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Since I was a certified "Water Safety Instructor", during the Bob and Travel training at USMA, I was assigned as a "Lifeguard". After I completed my traverse of the pool, I got out of my gear and stood by on the edge of the pool.
The "Bob and Travel" consisted of traversing the lenght of an Olympic pool while wearing basic combat gear. Fatigues, Boots, web gear (with a sizeable rubber block in the butt pack) and weapon (rubber M-14). The idea was, you went to the bottom, shoved off at an angle then took a breath, repeat etc. so that you could cross a body of water with equipment !!
One of my classmates had a bit of a problem, he made several attempts at reaching the surface but came up VERY short. When he settled to the bottom, the Instructors called for me to retrieve him. When I got to the bottom, he was totally out and was Dead Weight. I grabbed him, planted my feet on the bottom and launched for the surface. We didn't make it to the top. I started clearing gear off of him on the way back down and headed for the top a second time. Made it up and started mouth to mouth on the surface while I headed for the side. By the time we got him out of the water, he was breating on his own. Simple training can become VERY complicated !!
Later
Martin
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Martin sends.
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