thedrifter
11-16-06, 05:22 PM
Marines looking for a few good swim instructors
Mandatory course has too few teachers
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, November 17, 2006
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — In boot camp, Marines must pass a swim test to graduate. Once in the fleet, Marines periodically must participate in regulated water survival training and subsequently pass a swim qualification.
But some Camp Hansen Marine water-survival instructors say it may soon be difficult to conduct water survival training at Okinawa’s southern camps.
Their concern stems from the fact that just eight to 10 Marine water-survival combat instructors are based at the southern camps.
About eight years ago, instructors banded together to start the Swim Qualification Program, which now monitors qualifications bimonthly at Camp Hansen and during the summer at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, said water-survival instructor Capt. Cameron Evans, a communications officer with Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron. The instruction is open to all interested units, he said.
The instructors form a strong team, helping as many Marines through qualifications at one time as possible, while always ensuring that safety comes first, Evans said.
Since the program began, Evans estimates, about 20,000 Marines have gone through qualifications.
Base spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Charles Albrecht said Tuesday that base Marines have not had difficulty completing qualifications. He answered all further questions about swimming requirements by citing Marine Corps Order 1500.52C, which governs combat water survival training.
Units at the northern camps like Camp Schwab have their own water survival instructors and conduct their own training evolutions, Evans said. But, he added, many of the southern camp instructors, for whom this is a collateral duty, are scheduled to rotate soon.
Although Order 1500.52C stipulates that only certified water survival instructors teach the training, combat water-safety swimmers could take up the slack, said water survival instructor Sgt. Nicholas Hewitt. Although safety swimmers can’t teach the survival skills, they can rescue distressed swimmers and their presence lets instructors train more Marines at once, he said.
The order limits to 10 the students an instructor can monitor at once. However, an exception lets instructors supervise up to six combat water-safety swimmers, who each can monitor up to five swimmers.
But available safety swimmers also are in short supply, Hewitt said.
Instructors teach an eight-day Combat Water Safety Swimmers course whenever there is interest shown — but not enough interest is being shown, Hewitt said. A recent class could have held 20, but just three showed up, he said.
“The course is physically demanding and Marines must have a strong presence in the water, which may account for the lack of volunteers,” Evans said,
Marine leaders emphasize the importance of water survival training and Order 1500.52C states that Marines “must obtain and maintain a valid swim qualification during their careers,” but consequences for not completing the qualification have proven of questionable strength.
The order does direct that commands put Marines who fail qualification into a remedial swim program supervised by a certified water survival instructor and annotate it on training records.
But swim qualifications are not calculated into the scores that determine when privates through corporals are promoted. Nor are they part of the fitness reports used to evaluate sergeants and above, although the water survival training order does mandate that units keep swim qualifications locally for three years.
Instructors say the best scenario would be for each unit to have its own instructors and safety swimmers but until that happens, they’ll keep the program going as long as safety standards can be upheld.
Said Hewitt: “We are amphibious, but people are losing sight of that. You have to be a complete Marine: one mind, any weapon, any environment.”
Want to help?
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Swimmers wanted.
That is the message water survival instructors who run the Swim Qualification Program here are putting out.
Instructors offer the eight-day Combat Water Safety Swimmer Course on an interest-driven basis, said Sgt. Nicholas Hewitt, a water survival instructor who helps teach the course.
Marines leave the course as Red Cross certified lifeguards. They also receive Red Cross certification in CPR, automated external defibrillation and first aid, Hewitt said.
Any strong swimmer is welcome, but before you take the class make sure you swim, swim and swim, said Hewitt, alluding to the eight days of intense pool training.
The course teaches combat lifesaving techniques as well as lifeguard rescues and builds swimmers’ endurance, he said.
Sgt. Curtis Padgett, who graduated from the course Thursday, admitted the course was difficult but said, “Anyone who enjoys swimming and plans to stay in Marine Corps, this is the course to come to — we need more swimmers.”
Lance Cpl. Robert Hansen, a classmate, added, “If I save even one life, that makes it worth it.”
Contact Hewitt at Nicholas.Hewitt@usmc.mil for more information about the Combat Water Safety Swimmer Course.
