Speechless

“Nomination Jarvis Lake” read the subject line of an unopened email on my desktop Wednesday morning. Everything went silent to me as I read it a couple more times. Half of me was afraid to open the email, the other half was wondering why i was frozen and seemingly unable to move the mouse… After what seemed like forever, i double-clicked the email and read that I was picked to attend the Canadian Forces Search and Rescue selection.

Words can not describe what i felt… I can not describe how i felt. I held back the flood of emotion coursing through my body as I shuffled around to look for someone who would give a shit that I got picked… I had to call Becky, I had to call my mom.

Day in and day out, month after month i’ve talked about being a Sar Tech. Each person I talked to explaining how incredibly hard it is to be accepted, how unrealistic it is to apply. It’s the most sought after job in the military… Being constantly asked “why do you train so hard? what are you doing?” only for me to answer “I’m going Sar Tech,,,” Hundreds of applications, 28 people taken, 10 people will pass, I will be one of them.

My mom and Beck picked up the phone the same way, “hello? omg Dyl whats wrong”… but only one thing came to my head… “I did it, they fucking picked me…” it was an emotional moment i’ll never forget.

So whats this mean? where do I go from here? Jarvis Lake selection is a 2 week course designed to determine the suitability of a candidate for the 11month long Sar Tech course. The selection consists of carrying 100-250pounds of kit for miles and miles through snow in the middle of nowhere while completing several tests and evaluations. The course concludes with a 4 day individual phase where I will be expected to survive with no food and minimal equipment. I got this…

Although I’ve been training for years for this, i will be changing one thing in my plan over the next 8 weeks in preperation, more rucking, Selection is a lot of walking under load. So I’m going to move forward with how i’ve been training and I’m going to add a bunch of rucking with heavy loads. Did my first ruck today, 6km with 65pounds and learned that walking through snow sucks! The last thing i’m doing is using Luminosity to train my brain while I’m incredibly fatigued, answering simple math equations and mental dexterity drills while working out… I think this will be benefitical when i’ve been walking for days with no sleep and have to answer questions and do math.

I’ve made it this far and there’s no stopping. I will not quit, I will be a Sar Tech.