Cruelbreed
07-21-2009, 11:47 AM
Overhauled swim quals eyed for every Marine
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 20, 2009 6:05:46 EDT
Marines are supposed to be like alligators, amphibious creatures that spring from the water ready to kill.
But about 40 percent of enlisted Marines meet only the bare minimum for combat water survival, able to handle themselves without gear in a swimming pool, under the watchful eyes of trained lifeguards. About 5 percent of officers fall short of their minimum standards, which include swimming in full gear and the ability to assist an exhausted or wounded Marine.
The Corps intends to change that by drastically overhauling the combat swim program for every Marine. Under a proposed plan, the bare minimum will become far more rigorous, forcing Marines to jump in the water with a full combat load, swim in boots and learn to escape a sinking vehicle.
Those lessons could have been lifesavers for the 29 Marines who have drowned in Iraq since 2003, some of them trapped inside a submerged vehicle with little or no training on what to do next.
Some swim instructors worry that the current minimum standard for enlisted Marines, known as Combat Water Survival-4, doesn’t do enough to prepare them for emergency situations. More than 74,000 enlisted Marines stop at only this basic test, conducted without boots, weapons, packs or flaks.
“CWS-4 just teaches you how to swim,” said Cpl. Alford Griffin, a combat swim instructor at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. “It’s not really sufficient enough for teaching Marines how to survive.”
Training and Education Command officials declined to discuss details of the proposed plan, saying it is still under review and open to change. There is no timeline for approval of a final plan, said 1st Lt. Joy Crabaugh, TECOM spokeswoman.
“The revamped program will provide Marines the skills and knowledge needed to survive in the water under adverse conditions until rescue arrives, while also affording Marines training and opportunities to increase confidence in the water,” she wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.
“As the Marine Corps is amphibious in nature, Marines must possess the necessary skills to survive in a myriad of conditions, and the Corps is working toward a water survival training program that equips Marines for success.”
But a December 2008 review of the Marine Corps Combat Water Survival Qualification Program, obtained by Marine Corps Times, suggests the changes will be a significant departure from the current combat water survival training program.
Approved in 2004, it uses a “building block approach” with eight water qualification levels that increase in difficulty, according to a Marine Corps order on swim training. All Marines have to pass CWS-4 before leaving boot camp and must renew their qualifications annually. Officers are required to obtain and maintain a CWS-2 qualification level.
According to the program review, existing qualification levels — including the most difficult training for lifeguards, instructors and instructor-trainers — will be condensed into three levels for all Marines: basic, intermediate and advanced.
The basic level will combine key skills from CWS-4 and CWS-3, forcing Marines to practice maneuvering through the water with a full combat load, according to the proposed plan.
Although packs can be waterproofed and boots were designed to float, the same can’t be said of body armor and ammunition. In order to survive, a Marine must learn to shed that dead weight — a skill that does not come naturally.
“Removing your gear under water is not easy and can be a painstaking process,” said Sgt. Nicholas Heier, a swim instructor assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif. “For somebody that can’t swim, [exiting a submerged Humvee] is next to impossible. It would take a miracle to get them out of the water.”
The intermediate level will merge key parts of CWS-2 and CWS-1 with Water Survival-Qualified, the highest of the five basic levels. Requalification will be required every two years, according to the review.
The biggest change is the introduction of a vehicle-dunk, similar to helo-dunk training required for aviators and Marines who typically ride on helicopters. All Marines will take a class on escaping from a submerged vehicle, but only those qualifying at the intermediate level will actually put those lessons to the dunk test in the pool.
Details on the vehicle dunker are scarce, but it will likely resemble the helo dunker already used in the Corps. During the Shallow Water Egress Trainer Course, Marines enter a chamber resembling the cargo area of a CH-46 Sea Knight or CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter, which is then submerged and flipped over in an indoor pool.
Marines are required to remain in their seat while they get their bearings. Still holding their breaths, they shed their gear, figure out how to escape the submerged helicopter and swim to the surface. The training enables Marines to practice orienting themselves and teaches them how to stay calm if they’re ever in a helicopter crash over water. The helo-dunk training is tough, but safety officials report only one incident, a Marine who bumped his head, since 1980, said April Phillips, spokeswoman for the Naval Safety Center.
Surviving a helicopter crash over the ocean may sound impossible, but it does happen.
In 1999, a CH-46 crashed into the Pacific during workups for a Marine Expeditionary Unit deployment. Seven Marines were killed, but 11 others were able to escape the aircraft.
