THE Royal Marines recruits infamous mud run in the River Exe Estuary is about instilling a "Royal Marines state of mind".
It is about physical strength as much as it is about mental resilience.
The training exercise is unique to the Commando Training Centre, Lympstone. Few other places in Britain have a military base in situ at the gaping mouth of a river, where the tide conveniently recedes back hundreds of metres leaving sufficiently deep and foul-smelling mud, so thick it is difficult to move through, behind.
The mud runs are normally done once or twice during the 32-week recruit training and have led to a copycat craze in America called Tough Mudder.
They occur as and when they are deemed necessary – normally early-on in training as a bonding and team-building initiative and is sprung upon the recruits. Usually lasting around an hour, it involves the troop doing exercises and running and crawling through the mud under strict instruction.
It is a rite of passage and one of the toughest elements of the training programme for our Forces' elite in-waiting.
"There are two key aims we're trying to achieve," explained Captain Tom Limb, Troop Commander for 164 Recruit Troop who are in their fourth week of training. "Firstly, instilling the ethos of team work and the Commando qualities of unselfishness, courage, determination and cheerfulness in the face of adversity. The second is discipline – hopefully the run will have achieved its aim."
