Expeditionary in Nature

Many, many years ago when I was in the Navy, physical fitness was a constant struggle. It wasn't that I was in awful shape (although I was by no means an athlete like most of my peers), so much as I ran poorly. I've never liked running, I didn't do much of it, and it was always very conspicuous when I was the first one to fall out on battalion runs, or the last one to cross the finish line during Physical Readiness Tests. I was able to pass those tests by swimming instead of running, which was authorized since we were in the Navy. Conversely, once I was out of the Navy, I came to the conclusion that while physical fitness was all well and good, being able to carry a lot of weight for a long distance was of far more use than running a long distance in running shoes. (For what it's worth, I arrived at my conclusion independently of these knuckleheads.) As you'll see soon enough, my long-term physical fitness goals include yomping, rather than running. During my time in Scotland, despite the fact that I'm in awful shape, I was proud of my ability to carrya a lot of weight - fifty pounds or more in some cases - from one point to another.

Then, the other day, I saw this picture, and felt absolutely ashamed of how light a load I was carrying. I can take some solace in the fact that, for all I know, the guy in the picture is carrying his battalion's supply of bogroll. Titled "Everything but the Kitchen Sink", here's the caption from that picture:

Marines with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines patrol towards their objective during an airfield seizure exercise as a part of Exercise Steel Knight 2014 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Dec. 11, 2013. Steel Knight enables 1st Marine Division to test and refine its command and control capabilities by acting as the headquarters element for a forward-deployed Marine expeditionary force.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Justin A. Bopp/ Released)

I suppose that makes my agonizing three mile hike from the train station in Thurso to the ferry terminal in Scrabster carrying sixty pounds worth of my personal belongings sort of pales by comparison. At very least, it gives me a baseline to start from, and a goal to shoot for. (It's also worth noting that Twentynine Palms is at a pretty appreciable elevation, whereas Thurso and Scrabster are at sea level. Ugh.) So much for "being expeditionary in nature", huh?