My first experience at rappelling<\/u> came in 1971 while a recruit at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina.\u00a0 Until this time I had never attempted anything like this and like most of my fellow recruits was both anxious and apprehensive.\u00a0 As we went through our initial training on the ground we couldn\u2019t help but look up at the tower.\u00a0 From our vantage point it looked like it went up into the clouds.\u00a0 How would we ever get down without killing ourselves?\u00a0 Not willing to show our fears we kept a straight face and when it came to the end of the instruction and we were asked if there were any questions we all answered loudly, \u201cNo Sir!\u201d.\u00a0 Of course in the back of my mind the only question was \u201cWhat am I doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n As we climbed the stairs to the top of the tower I could feel a hush fall over the entire platoon. \u00a0Exiting onto the roof we realized that the tower looked even higher from up here.\u00a0 As I peered over the edge the recruits still on the ground looked like ants to me.\u00a0 I briefly wondered whether my SGLI insurance would cover this.<\/p>\n Looking back at my initial training I am constantly reminded that all my students today experience the same fears.\u00a0 The physical part of rappelling is easy to master and honestly not that difficult.\u00a0 It is the battle with the mind that most have to overcome.\u00a0 Calm demeanor by the instructor coupled with constant encouragement usually gets the students down the first time and once on the ground most cannot wait for their next trip down the wall.\u00a0 Occasionally I do run into more difficult cases and once again it is always that mental battle that the student must win.\u00a0 They only need to have the courage to take that first step and they quickly realize that the view from the top is not that bad.<\/p>\n To learn about rappelling at the Marine Military Academy read our recent article “Rappel Training<\/a>“.<\/p>\n To learn more about the Marine Military Academy visit our website at http:\/\/www.mma-tx.org<\/a> or request information at http:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/MMA\/admissions\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Rappelling, the View from the Top Maj Harold Compton \u00a0 Over the last 12 years I have had the pleasure to teach rappelling to thousands of cadets and summer campers at the Marine Military Academy.\u00a0 I have had students from 12 years to 18 years and have also conducted training for adult groups throughout this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training-facilities"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2716"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12698,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions\/12698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"rappelling\"](\"http:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/rapel2.jpg\" "\\"rapel2\\"")
<\/a>\u00a0 Over the last 12 years I have had the pleasure to teach rappelling<\/b> to thousands of cadets and summer campers at the Marine Military Academy.\u00a0 I have had students from 12 years to 18 years and have also conducted training for adult groups throughout this time.\u00a0 It never ceases to amaze me how much fear rules the actions of many of these students.\u00a0 Recently it caused me to reflect back on my own first experience at rappelling<\/i>.<\/p>\nFirst Rappelling Experience<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Watching the other recruits go before me it all looked so easy.\u00a0 When my turn came I was suddenly struck by the thought of what would my family think when they heard the news I was dead or injured from a fall from this massive tower.\u00a0 My instructor, a young hardcore Marine Sergeant simply told me \u201cDo exactly what we told you and nothing else, got that?\u201d\u00a0 I answered firmly \u201cYes Sir\u201d but for the life of me I suddenly had forgotten everything.\u00a0 After hooking me up and checking my brake I was told to sidestep to the edge and sound off to my belay man.\u00a0 As I shouted out \u201cCompton on belay\u201d I vaguely wondered if those would be my last words.\u00a0 I assumed my position on the edge and leaned out.\u00a0 At this point I experienced a battle between what my body wanted to do and what my mind was telling me I had to do.\u00a0 The body wanted to get away from that edge and find a safe spot while the mind was telling me this was safe and I had to do it.\u00a0 Luckily for me, the mind won out and I began a slow descent to the ground.\u00a0 I was immediately aware that rappelling was not as hard as I had thought and I continued without incident to the ground.\u00a0 Twice more that morning I ascended the steps to the top of the tower and repeated my descent.\u00a0 Without showing it my other recruits I was extremely proud and happy I had completed the rappelling, and was still alive!<\/p>\nRappelling at Marine Military Academy<\/h3>\n