SAN ANTONIO – More than 450 USAA employees are recovering after getting a taste of boot camp in the company's 16th annual Zero Day PT event.
The company said Friday that the goal is to give civilian workers a window into the lives of the military men and woman the financial service calls customers.
“It’s one thing to see ceremonies. It’s one thing to see our beautiful facility and all the awards and decorations. It's a whole other thing to experience this,” said Army Sgt. First Class Brian Parks, who is now an IT director at USAA.
The white collar employees went through three-and-a-half hours of mental and physical exercise at the PT field at the USAA offices on Fredericksburg Road on the Northwest Side.
Starting at 4 a.m. Friday, and going three-and-a-half hours until just after 7 a.m., the camp included yelling, pushups and running.
The idea, like carrying the 150-pound "misery log," is to prepare recruits for combat.
"When you go to combat, unfortunate things happen to your fellow warriors. And, that body gets heavy," Parks said.
The company was founded in 1922 by 25 military officers. As it's grown to 17,000 employees in San Antonio alone, only 35 percent of the workforce are veterans or military spouses. This day gives everyone a snapshot into military life.
"This is the one event that we have, that we experience it," Park said.
"It was an eye opener to see," said intern Kevin Hernandez, who participated for the first time, "I mean, this is not even, this is just a small sample of the things that they go through.”
Some of the recruits had attended weekly training sessions to prepare after signing up in early May.
“I knew the physical part was going to be hard, and it was, but the mental part, doing what you need to do with people screaming in your ear," said USAA marketing professional Kari Rose. "You can hear people screaming over here and it's just chaotic, which is just like it is in the field, and that's why they do it.”