GORUCK was founded by two militant masterminds, one with time in the American Special Forces and the other from the CIA. More specifically, Jason and Emily McCarthy, who both had a hand in bringing the brand’s signature traits to life. The initial goal was to create a rucksack that could hold up to military-grade standards. From there, without compromising on a single element, the brand grew into the powerhouse it is today, offering outdoor and travel gear, footwear, apparel, and more. It’s an integral part of the rucking movement, a low-impact exercise with military roots in which you walk with a weighted rucksack. If you want some gear that will go the distance, that’s rough, tough, and ready to rock, is the place to shop.
We chatted with Jason McCarthy about that formative journey and what’s in store for the future. Grab yourself a snack, maybe a drink, and let’s get into it.
From no plan to a thriving business
Resident interviewer Dan Gaul leads with a descriptive intro that McCarthy, interestingly enough, dissects: “What started as a gear company has grown into a movement with thousands of people embracing rucking as a lifestyle and community-driven fitness activity.”
But McCarthy makes it clear that the entire development process of the brand and the business wasn’t as organized or well-thought-out.
“There was no real vision,” he explains. “There was no real plan… How do you chart a course through land that nobody’s ever been through? How do you get through the Darién Gap?”
In fact, McCarthy never really wanted to be in the business world. “My wife was in the CIA, I was in the army, my goal was to get back to serving our country in a different way or something [like that],” he says.
However, as these things usually do, thanks to the universe, innate talent, or perhaps even through luck, an idea formed.
“How do you chart a course through land that nobody’s ever been through?
“I was in West Africa at [my wife’s] diplomatic housing and was trying to figure out what I should do next,” McCarthy explains. “I was gonna move there, and she’s like ‘Oh, you should do the GORUCK thing.’ Because I had built her a GORUCK, or go bag, to put in her house and in her car, in case. They love a good coup in Africa. So, in case there was a coup, you know, AKs in the streets, RPGs, and all that stuff, she’d have some supplies to help her get through — this girl that I love desperately still. That just led to a million different terrible decisions, but we just kept surviving, and if you survive long enough, eventually you’re a survivor.”
On his formative years
Jason McCarthy was only 22 years old when the World Trade Center towers fell. That event, tragic as it was, spurred him to enlist in the U.S. Army. Shortly after he enlisted, from 2006 to 2008, he served in the 10th Special Forces Group. And that experience has much to do with the man he is today. As he eloquently describes, “It’s not the revenge I sought after 9/11 that has endured; it’s the love in my heart for those I served beside. If there’s a nobler way to live a life than in service to others, I’ve not yet seen it.”
“The lessons that were learned at that time, under such intensity, I will carry them with me everywhere I go.”
Today, he’s like anyone else. Well, maybe not, but he is a Florida man. “Now, sometimes I’m just a dude in flip-flops at Publix buying groceries for Taco Tuesday,” he says.
Regardless, none of those experiences are forgotten.
“You can’t unlearn your training. It’s hard-wired. Your parents are your parents, where you grew up, or didn’t, is where you grew up, or didn’t. Your formative years are formative for a reason,” McCarthy says.
Exploring team GORUCK: The McCarthys and community
Delving into the community aspect, McCarthy explains how he and his wife work as a team, particularly tackling different things that play to their strengths.
“We’re a good team. She thinks about things a little differently than I do,” he says.
He explains that his wife, Emily McCarthy, is a bit more in tune with the emotional and empathetic side of the business, while he’s more about taking action.
There’s certain pain points that I’m obtuse to that she sees, and there’s certain walls that just need to come down. That’s the Yin Yang.”
“We have 500 Ruck clubs around the country and the world. These are people that we know, love, and respect, who are out doing what we think is God’s work, bringing people together in the real world through physical fitness and rucking,” he says. “We want to validate all of their efforts and all of their energy, and she’s much better at doing that than I am. I can love and respect all of them and the fact that they serve the mission. I just get fixated on the mission. And Emily is very involved with how that mission happens and how people feel that are around that mission.”
Make no mistake about it: this is no small feat. The synergy between the two is what has inspired the business and the community to thrive.
“It’s not all kind of easy. I’m not asking for easy. There’s certain pain points that I’m obtuse to that she sees, and there’s certain walls that just need to come down. That’s the Yin Yang,” he says.
A lesson in humility
Though the McCarthys are passionate about this endeavor, McCarthy notes that hard work and drive have been essential throughout.
“Even when you love something, even when it is your passion, you’re still gonna have to go clear the stumps, you’re still gonna have to go do all of the really, really nitty-gritty work. It goes to this sort of obsession. If you really love it, you have to have an ethic to match it,” he says.
“I think everybody in this day and age is getting sold a bill of goods, and I think we need to be reminded that we have a lot more freedom than we think we do.”
Passionate or not, it’s clear everyone has work to put in, whether it’s in their current career, rucking, building a better life for themselves, or something else.
“I think everybody in this day and age is getting sold a bill of goods, and I think we need to be reminded that we have a lot more freedom than we think we do. It’s how we exercise that. It’s not all about me-me-me; it’s not all about this sort of glorification of the individual and your wishes, wants, and desires every fleeting minute of your life,” he says.
It all boils down to this: “How can we really focus on what matters and stop doing what doesn’t? It does matter to learn how to do hard things and follow your passion, but you have to learn the wrong way or in the wrong place.”
For Jason and his wife Emily, that passion is about giving back to the country and the community through this beautiful idea they’ve built, even if it came about as a haphazard, ducktape-assembled mission.
Try as McCarthy might to convince us otherwise, I challenge you to take one look at everything GORUCK is doing and see it as anything but the amazing venture it truly is. They might not have set out on this journey to create something special or build a thriving business, but that’s precisely what they have delivered. More importantly, the experience and work ethic that has been put in by everyone is beyond inspiring.
Truthfully, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not watching the full interview. Although over an hour long, it’s jam-packed with interesting details about GORUCK, the rucking community, and what’s to come. Go give it a watch.
