I came up...a Marine!

[DJlaysitup]

I Came up a Marine!++++++++++++++ (Commercial)

I actually went through the same thing with a kid in basic training. Lopez was his name. We were on the ladder together going up to the 10 meter. He looked over at me and admitted that he didn't know how to swim. My advice to him was to just bail out and take remedial swimming. I swear to G he said to me "no...I'm going to do this".

So I told him to just take a deep breath and hold his nose on entry and when he came back up - kick and paddle around a little while until the instructor said to swim to the side - then just get out of the pool via the ladder.

Poor kid went into the water like a dart.....similar to a Chinese diver...whoosh.

I was afraid that was it, but after a few seconds he came up like you wouldn't believe. He was kicking and slapping the water like a madman. At first he was out of the water up to his belly....slapping the water like crazy. Then..after a few seconds...he started to sink down lower...then he wore out and sunk like a stone.

The poolside lifesavers got him off the bottom and after some puking up water he was assigned to remedial swimming class.

I jumped off - held my nose - paddled around a bit - and swum over to the ladder. :rolleyes:

Edited January 26, 2011 by DJlaysitup

[AHF]

Funny story! Did you know how to swim at that point (and thus were taking your own advice)?

[DJlaysitup]

Funny story! Did you know how to swim at that point (and thus were taking your own advice)?

I knew how to swim some...but I certainly wouldn't win any races. The ten meter board wasn't very intimidating to me since we used to jump off rocks/cliffs as kids.

Interesting aside: It's only been fairly recently that the Navy even has had any real interest in whether or not a sailor can swim. Back in the old days the British Navy even preferred non-swimmers since it would make them less likely to jump overboard in an emergency and more likely to do their very best to try and keep the ship afloat.

As they told us in USN Damage Control classes...it's always best to stay with the ship and keep her afloat. If you are out in the middle of the ocean and the ship sinks, the best swimmer is just the last guy to drown.

(or get eaten by sharks or die from hypothermia or whaterver).

Edited January 29, 2011 by DJlaysitup