The G-SHOCK GGB100 Can Handle the Toughest Jobs on Earth

Produced in partnership with G-SHOCK.

For decades, G-SHOCK watches have gained praise for their fantastic toughness, but the G-SHOCK GGB100 Mudmaster normally takes the brand’s rugged legacy to a new degree. From prime to bottom, it is made for complete toughness to withstand difficult get the job done in the most severe environments. And for Southern California-dependent Hotshot firefighter Brian Anderson, tough function and intense environments are just section of the position. For most of the 12 months, he and his crew head to the entrance traces to incorporate fires in wilderness places all all over the place. It is challenging work—and precisely what the GGB100 was crafted for.

Amongst wildland firefighters, Hotshots like Anderson are the very best of the best—“the Navy SEALs of the wildland community,” as he puts it—and it is a standing they gain by doing work in some of the most brutal circumstances conceivable. Hotshots experience unrelenting heat, smoke, and steep terrain, all though carrying large machines and hustling to consist of a single of nature’s most powerful and unpredictable forces: wildfire. Even with two many years of encounter under his belt, the pretty serious hazard of these fires retains Anderson on his toes every single time he and his crew response a contact.

“It’s almost nothing but an adrenaline rush,” he tells Men’s Journal, “just genuinely extreme.”

We just lately caught up with Anderson as he and his crew commenced coaching for this year’s hearth period. It was the excellent possibility to understand additional about the unbelievable work they do, and also a great way to set the GGB100 to the test.

Hotshot instruction begins in May well and lasts many weeks. Throughout that time, Anderson leads his 20-human being crew as a result of courses to brush up on firefighting competencies and drills to establish their exercise and familiarity with gear. A usual working day might involve suiting up in complete firefighting gear and likely on a extensive hike by the mountains, clearing brush to make hearth breaks, or simulating a response to a healthcare unexpected emergency.

“It’s variety of the equal of what football players would contact hell 7 days,” states Anderson. “The physical desire is really strenuous.”

But it is a cakewalk as opposed to battling an precise wildfire. 1st, Hotshots have to traverse remote, mountainous terrain whilst carrying anything they need for a 16-hour shift—protective tools, food, drinking water, tools—on their backs.

As soon as they arrive on the scene, they place themselves ideal at the edge of the flames. Temps on a regular basis strike triple digits, thick smoke tends to make breathing practically extremely hard, and they get the job done to halt the fire by clearing brush and trees with almost nothing more than hand resources and chainsaws. It’s intensive, backbreaking labor.

“You really don’t fairly have to be a bodybuilder, but you have to have the exact same mentality, and it has to be coupled with a marathon runner’s stamina,” clarifies Anderson. “It’s an excessive need on the entire body in a multitude of ways.”

It also places an serious need on the Hotshots’ gear, like what is on their wrists. For Anderson, G-SHOCK is the only brand name of check out that tends to make the quality. He purchased his 1st G-SHOCK shortly following turning out to be a firefighter, and he was amazed by its general performance on the career.

“It did not subject how lousy I beat it up, it hardly ever stopped operating,” he states. “Not even for a 2nd.”

The GGB100 is the latest evolution of G-SHOCK’s dedication to extremely-resilient timepieces. Set merely, all the things about this observe is hard. The circumstance is built from a higher-rigidity carbon substance that will not deform even when uncovered to bumps and scrapes, and thanks to innovations like protective steel pipes all around the buttons and an airtight internal seal, the view can go by means of dust, mud, and h2o with no lacking a defeat.

In addition, the GGB100 will come loaded with tech to assist you hold your bearings in the wild. Its quad sensor allows it to screen authentic time compass headings, temperature, altitude, phase count, and barometric stress (particularly valuable for keeping abreast of sudden climate alterations). The G-SHOCK Linked application unlocks even additional performance. There, you can customise the watch’s settings and use the Mission Log operate to blend its altimeter knowledge with your phone’s GPS for a comprehensive look at your route.

For Anderson, all of these attributes combine to make a check out which is very useful when combating wildfires. The digital and analog faces make it straightforward to go through, even in a haze of smoke. He particularly likes the altitude readout, which is great for coordinating with helicopters and air tankers in hilly terrain, and owning temperature data appropriate on his wrist allows him keep an eye on weather circumstances that influence a fire’s conduct. Following all, keeping 1 action in advance of the blaze is important for finishing the mission.

Of training course, sturdiness is crucial, far too: Even even though digging by means of brush or laying hose lines, the GGB100 can deal with the warmth, smoke, grime, and mud that occur with the job.

“Almost every thing it has to give, we can place into sensible software exactly where we are,” Anderson claims.

In order to do their occupation effectively, Hotshots like Anderson have to have overall self-confidence in their gear, in each individual other, and in on their own. If you’re not well prepared for it, states Anderson, wildland firefighting can quickly overwhelm you.

“We’re swinging instruments all day long in some of the most serious environments exactly where the terrain is rugged, it’s steep, footing is uneven, and fire conduct is at its most extreme,” he suggests. “If you don’t have the ability mentally to push your self further more than you think you can go, then you won’t past.”

Although Anderson receives several certified applicants each and every calendar year, not absolutely everyone makes the slash. Wildfires have a way of weeding out the fewer devoted.

“Some of them have had to stand up and say, ‘I’m sorry but this is not for me. I just cannot do this,’” he says.

By drilling, hiking by the backcountry, and mastering the ins and outs of effective firefighting, Anderson can help his crew build the actual physical and psychological toughness they want to experience the comprehensive force of a wildfire without having breaking down. In his perspective, there’s no substitute for true-globe wildfire experience, but the education has an additional essential reward: It allows the crew operate better as a staff. That is in which their biggest power lies.

“Little by minor we develop into one particular truly successful and cohesive unit,” he states.

It’s hard to consider a greater embodiment of complete toughness than Anderson and his crew. Most people today wouldn’t past 5 minutes in their boots, but their grit and encounter make them elite execs at one particular of the most hard employment on earth.

The GGB100 was designed to similarly high criteria. Other watches may settle for fantastic sufficient, but this one’s developed for people who put themselves and their equipment to the test—every working day.

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