A former Navy SEAL stood thigh deep in the dark waters of Lake Washington.

He was displeased.

"We'll do this until you all get it right - we've got all night," he said in a measured, uncompromising tone.

In front of Cadre Geoff stood and shivered 30 individuals engaged in a GORUCK ABSOC, or All Branches of Special Operations Challenge.

Joining Geoff were a Special Forces soldier and an Air Force Combat Control Team member.

All were veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

>>> Building a sense of teamwork began early as the 13 hour challenge demonstrated through the carrying of rucksacks and other weight. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Thirty headlamps eerily illuminated the water in front of cadre.

"When are you people going to learn to work as a team?" Geoff continued as the group stood gasping in the darkness and cold water. 

"We've been at this for hours, and you still haven't figured it out. Figure it out!"

For their lack of teamwork - an attention to detail - the group was told to get into the pushup position.

"You will submerge for 15 seconds.  If anyone comes up before then, you will do this again," Geoff continued.

A thin line of light formed as 30 heads went under the water. Several did not last the mandated 15 seconds.

"You're letting the team down," came the now familiar voice in the dark.

"Do it again."

They did the exercise again. Repeatedly.

Finally, the wet and tired group of individuals came together as a team. They got one iteration right.

"Now, do it again," Geoff ordered.

>>> Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Teamwork is an elusive concept to develop and then keep, and the night only got longer and harder for these individuals from all walks of life and spanning 40 years in age differences.

One middle-aged guy wore a kilt; another wore a tie and blue dress shirt; one young man had just received his Army commission; one woman was a computer software designer.

All suffered in a quest for teamwork.

Suffering - and the struggle of finally coming together as a team - bound them.

"Suffer in silence," said Cadre Mike, an Air Force Combat Control Team, or CCT, member, admonished the group.

Founded by former Special Forces soldier Jason McCarthy in 2008, GORUCK's mission is to build better Americans by teaching people what a team feels like, how it operates, and why camaraderie in Special Forces is so high.

"This is not about you," Geoff told me as we exited the water as the group reassembled on the beach.

"This is about the team. We stress you; you are cold and wet and tired and hungry.  You'll find your new limits."

After hours of strength sapping exercises, the hilly miles of walking uphill with their left shoes off and carrying water cans and curbstones, the mentally sapping experience of immersion into dark and cold water, the cadre continually pushed the group to function as one, as a team.

Then two things conspired to make that goal a bit more attainable.

Sopping wet and cold in the early Saturday morning hours in the middle of Warren G. Magnuson Park, the group had failed to reassemble fast enough.

Unsurprisingly, Geoff noticed.

Unnoticed by the shivering group, however, lay a telephone pole.

>>> Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

"Pick it up," Geoff ordered.

The pole was shouldered.

Our next destination was the University of Washington campus, a good four miles away.

"This log represents everything; it is the reason you are here," a third cadre member and Special Forces soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord said as the group moved along.

"The pain you feel will leave; the mental satisfaction you'll feel will last a lifetime - and this is why you are here."

>>> Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Very slowly but surely the group made its way to the UW.

The cadre - comprised of special operators from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps - knew when to encourage and when to remain silent.

When a team member wanted to quit, a cadre member was there to listen and expertly encourage. 

No one was asked to quit.  And when a person wanted to quit, a cadre member was there to listen. More times than not, the person decided to stay.

A few, however, did quit. It was their decision.

Reaching the UW campus, we found ourselves on a 300-meter red brick walkway leading away from a large fountain.

To cross the distance, some participants had to take off their rucksacks, hold them over their heads and then do a lunge exercise.

After 10 hours of physical and mental exertion, this is not easy.

Twenty-five pounds at this point felt like 250 pounds.

>>> Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Those carrying the telephone pole had to hold on to the pole and do the same lunge exercise.

That piece of wood had to have felt like three tons.

Muscles screamed; shouts of encouragement appeared too.

Fear at what the cadre would have them would have them do if they dropped the pole was omnipresent.

Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Fear of doing the rucksack-over-the-head lunge exercises over - and over - should one cheat was in play too.

Hatred of some of the cadre members also peaked its head around the corner.

"Sometimes that's what it takes to keep them going," Geoff said as 13 team members grimaced and groaned as they slowly moved the log down the walkway.

One guy struggled to keep his ruck above his head as he very slowly lunged his way down the walkway.

Cadre members took turns encouraging him to finish.

Some of the encouragement came in sharp words; others came with a question, allowing the participant a chance to talk.

Both approaches worked well - the group held together as it finished the longest 300 meter walk they'd every encountered.

They were becoming a team.

"It's at about this time we begin to see this," Geoff commented.

>>> Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

As we approached the Green Lake Community Center - where we had begun more than 12 hours earlier - the group moved a bit quicker.

"OK, now take off your right shoes," Geoff ordered.

"It's always about putting a bit of an irritant into an otherwise lousy situation," he added to me as the participants grabbed an abandoned shopping cart to dump their shoes into.

And then the end, the ABSOC participants walked back into the park at the community center.

They had completed the ABSOC.

In a simple ceremony, the cadre congratulated the muddy, wet, bone tired finishers and awarded each one a patch.

A simple patch that equals hard earned teamwork and self-confidence.

"This means a great deal," said 2nd Lt. Gabriel McKern, a recently commissioned officer headed to Fort Bragg, Georgia.

"To have been pushed to my limits is immensely satisfying. I will do this again."

For a complete listing and description of the various GORUCK challenges, visit www.goruck.com.

>>> 2nd Lt. Gabriel McKern, a recent graduate of Eastern Oregon University and its ROTC program, proudly displays his GoRuck ABSOC patch. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson