10m length per rounds until reaching 0 (20 -1) with :20 seconds rest between rounds. Max effort.
Evolution 3: Break Contact
Run 400m Max Effort; then 50 Burpees
Run 400m Max Effort; Then 50 Air Squats
Run 400m Max Effort; Then 50 Pushups
Run 400m Max Effort; the 35 Burpees
Run 400m Max Effort; then 35 Air Squats
Run 400m Max Effort; then 35 Pushups
Run 400m Max Effort; then 20 Burpees
Run 400m Max Effort; then 20 Air Squats
Run 400m Max Effort; then 20 Pushups
Swim 800 Yards max effort
Preparation
This is the culminating event of the pipeline, like all our flagship events this is meant to be a multi day, multi stage trial.
Pacing, nutrition and body maintenance will be critical.
In the first evolution you should be eating some calories between each transition. Once your done be sure to take a few minutes to stretch. The next evolution (we suggest the next day) will be must faster and explosive.
The second evolution is fast and explosive, sprints, burpees and almost all to failure on a clock. Don't come out to hot, it looks like a small dossier of work but its deceptive.
The Final evolution has you running fast 400 meters followed by body weight. Plan this out so your close to the pool to make the transition with minimal time. This one will be a grind but with fast changes making it feel much faster.
By now your probably a little banged up, plan on a good transition with some food or at least electrolyte fluids.