Fear of heights?
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  1. #1

    Fear of heights?

    Ok sorry if this is a stupid waste of time question but it's been on my mind.

    I've got a pretty bad fear of heights, just thinking about being up on that rappeling tower in boot camp makes my palms all sweaty like a little sissy girl... I asked my recruiter about it the other day just to get some feedback from somebody who's been there done that. Of course he's one of those BA's who doesn't fear anything and is an "adrenaline junky" so he enjoyed doing stuff from tall heights... Not much help...

    So anyways, it's not really something that's keeping me up at night or anything just kind of wanting to hear from some Marines that had/have the same fear of heights and made it through it. I'd love to hear your experience of it. Thanks Marines


  2. #2
    My Drill Instructor sorta kicked me off the top of the tower. Lucky I went down the center hole where you go straight down instead of off the side so it wasn't so bad. I later did another repelling tower in MOS school, and that one was from the side.

    It's not so bad. I'd rather do a repelling tower than a swim qual just because I have to jump off the tower into water XD (I don't like water that much)


  3. #3
    The tower is nothing man. You do it once you'll love it. Just get to the top, reach down deep and grab a pair and go. Its not that high anyways.


  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by sbryson21 View Post

    So anyways, it's not really something that's keeping me up at night or anything just kind of wanting to hear from some Marines that had/have the same fear of heights and made it through it. I'd love to hear your experience of it. Thanks Marines
    By this time in bootcamp, i was more afraid of the Drill Instructors than anything else. I wouldn't worry about rappelling too much if i was you. Now, when you do the Australian, or inverse, rappelling then i would start to get a little nervous. The spider drop was a bit hair raising for me but it just looks bad. But with spider rigging, i would just keep your eyes shut and think of a happy place.

    Hope that helps you out a bit, there are much scarier things than rappelling.


  5. #5
    I spent 13 months on a USMC Recon team in Vietnam. Maybe not as much combat as some but enough to last my life time. Besides the combat I had tigers and snakes and lots of other things to cope with.

    The most pure terror I ever experienced and the bravest thing I did during those 13 months was the repelling. Off the side of cliffs, off the towers. It was pure and total terror for me. But I, after some gentle encouragement from the E-6 :-), did in fact do what I needed to do. As will you.

    Anyone can do stuff they find easy.


  6. #6
    Marine Free Member Quinbo's Avatar
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    Even if you completely bolo the rappel your belay man will stop you from taking a bad fall. I wonder if recruit training includes fast roping now? Slightly different story on that one.


  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Bulkyker View Post
    Even if you completely bolo the rappel your belay man will stop you from taking a bad fall. I wonder if recruit training includes fast roping now? Slightly different story on that one.
    We fast roped in boot camp. That was in '99 so i'm assuming they still do. Holy crap, that was 11 years ago. I'm getting old.


  8. #8
    I missed out on that event, wild fires cancelled that training. :-(


  9. #9
    I was nervous about it, but once the time comes, the adrenaline starts flowing. After I finished I wanted to go back and do it again! You'll do just fine. If not, your Drill Instructor will "help" you.......


  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by sbryson21 View Post
    Ok sorry if this is a stupid waste of time question but it's been on my mind.

    I've got a pretty bad fear of heights, just thinking about being up on that rappeling tower in boot camp makes my palms all sweaty like a little sissy girl... I asked my recruiter about it the other day just to get some feedback from somebody who's been there done that. Of course he's one of those BA's who doesn't fear anything and is an "adrenaline junky" so he enjoyed doing stuff from tall heights... Not much help...

    So anyways, it's not really something that's keeping me up at night or anything just kind of wanting to hear from some Marines that had/have the same fear of heights and made it through it. I'd love to hear your experience of it. Thanks Marines

    Don't worry about kid...you want to know why?

    Well, here are the statistics on the Tower:

    Only 93 recruits have been seriously injured on the tower thanks to the supervision of those hard-charging DIs. Of the 93 seriously injured recruits, 91 of them were originally from Idaho. So, unless you are originally from Idaho, I wouldn't worry about it. (kidding)

    It will be an exhilarating experience and you'll be proud of yourself when it is over.

    Stay motivated and don't forget to scream "MARINE CORPS" on your way down.


  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by boomer56328 View Post
    We fast roped in boot camp. That was in '99 so i'm assuming they still do. Holy crap, that was 11 years ago. I'm getting old.
    We didnt do it during boot, and i went through july to october 09.


  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bdchi1 View Post
    Don't worry about kid...you want to know why?

    Well, here are the statistics on the Tower:

    Only 93 recruits have been seriously injured on the tower thanks to the supervision of those hard-charging DIs. Of the 93 seriously injured recruits, 91 of them were originally from Idaho. So, unless you are originally from Idaho, I wouldn't worry about it. (kidding)

    It will be an exhilarating experience and you'll be proud of yourself when it is over.

    Stay motivated and don't forget to scream "MARINE CORPS" on your way down.
    My MCT instructors told a story about a Marine who fell off the top of the Jacob's Ladder obstacle (the freakin TALL one) and despite falling like 100 ft he executed a perfect Marine Corps back breakfall and got right back up without a scratch apart from bruises on the back of his arms.

    Maybe it was one of "those stories", but it stuck with me and always made me more confident about doing training on heights.


  13. #13
    I was afraid of water because I couldn't swim when I enlisted. The Marine Corps changed that. You won't have a fear of heights for very long...you'll learn to turn that fear into excited energy and enthusiasm.


  14. #14
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    You'll get over all your fears in Boot Camp.
    Your Drill Instructors will make sure of that!!!

    Good luck to you.


  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Rhode Island View Post
    You'll get over all your fears in Boot Camp.
    Your Drill Instructors will make sure of that!!!

    Good luck to you.
    True dat! The only thing you will fear is your drill instructor!!


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