day no. 15,771: feel the weight

This is a repost of my friend, Josiah Blansett's post found HERE.

Put on your boots, your blouse, your trousers. 

Drape your flak across your shoulders and fasten it across your stomach. Feel the plates press against your chest and back, feel the security provided by the weight. 

Dawn your Kevlar. Withstand the pull your neck now experiences while executing mundane tasks like bending over. 

Now that you are bent over, clasps your hands on your main pack. Flip it onto your shoulders and cinch it down over the straps of your flak. 

Sling your Rifle across your shoulders.

Feel the weight of it all bearing down your traps. 

Now Walk. A simple task, now made infinitely more challenging by what lies on your shoulders. Your arms may go numb as the straps restrict circulation past your shoulders. Your feet will begin to ache and blister as they sweat. But continue to walk. The more you walk under the weight the stronger you will become, the more comfortable you feel under adversity, and the further you will be able to go. 

Every ounce of water, every piece of food, shelter, ammunition, that is added to the pack adds to the burden on your back. However; each item will also sustain you when you reach the objective. What may seem like a burden will sustain your life. The more weight you carry of essential gear, the longer you will be able to take the fight to the enemy. 

Take a man who has never carried weight and give him the full load and he will crumble. Build him up a little at a time and he will flourish. Give him the necessary burden of responsibility and it will sustain his life. Let him walk with nothing, and when he reaches the objective he will be sleeping in the elements, scrounging for food and water, and upon taking fire will have no means to defend himself. 

Weight is good. Revel in its burden, and revel in the sustainment it surely will provide. But pack carefully, for some burdens do not sustain. 

Galatians 6:5 "For each will have to bear his own load."

Lamentations 3:27 "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."