Swim Quals

[ttracker65]

when splashing off of an LST your AMTRAC is going to go under then pop back up to the top. IF you are scared of sharks/ sea wasps then maybe you should be looking at an MOS behind a desk. You do get a shark repellant kit when you do your Quals

[Call me fish]

You do get a shark repellant kit when you do your Quals

Yay! Shark repellent... haha.



~fish

[ttracker65]

do not laugh it is a dye bag and if no one has told you sharks go by smell to. I have swam extensively at Henoko beach and the only danger in the water there is the jelly fish called Sea Wasps that infest the water in spring. When they are out they do not hold quals. As for 21 Area DelMar at Camp Pendleton your quals are at white beach and i have never seen a shark there. But rest assured Shore party and Recon do carry the real shark repellant called a 12 guage shotgun

[BlindZeal08]

A 12 gauge shot gun isnt re assuring....50 cal bullets break apart I think 2 feet into the water. What are little pellets gonna do?? Tickle the shark away?

Anyway, I am not worried about it...Just sayin.

[ttracker65]

To date I can not remember any Marine being eaten by a shark....we taste bad....so I would not be concerned.
Cpl B

[aust10n]

You should be more worried about drowning then being attacked by a shark.

I scuba dive and anyone else that dives the oceans knows how RARE it is to see a shark in its natural habbitat. I know a guy that has 500 dives in key west and has only seen 3 sharks.

Plus there are only 12 recorded sharks attacks a year. There are more elephant, moose, lightning strikes, and coconut (coconut falling and hitting you on the head) deaths a year.

The odds will be on your side.

[SlingerDun]

USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

[aust10n]

USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

This occured out in the pacific ocean. The sharks were mainly blues. They hunt the open ocean. Also this happened during the '40s don't have the exact year to tired to look. Which makes a HUGE difference.

Sharks are finned illegally daily. 3 sharks die every second, 259,200 a day, 500,000,000+ plus a year. If the practice of illegal shark finning continue shark experts believe most of the oceans will be extinct of sharks by 2015.
Shark fishing, Commercial Fishing, Long lings, Finning all of this is to blame not just finning although finning is the big problem. The shark population has dropped 98% since sometime in the '90s (can't remember the year).
There was no problem with the shark population during the '40s. especially in the open water of the pacific.

This is why you should not worry about being attacked by a shark. Just not enough sharks at there to even concern yourself with, even if there were they only attack people when we look like something that is on there food chain. This is why so many attack victims survive. They taste with their teeth, they bite and let go when they find out it isn't something they are used to.

[LeonardLawrence]

I heard from recruiters that when you jump into the pool you go to the bottom of it but the gear actually makes you float, so you go right back to the top? True?

True. Your pack is packed so that it is water resistant and bouyant. Part of the qual is to swim using your pack as a floatation device.

When swimming in flak and kevlar...not so bouyant, but manageable if you keep your cool.

[Brandon1]

I just read an article on sharks on yahoo actually. I dont know where your getting your ssstatisstics (Can you guess what movie that is from ?) but the article said only 38 million sharks a year are killed as a result of finning. That is still a pretty large number but nothing compared to the "500,000,000" a year you put. I'm not saying your wrong, i'm not saying your right, i'm just stating what the article said. On another note about sharks...Has anyone had the Shark fin soup or whatever it is called for $100 or more?

[Brandon1]

Sharks killed one human in 2007, according to the International Shark Attack File, but humans killed an estimated 38 million sharks for their fins each year, Baum said. That's as many sharks as the entire human populations of the 35 largest cities in the United States. Other estimates are nearly double that.

That was the passage I was talking about. I guess if you click the "Other estimates" it turns into 73 million. Here is the full article.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...butattacksrise

[aust10n]

I just read an article on sharks on yahoo actually. I dont know where your getting your ssstatisstics (Can you guess what movie that is from ?) but the article said only 38 million sharks a year are killed as a result of finning. That is still a pretty large number but nothing compared to the "500,000,000" a year you put. I'm not saying your wrong, i'm not saying your right, i'm just stating what the article said. On another note about sharks...Has anyone had the Shark fin soup or whatever it is called for $100 or more?

It's about 375,000,000 + a year. (I don't know why i put 500, i was tired when typing this)
This is a result of Finning, Longlines, Commercial fishing, and sport fishing.
If it was only 38million it wouldn't be a big as problem as it is now.

Shark fin soup raised to $150. There is a bowl that costs $1000, the fin is from a Basking shark.
I've read many articles from sites that specialize in trying to stop illegal finning, that is where I remember my numbers from. There are also videos on youtube that show sharks being finned illegaly.
It's kind of sad. I'm not an animal rights activist but this makes me sad.

When they catch the shark, they cut off it's fins and throw it back in the ocean ALIVE. The shark sinks to the bottom and drowns. A shark can't breathe unless it swims to keep water flowing over it's gills.

It's important that people try stop illegal finning and save sharks. Why?

Sharks are a KeyStone Predator. This is very important to have in an ecosystem. With out sharks Coral reefs, and kelp forests would collapse. The reason the would fall is because predator fish and mammals would continue to eat, a shark regulates this process. This process is kept in check all the way to plankton. Plankton are very important to our survival. The ocean produces the majority of our oxygen (i can't remember the %) and plankton play a vital role in the production of oxygen.

[LeDave]

i'm not a real good swimmer either, does all marines have to do that csw2 and csw3 thing? what about infantry?

[rkidd4]

I myself am not a strong swimmer and never had any pool time before boot camp. I think the two biggest things are one, to listen to the instructors and learn their methods. And two, not to freak out. No one’s going to let you drown at boot camp and there’s no point in panicking and thrashing around like a little girl. I wouldn’t lose any sleep if you need a csw2 for your MOS and you’re not a strong swimmer. I believe those that did need a class 2 for their MOS worked with the instructors if they didn’t qual for third class and were almost all able to become 2nd class swimmers. Perhaps a more qualified Marine could give you some better advice as well, like I said I too am not a very strong swimmer.

Sweet that makes me feel better...I have to get a class 2 swim qual too and Im definitely not a strong swimmer...I can swim but not that well. Thanks for making me feel better lol.

[yellowwing]

I don't think there are too many sharks in the rivers and canals of Al Anbar and Afghanistan. But you still may need to swim to save your life and your Bro's.