I knew walking into Fort Pierce Central High School’s JROTC Cobra Battalion that I was going to be in trouble.
They’d built this rope bridge as part of their Raider Team training — a single rope stretched from pole to pole — and before I could even ask how it worked, the cadets were making a harness out of rope for me. Not the comfy seatbelt kind — this thing went across my chest and tight around my lungs, like a DIY corset designed by the Army.
At 220 pounds, I hoisted myself up with the help of a cadet’s bent knee acting as a step stool, swung onto the rope… and immediately found myself hanging upside down like a sloth who’d made some bad life choices…