The Repelling Tower

The second phase of BWT is the repelling tower.  The repelling tower is forty feet high and is large plank wall that says USMC down the side.  From the ground it looks high.  From the top it looks like you are standing on top of a GOD DAMN MOUNTAIN!!!  We sat through a quick class on how to tie the harness.  The harness is a complicated series of knots tied around your upper thighs and around your waist.  You have to tie extremely tight.  Now I've lost over thirty five pounds since I've been here, so my legs and waist aren't as thick as they used to be.  The harness is digging into my bones.  The procedure for repelling down the wall is relatively simple.  You wear gloves and have two ropes attached to your harness.  You keep one hand in front of you to guide you and one behind your butt to brake you.  How fast you go depends on how tightly you grip the rope.  Sounds simple right?  HAHAHAHA!!  Ya...  not so much!!!  There is a DI at the top and and bottom as safeties or belays.  They will not allow you to fall.  Or so you hope.

We have to climb the steps up to the top of the tower and it takes forever because there are almost three hundred guys that have to do this and they only do two at a time. One guy walks down the wall, the other zip lines off a Huey.

Climbing the stairs and standing there with this make shift nut, butt and hip hugger is tedious and painful.  From the stairs it still doesn't look that high.  Once we get to the top however it is a-whole-nother story.  I'm afraid of heights.  I'm not exactly sure when this happened but I know that it's true.  I began to get insanely nervous the closer it got to my turn.  The reason for this is the one part of the process I didn't mention yet.  Once you are all strapped in and ready, you have you talk to the edge of the tower, turn your back and lean out over it till your straight legs are at a 90 degree angle from the wall.  The only thing keeping you from falling is your hand on the rope.

People say nerves are like butterflies in your stomach, well then I must have had bats in mine.  Leaning out over that wall was the single most terrifying thing I've ever done!!!  The DI screaming in my face didn't help matters.  I began to walk down the wall.  I must have appeared to be going to fast because both the upper and lower DI began screaming at me.  The next thing I knew I was upside down and hanging there.  The lower DI yanked the belay and stopped me and I went backwards because I wasn't ready for it.  So there I am hanging upside down 30 feet above the ground...  DID I MENTION I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS?!?!?!  I had get back to wall with my feet and legs pressed against it before the DI would release the belay.  The whole thing might have taken 2 minutes but it felt like 20 years.  Finally I made it down the wall and a tremendous wave of relief washed over me.  Until the DI said I had to go again.  FML!!!  Again?!?!?! Well, the second time went a lot better than the first...  THANK GOD.  I may not have conquered my fear but I beat it back quite a bit today.