— Cindy Fisher
Ellie
Mandatory course has too few teachers
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, November 17, 2006
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — In boot camp, Marines must pass a swim test to graduate. Once in the fleet, Marines periodically must participate in regulated water survival training and subsequently pass a swim qualification.
But some Camp Hansen Marine water-survival instructors say it may soon be difficult to conduct water survival training at Okinawa’s southern camps.
Their concern stems from the fact that just eight to 10 Marine water-survival combat instructors are based at the southern camps.
About eight years ago, instructors banded together to start the Swim Qualification Program, which now monitors qualifications bimonthly at Camp Hansen and during the summer at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, said water-survival instructor Capt. Cameron Evans, a communications officer with Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron. The instruction is open to all interested units, he said.
The instructors form a strong team, helping as many Marines through qualifications at one time as possible, while always ensuring that safety comes first, Evans said.
Since the program began, Evans estimates, about 20,000 Marines have gone through qualifications.
Base spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Charles Albrecht said Tuesday that base Marines have not had difficulty completing qualifications. He answered all further questions about swimming requirements by citing Marine Corps Order 1500.52C, which governs combat water survival training.
Units at the northern camps like Camp Schwab have their own water survival instructors and conduct their own training evolutions, Evans said. But, he added, many of the southern camp instructors, for whom this is a collateral duty, are scheduled to rotate soon.
Although Order 1500.52C stipulates that only certified water survival instructors teach the training, combat water-safety swimmers could take up the slack, said water survival instructor Sgt. Nicholas Hewitt. Although safety swimmers can’t teach the survival skills, they can rescue distressed swimmers and their presence lets instructors train more Marines at once, he said.
The order limits to 10 the students an instructor can monitor at once. However, an exception lets instructors supervise up to six combat water-safety swimmers, who each can monitor up to five swimmers.
But available safety swimmers also are in short supply, Hewitt said.
Instructors teach an eight-day Combat Water Safety Swimmers course whenever there is interest shown — but not enough interest is being shown, Hewitt said. A recent class could have held 20, but just three showed up, he said.
“The course is physically demanding and Marines must have a strong presence in the water, which may account for the lack of volunteers,” Evans said,
Marine leaders emphasize the importance of water survival training and Order 1500.52C states that Marines “must obtain and maintain a valid swim qualification during their careers,” but consequences for not completing the qualification have proven of questionable strength.
The order does direct that commands put Marines who fail qualification into a remedial swim program supervised by a certified water survival instructor and annotate it on training records.
But swim qualifications are not calculated into the scores that determine when privates through corporals are promoted. Nor are they part of the fitness reports used to evaluate sergeants and above, although the water survival training order does mandate that units keep swim qualifications locally for three years.
Instructors say the best scenario would be for each unit to have its own instructors and safety swimmers but until that happens, they’ll keep the program going as long as safety standards can be upheld.
Said Hewitt: “We are amphibious, but people are losing sight of that. You have to be a complete Marine: one mind, any weapon, any environment.”
Want to help?
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Swimmers wanted.
That is the message water survival instructors who run the Swim Qualification Program here are putting out.
Instructors offer the eight-day Combat Water Safety Swimmer Course on an interest-driven basis, said Sgt. Nicholas Hewitt, a water survival instructor who helps teach the course.
Marines leave the course as Red Cross certified lifeguards. They also receive Red Cross certification in CPR, automated external defibrillation and first aid, Hewitt said.
Any strong swimmer is welcome, but before you take the class make sure you swim, swim and swim, said Hewitt, alluding to the eight days of intense pool training.
The course teaches combat lifesaving techniques as well as lifeguard rescues and builds swimmers’ endurance, he said.
Sgt. Curtis Padgett, who graduated from the course Thursday, admitted the course was difficult but said, “Anyone who enjoys swimming and plans to stay in Marine Corps, this is the course to come to — we need more swimmers.”
Lance Cpl. Robert Hansen, a classmate, added, “If I save even one life, that makes it worth it.”
Contact Hewitt at Nicholas.Hewitt@usmc.mil for more information about the Combat Water Safety Swimmer Course.
— Cindy Fisher
Ellie