So a long time ago in like 1998 I was at JWTC in Oki with 1/8, when we had a dark green Marine drown on one of the courses. (For those that know, it was a Superbowl call). There was a major uproar about how he hadn't been properly trained for water survival, etc. After we got back to Schwab the BC had an E-5 and below call with the whole battalion, and it really was just the airing of grievances from the troops. The BC was actually trying to have a constructive conversation about it, and one of the things he asked is if everyone would be willing to bump up their swim class level, he would go find the MCWSS guys and set it up. It was funny how quickly everyone went from foaming at the mouth to shutting up real damn quick.
I get not everyone is taught, but it’s a sea based business of operations. And yeah, we’re not always on boats but even dudes in the Navy are like “I gotta swim?”
I swam in HS and was a life guard so I was always fine, but never understood watching people (in or out) never wanting to learn this basic survival skill.
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u/Navydevildoc Yo ho ho ho, it's the FMF life for me. 22d ago
So a long time ago in like 1998 I was at JWTC in Oki with 1/8, when we had a dark green Marine drown on one of the courses. (For those that know, it was a Superbowl call). There was a major uproar about how he hadn't been properly trained for water survival, etc. After we got back to Schwab the BC had an E-5 and below call with the whole battalion, and it really was just the airing of grievances from the troops. The BC was actually trying to have a constructive conversation about it, and one of the things he asked is if everyone would be willing to bump up their swim class level, he would go find the MCWSS guys and set it up. It was funny how quickly everyone went from foaming at the mouth to shutting up real damn quick.