RSSLiquid Force’s Keith Lyman Visits the Boys at Bragg
July 17th, 2008 by Spencer
keithlyman.com: by now you guys probably know how much of a fan i am of the military. it is for no political reason what-so-ever that i have love for the military. it has been something that has pumped in my blood since i was a toddler.
growing up my mother never wanted me to know what guns were (like any good mother would want) and told my dad to hide his guns and to monitor my tv and movie watching closely. however by the age of 2 i was running around my front yard with a stick in my hand jumping on the ground and firing imaginary rounds off at imaginary enemies driving down my road. my dad got an ear full from my mom and he pulled me aside and asked what i was doing, i told him that i didnt know, since i didnt know what guns were i didnt know what i was doing. my dad and mom then gave in to trying to keep me sheltered from the knowledge of guns, and my father bought me “victory at sea” a documentary film series about WWII. i fell in love.
being a pro wakeboarder i have many different contacts and have had the privilege to be in contact with some of americas finest special warfare operators, they are the tip of americas spear, the spear that this country has shoved up the ass of americas “haters” (aka terrorist organizations) and will continue to do so, so that people like you and i can wakeboard without worrying about if we are going to get suicide bombed at a gas station while filling up our gas cans. these men, and a few woman, are the creme of the crop, the smartest and brightest, and are the unsung heros of this nation! these people do things that you will NEVER hear about. us as citizens owe a huge thanks to the men and woman who CHOOSE to do this job!
i had the pleasure to meet the creme of the crop not to long ago. jim and walt. the tip of americas spear, and HUGE fans of wakeboarding! i was put in touch with them by a very good “friend/contact” that i have met because of wakeboarding. i told this “friend/contact” that i would love to do a clinic for these guys when they got back from a certain “dusty place”, and he made it happen.
jim and walt have competed in the annual “best ranger” contests. the “best ranger” contests usually consist of 3 days in which no sleep is scheduled thru out the entire contest. imagine going for 3 straight days with hardly any sleep, very limited food, and running with packs and gear weighing out to somewhere around 80 to 120 lbs on a route that brings you over steep hills in the pitch black of night for a distance that non of the competitors know until they are finally at the finish. like jim is known for saying “it is what separates the
groupies from the rock stars.” that is only one of many different challenges that the 2 man teams must face in the “best ranger” competitions. there is shooting from helicopters, seated positions, laying down positions, roof top positions, with rifles and pistols. there are mile long obstacle courses, and challenges
where the teams must wrap both team mates “ruck sacs” (the 80-120 lbs backpacks) together in a water tight poncho and jump out of a helicopter into a lake and swim a long distance to shore then lug their equipment across a sandy beach to the finish line. challenges like these really are what “seperate the groupies from the rockstars”. in 1999 jim and another team mate won best ranger. in 2005 jim paired up with another american bad-ass, walt, and took 3rd. walt took home first place in 2006 with another team mate.
giving these guys instructions on what to do was amazing. they do EXACTLY what you tell them to do. if i
would have told them to land on their face they would have literally landed on their face. so you can imagine how quickly these guys progressed. jim has been riding all together a total of 4 months and was landing wake to wake 180s both heelside and toeside along with half cab 180s both toeside and heelside. he then learned backside 180s and a bunch of different grabs. thats pretty damn good for not having any kind of boarding history prior to wakeboarding and for only being on the water for 4 months. walt, who was the man who really got the rest of the crew into the sport, went crazy and landed 5 new tricks in 2 days a toeside 540, switch backside 180, switch backside 360, regular backside 360, and finished off with a scarcrow, all new tricks for him.
i got to visit the special operations museum and hung out with some of the mannequins. it was awesome.
me trying to help out the locals with their map reading skills.
jim and i “stacked up” with some WWII rangers.
me “fast roping” into the museum. it was my first time and i went a little to soon and landed on a soldier. little did i know that the guy after me was about to do the same to me. those boots hurt.
the “o course”
thanks for everything you guys do! you all kick ass!
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Tags: Liquid Force, Lyman
July 17th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!
July 21st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Son I am very proud of you but the reason I had you listening to “Victory At Sea” was to inspire you to take an interest in good music and to wet your apatite for learning an instrament. I love you son– your support of our trops is inspiring to all of us.
Love Dad.