THE WARFIGHTER

Written by Jordan Fitzgerald

I am a hunter, a father, an educator, a former Special Operations Forces Commando and someone who shares a passion for getting out and amongst it.

I think many can relate to what it’s like being a testosterone filled and adventure seeking teenager, wanting to go out and take on the world. For me, my decision to join the army was one part me following a boy hood dream (I watched a few war movies growing up) and the second part was a little more personal. Growing up I didn’t exactly have what I call a “Brady Bunch Childhood”, don’t get me wrong, it was a sporty, adventure filled childhood but also shadowed by domestic violence, alcohol, parties, and some memories I never want my kids to have. After so many years of ups and downs I finally had enough, I decided I was going to walk my own path, I wasn’t going to become a product of my childhood, I was going to do something that matters and to me that was joining the army. When I look back, it was the best decision I ever made, if I didn’t take that path I don’t know where I would have ended up or what I would’ve ended up doing. When most people face adversity, they run from it, they seek comfort and safety. What I learned early on was that more often than not, you’re better off running towards it, facing it head on, and conquering it.With that said a little thought doesn’t go astray either. Me being me, I got obsessed and did what I saw in the movies, ran till I puked with a healthy portion of push ups and pull ups. An older me now knows that isn’t the smartest way to train but it got me in the door.

“When times get hard, we start to battle with our doubts and fears, the devil and the angel appear, the back and forth begins. In these moments, remind yourself that you can do it.”

Selection was the most pivotal event of my life, the entire experience taught me a lot about myself and mindset in general, many of those lessons fuel my drive today. Preparing for selection taught me about goal setting and discipline. As mentioned above, when I do anything, I do it obsessively, preparing for selection was no different. Once the goal was set to attend selection, I put a training plan in place and stuck to it like glue, I was rigid, nothing took priority over training. I was up at 5AM to get ready for work and then I would get home about 5-6PM, not long after getting in the door I would be heading back out it to train. If there was a family dinner to attend or anything of the likes when I was scheduled to train, I would skip it, like I said, obsessed. The actual selection course taught me a lot about myself, mindset, and quitting. Before selection began, I was the fittest I had ever been in my life, I couldn’t have been any more prepared physically. Day 1 of selection kicked off; most people know what it consists of from watching 1NZSAS: First Among Equals. It is all the military fitness tests in one day which consists off, a 2.4km run, max push ups, pull ups, and crunches. We then go straight into a BET (battle efficiency test) which is an 8km pack march with a pack weighing 40kg give or take plus a rifle, which I believe needed to be done in 72 minutes. From there we conduct a rope climb, scale a 6ft wall, drag another candidate a certain distance and then fireman’s carry them back. The day progresses and we head to the infamous hounds and hares’ event, at this stage the temperature has now reached the hottest day on record for a decade, we were melting. On this event I learned about pacing and understanding the bigger picture, I had gone out too hard earlier in the day, nearing the end of the hounds and hares run, I felt like I was going to pass out, if it wasn’t for another candidate giving me his water to tip over my head I might well have hit the deck.

After crossing the finish line, I eyed my last challenge for the day, the swim test. The swim test is a double-edged sword, getting in the water was the most refreshing feeling in the world, but the cramp caused by the cold water was not as welcomed when you need to swim! Day 1 in the bag and I was sat there in disbelief at the way I felt. Not a bad day’s work all on nothing but breakfast. The next few days are nothing but walking, blowing some serious date in the hills, more melting from the heat and that all too familiar hunger.

“This is where I learnt about the mind and how deceiving it can be. During the long days you ride the emotional roller coaster, one minute your smashing selection, and then next you’re starving, walking up yet another hill with your legs and lungs in a competition for who is burning more.”

I made a rule before starting selection and it was a rule that served me well. My rule was simple, no matter how sore, tired, hungry or exhausted I felt, I would start every day no matter what. I stuck to that rule and it got me through the hills phase, some mornings I was so sore and stiff that it took me the first kilometre just to warm up and get going again, until that point I walked like I should’ve been in a retirement village.

The wall. Vontempsky, also known as the wall, the Jerrys or the dunes, it is this phase that claims a lot of candidates and one that would claim me. Getting off the trucks to start Vontempsky I felt elated, I was here, at the wall, this is where all of the stories about selection come from. To be honest, for the first what felt like 12 hours, I was solid, mentally and physically, I even looked at some candidates and thought to myself

“hold yourself together, fucking hell”

As I watched the SAS operators riding around on the quad bikes, picking up candidates, a part of me felt a small win inside, for those who have served know the feeling, we become a bit like death eaters out of Harry Potter, we feed off of the misery of others. Come dinner time we get a break, a piece of bread and some soup, that shit didn’t even touch the sides. As we set off for the night I was already pissed at how shit dinner was, within minutes one of the DS was yelling at me to get my jerry can above my head, that was the beginning of the end for me. After what felt like a few hours of him zeroing in on me, my temper reared it’s head, I started to unravel, thinking of every reason why I didn’t need to keep going, about all of the negative things I had heard about the unit and how I had already passed through the Commando gate. My mind was a runaway train and it was about to derail, I snapped. I threw my jerry can into the sand and confessed I was done, I was pissed, I wanted to violently attack him. Very quickly all that anger turned into gut wrenching regret, I had quit, I actually just quit something, no matter what reason or excuse I ever gave, I quit in that moment, he won. I can tell you now, this fuels me to this very day. Running a business after a military career with no qualifications is hard, it’s fucking hard, but I will never quit because I have felt it’s searing pain and shame before, I will never feel that again.

Warfighter Athletic is one few have made and definitely as publicly as I have, that last bit has definitely had it’s moments but there is something exciting about being the path finder, especially as I now watch many other operators and soldiers following in my footsteps, building a meaningful exit strategy that will support them and their families beyond the years of their service. Warfighter Athletic originally started out with a big focus on physical training. When I looked at the personal training industry, I thought it was so fake and that for a lot of the high profile PTs, it’s not about the client, it’s about them, and it is all vanity driven. I was in Paris on a weekend away with a mate who I had served in the infantry battalion and Afghanistan with, he lived in England and I was on a trip hanging out with UKSF in Hereford. As we sat in a Park soaking up the city of love, we went back and forth on the corruption in the fitness industry, I closed off the conversation by saying

“imagine building something for soldiers but where you actually gave a fuck”,

That was essentially the beginning of Warfighter Athletic.

For a few months I shelved the idea as I was busy on a course on the US and then once returning home to New Zealand, within 4 days I was starting a promotion course (welcome to Special Operations) where the catalyst to take action occurred. At the beginning of the promotion course, we had to conduct an RFL test, that’s a required fitness level test, you run 2.4km, do some push ups and sit ups, nothing crazy. Well, 40% off these soon to be or most likely, already leaders, failed that test, 40%. For me it was clear a culture shift needed to occur and that the lines between Warfighter and Athlete needed to be brought closer together. Fast forward 2 and a half years and we have come along way. Starting out physical training and basic apparel focused, to now working with a world class designer and pouring every dollar I own, as well as my heart and soul into the development of technical apparel. Warfighter has grown as much as I have over the last few years but our reason for existing is extremely clear. We are here to design, develop, and produce world class training and apparel.

Now, I could talk on this all day as it goes much deeper than this, but I have already yarned a fair bit in this interview so maybe we will need to do another one in the future!

Fitzy