Being a Green Beret means being ready to go anywhere at a moments notice to perform any type of mission, so part of the job means always being in top physical condition. Before 9/11 ODA’s would “compete” for missions, having to prove to their commander that they were ready, equipped, and had a plan that would lead to mission success.
In order to assess each team’s ability and ensure they’re staying up on all of their tasks, commanders will order a Bee Sting from time to time, an endurance event-style competition which pits teams against one another and forces them to prove that they are in operational shape mentally and physically.
The first Bee Sting I ever participated in is detailed in “Love Me When I’m Gone” in great detail, as it’s a memory I’ll never lose. Over a span of two days we ran further than I had ever run, ruck marched further than I had ever ruck marched, performed a litany of various combat tasks, had a shooting competition and did just about every other physically exhausting thing our commander could come up with.
