The Big Idea

I underwent French Desert Warfare training recently.  The instructors were French Marines, but the unit undergoing the training was the French Foreign Legion (a number of different French legions cycle through the course and it just happened to be the Legion's turn).  For them, the physical aspects of what we were doing were very easy.  They march overland something like 45 miles per week on average--the longest march on this course was a "mere" 21 miles. But we didn't just go on four long (for me) marches, we went on marches in the pitch black of moonless nights.  Twice there were clouds.  I could barely see the man in front of me, yet I marched along over rough terrain, often off any trails, in a very rocky part of the country of Djibouti. As my eyes struggled to find an sign of a rock that would trip me and see the man in front of me (far too often, my sight globes failed at each task), the sensory deprivation of the dark created a strange effect. ...