Member Highlight: GORUCK

The rucksack is more than just a bag. It’s a way of life. That’s how one husband-and-wife team in Florida sees it at least. This military-style hiking backpack has also provided them with a great way to make a living and an even better way to sustain and grow like-minded communities across the country. 

The GORUCK story began when former Special Forces soldier Jason McCarthy put his training to work designing a rucksack for his wife Emily. Before long the couple found themselves with a small business. Not long after, they discovered the potential of digital tools in making the business more efficient as a powerful way to engage with customers near and far. As a result of this engagement, GORUCK found itself tending to hundreds of ruck clubs across the country—autonomously led groups where members could get together and ruck. 

“Community is everything for us,” is how Emily describes GORUCK. But what happens when human contact becomes difficult or impossible? Thanks to digital tools, the GORUCK team was able to deploy a number of creative digital tactics—everything from launching a podcast to inaugurating digital training programs for the rucking community—that not only saved their business during the COVID-19 pandemic but also helped more Americans connect and exercise safely at a time when connectivity had become more difficult than ever