According to the proposed changes, Marines will be required to wear body armor, utilities and boots during the vehicle submersion training.
The program review is a strong indication the service finally may be following recommendations laid out more than two years ago by the Marine Corps Inspector General. The Corps’ combat swim program came under IG scrutiny in 2005 after two Marines in separate training instances died during training.
In February 2005, Jason Tharp, a 19-year-old recruit from Sutton, W.Va., died after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., during his final day of water-survival training. His instructor, Staff Sgt. Nadya Lopez, was found not guilty of negligent homicide the following year at a general court-martial at Parris Island, after being accused of “refusing to react” to Tharp’s plea for help.
At MCRD San Diego in August 2005, 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Andrew Gonzales — a new drill instructor training to become a water-survival instructor — drowned after instructors practiced rescue holds on him.
“Water survival must be promoted as a combat skill, starting in recruit training,” stated the 2006 IG investigation. “The Marine Corps should consider exposing all recruits to various techniques of combat water survival, regardless of the qualification attained. This means putting all recruits into the water wearing a combat load. The first time they do this should not be when their lives depend on it.”
Some changes, such as designating the pool decks a “low-stress environment” and limiting the number of Marines allowed in the pool, were implemented shortly after the IG report was released. Others, such as the focus on survivability, are still being discussed.
The goal, according to the order, is to “prepare Marines for deployment to diverse, austere, and chaotic environments.”
Water-related threats in a landlocked country such as Afghanistan or even the deserts of Iraq aren’t the most pressing concerns of Marines heading into combat there, but that doesn’t negate the risks. Driving a Humvee or 7-ton truck along narrow canal roads deep in the countryside is no easy task.
And the sad fact is some of the Marines who drowned in vehicle-related accidents in Iraq likely lacked the combat water survival training needed to save their lives.
Why? Some Marines, such as those stationed in a combat zone or assigned to most formal schools, are eligible for exemptions. And some instructors say that swim qualification training can be overlooked as Marines train for repeated combat tours. If these proposed changes take hold, though, that trend likely will disappear.
“The principle is simple: It’s water survival,” Heier said. “Either you can swim or you can’t. The nature of this job requires you to swim.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/marine_swimquals_072009w/
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 20, 2009 6:05:46 EDT
Marines are supposed to be like alligators, amphibious creatures that spring from the water ready to kill.
But about 40 percent of enlisted Marines meet only the bare minimum for combat water survival, able to handle themselves without gear in a swimming pool, under the watchful eyes of trained lifeguards. About 5 percent of officers fall short of their minimum standards, which include swimming in full gear and the ability to assist an exhausted or wounded Marine.
The Corps intends to change that by drastically overhauling the combat swim program for every Marine. Under a proposed plan, the bare minimum will become far more rigorous, forcing Marines to jump in the water with a full combat load, swim in boots and learn to escape a sinking vehicle.
Those lessons could have been lifesavers for the 29 Marines who have drowned in Iraq since 2003, some of them trapped inside a submerged vehicle with little or no training on what to do next.
Some swim instructors worry that the current minimum standard for enlisted Marines, known as Combat Water Survival-4, doesn’t do enough to prepare them for emergency situations. More than 74,000 enlisted Marines stop at only this basic test, conducted without boots, weapons, packs or flaks.
“CWS-4 just teaches you how to swim,” said Cpl. Alford Griffin, a combat swim instructor at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. “It’s not really sufficient enough for teaching Marines how to survive.”
Training and Education Command officials declined to discuss details of the proposed plan, saying it is still under review and open to change. There is no timeline for approval of a final plan, said 1st Lt. Joy Crabaugh, TECOM spokeswoman.
“The revamped program will provide Marines the skills and knowledge needed to survive in the water under adverse conditions until rescue arrives, while also affording Marines training and opportunities to increase confidence in the water,” she wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.
“As the Marine Corps is amphibious in nature, Marines must possess the necessary skills to survive in a myriad of conditions, and the Corps is working toward a water survival training program that equips Marines for success.”
But a December 2008 review of the Marine Corps Combat Water Survival Qualification Program, obtained by Marine Corps Times, suggests the changes will be a significant departure from the current combat water survival training program.
Approved in 2004, it uses a “building block approach” with eight water qualification levels that increase in difficulty, according to a Marine Corps order on swim training. All Marines have to pass CWS-4 before leaving boot camp and must renew their qualifications annually. Officers are required to obtain and maintain a CWS-2 qualification level.
