Water Training

A while ago I emailed family and told them that Ryan was going to start some underwater training. The pictures have finally been posted on the company link. Here's some that I chose to share and, after some help from Ryan, I'll be able to explain what the soldiers were doing.

First off, get hosed down to get rid of the dirt, dust, ect so that the pool doesn't get too dirty from everyone jumping in(fully clothed).



Get everyone inside and let's get started!


The first thing they had to do was to put on what Ryan referred to as LBE. It's this little black vest...or you could even say they were just straps or suspenders. The soldiers had their canteens and weapons on themselves too.



After they got their gear on, they had to stand with their back to the pool, jump in, and then swim 35 meters. Jumping in and swimming that distance didn't sound too bad to me til I remembered that they were fully clothed and had gear....no thanks!


Now comes the fun part....climb the 3 meter diving board and jump off while blindfolded! Can you say freaky? You don't know where the edge is, when you're going to fall off, or when you're going to hit the water! That last point is the part that would get to me the most. Oh yeah, they still had their weapons to hold on to too.





Coming up after doing the high dive....


The last thing the soldiers had to do was to stand on the edge of the pool again, jump in and go down far enough to strip off their weapon and LBE before coming back up. This was the part that Ryan didn't quite make it on. He jumped, touched the bottom and did what our instinct tells us to do--push off to the top. His head bobbed up (not all the way out of the water) but he managed to keep the rest of his body below the surface while he completed the task. They took off 5 pts since the back of his head broke the surface. Oh well, he still got 45/50! I think this is him in this picture....



There were plenty of life guards in the pool and ready in case a soldier needed help. Thank goodness! I can't imagine how heavy all the gear, uniforms, and shoes were in the water!


If you want to check out more pictures of the water event, here's the link:

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm57/echo501-08/CWST/?start=all