According to the program review, existing qualification levels — including the most difficult training for lifeguards, instructors and instructor-trainers — will be condensed into three levels for all Marines: basic, intermediate and advanced.
The basic level will combine key skills from CWS-4 and CWS-3, forcing Marines to practice maneuvering through the water with a full combat load, according to the proposed plan.
Although packs can be waterproofed and boots were designed to float, the same can’t be said of body armor and ammunition. In order to survive, a Marine must learn to shed that dead weight — a skill that does not come naturally.
“Removing your gear under water is not easy and can be a painstaking process,” said Sgt. Nicholas Heier, a swim instructor assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif. “For somebody that can’t swim, [exiting a submerged Humvee] is next to impossible. It would take a miracle to get them out of the water.”
The intermediate level will merge key parts of CWS-2 and CWS-1 with Water Survival-Qualified, the highest of the five basic levels. Requalification will be required every two years, according to the review.
The biggest change is the introduction of a vehicle-dunk, similar to helo-dunk training required for aviators and Marines who typically ride on helicopters. All Marines will take a class on escaping from a submerged vehicle, but only those qualifying at the intermediate level will actually put those lessons to the dunk test in the pool.
Details on the vehicle dunker are scarce, but it will likely resemble the helo dunker already used in the Corps. During the Shallow Water Egress Trainer Course, Marines enter a chamber resembling the cargo area of a CH-46 Sea Knight or CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter, which is then submerged and flipped over in an indoor pool.
Marines are required to remain in their seat while they get their bearings. Still holding their breaths, they shed their gear, figure out how to escape the submerged helicopter and swim to the surface. The training enables Marines to practice orienting themselves and teaches them how to stay calm if they’re ever in a helicopter crash over water. The helo-dunk training is tough, but safety officials report only one incident, a Marine who bumped his head, since 1980, said April Phillips, spokeswoman for the Naval Safety Center.
Surviving a helicopter crash over the ocean may sound impossible, but it does happen.
In 1999, a CH-46 crashed into the Pacific during workups for a Marine Expeditionary Unit deployment. Seven Marines were killed, but 11 others were able to escape the aircraft.
According to the proposed changes, Marines will be required to wear body armor, utilities and boots during the vehicle submersion training.
The program review is a strong indication the service finally may be following recommendations laid out more than two years ago by the Marine Corps Inspector General. The Corps’ combat swim program came under IG scrutiny in 2005 after two Marines in separate training instances died during training.
In February 2005, Jason Tharp, a 19-year-old recruit from Sutton, W.Va., died after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., during his final day of water-survival training. His instructor, Staff Sgt. Nadya Lopez, was found not guilty of negligent homicide the following year at a general court-martial at Parris Island, after being accused of “refusing to react” to Tharp’s plea for help.
At MCRD San Diego in August 2005, 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Andrew Gonzales — a new drill instructor training to become a water-survival instructor — drowned after instructors practiced rescue holds on him.
“Water survival must be promoted as a combat skill, starting in recruit training,” stated the 2006 IG investigation. “The Marine Corps should consider exposing all recruits to various techniques of combat water survival, regardless of the qualification attained. This means putting all recruits into the water wearing a combat load. The first time they do this should not be when their lives depend on it.”
Some changes, such as designating the pool decks a “low-stress environment” and limiting the number of Marines allowed in the pool, were implemented shortly after the IG report was released. Others, such as the focus on survivability, are still being discussed.
The goal, according to the order, is to “prepare Marines for deployment to diverse, austere, and chaotic environments.”
Water-related threats in a landlocked country such as Afghanistan or even the deserts of Iraq aren’t the most pressing concerns of Marines heading into combat there, but that doesn’t negate the risks. Driving a Humvee or 7-ton truck along narrow canal roads deep in the countryside is no easy task.
And the sad fact is some of the Marines who drowned in vehicle-related accidents in Iraq likely lacked the combat water survival training needed to save their lives.
Why? Some Marines, such as those stationed in a combat zone or assigned to most formal schools, are eligible for exemptions. And some instructors say that swim qualification training can be overlooked as Marines train for repeated combat tours. If these proposed changes take hold, though, that trend likely will disappear.
“The principle is simple: It’s water survival,” Heier said. “Either you can swim or you can’t. The nature of this job requires you to swim.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/marine_swimquals_072009w/