Training the Best

Today we started our water survival training. Yeah, I think I've said that three times already, but this was the actual Navy program that everybody has to have before boarding a Navy aircraft that flies over water. Everything up to this point has been entry level screening which is pilot specific. I don't know what the rest of the Navy does for their initial swim qualifications but I don't think that it is as intense as what pilots are put through.

So today we actually began to learn how to survive in the water given the survival equipment we will be given. All of the training takes place in the NSTI (Naval Survival Training Institute) in a quite impressive pool. Maybe not impressive by Air Force standards, but for a marine it was very well equipped. Our training started with hooking up to the recovery hook and strop that we will be lowered if we are ever picked up out of the water by a rescue helicopter (and will be on Tuesday). There is an electric hoist and water jets which simulate the downwash from the rotors and the current which is pushing you away from the hook. It looked easy from the poolside, but when you get in and the water is beating down on you it's very hard to see the rescue strop, even though t is a four foot long bright red float which is about as big around as a person's calf. You hook up, give a thumbs up, and you are along for the ride.

After that we went to an exercise designed to get us thinking about manipulating levers and hatches underwater. We dove underwater, grabbed a rail on the bottom of the pool, released a lap belt around our waist which was meant to simulate releasing from our seat, and pulled ourselves along it for about fifteen feet to a door. Once there we had to pull, slide, or push five different levers before turning another handle, pushing open the door, and finally pulling ourselves through the now open hatch. It was kinda fun.

Now onto the chair. You sit in a chair which is mounted to a rod that runs from back to front. After belting yourself in the instructor pulls a lever and you are flipped to the right, now upside down in the water. Release your lap and shoulder belts, find a reference point, pull yourself to the hatch to your left, twist the handle, and out you go again. You do this twice, the second time you do it you wear a pair of blacked out goggles which simulate doing this at night.

While we were doing the chair a local Air Force JROTC unit came by on a field trip. Yet another time when I wish I could hear what they were thinking. Probably a good recruiting tool for the Air Force; "See kids, if you join the Navy to be a pilot they're going to try and drown your ass first!" Little do they know the Air Force NFOs do the training with us and the Air Force pilots have to do something similar later on.

After those small build up events, we went on to the helo dunker. It is a blue capsule about the size of a large SUV which loosely simulates a helicopter interior. There are eight seats inside but we went in groups of six. Seats one and two are pilot (left side) and copilot (right) who sit facing forward in the simulated cockpit. Seats three and four are crew seats which are in the cargo area and face aft. Seats five through eight are along the sides of the helicopter and face inboard. Seats one and two have shoulder harnesses as well as lap belts (just like a real helicopter) while the rest just have lap belts.

Once you get your brief they raise the dunker about six feet above the water and drop it. As soon as it hits the water, seat two pops the window to his right and seats seven and eight open the windows to their right. However, the dunker, just like almost every helicopter which goes into the water, will turn over and you have to wait for that motion to stop. This takes a while, but if you release your belt before the motion stops in the dunker you have to do it again. Release too early in real life and you risk being injured by the still spinning rotor blades.

Just to make things more exciting, you are assigned a door to go out. Seat two just pops his window and swims out. Seat one must wait for him and go out the same window. Seats three and four must pull themselves along the seats all the way aft to the windows that seven and eight opened and exited. This can be difficult following the confusion of rolling and turbulent water that accompanies a helo going down in the water.

For the first dunk I was assigned seat one which is on the left side of the helo facing forward. The instructors rolled the helo left every time, which meant the guys on the left side were the first to go under. Combine this with having to wait for seat two to get out and you are holding your breath for a while. It wasn't really a big deal, I got right out. For the second run I was assigned seat seven. This meant that for the third and blindfolded run I would be in seat three, the worst one. Under water the longest with the furthest to go. Jeez. My Air Force buddy, Burns, who was in seat two next to me and eight across from me on the previous runs was not happy about this.

The second run went off without incident; I opened my window and flew right out. The third run didn't start out well. After I put on my blacked out goggles but before we were dunked I heard the squid in seat seven nervously telling the instructor that he did not understand how to open the window. Great, this is the guy that has to pop that window and get out before I can get out. I felt a second run coming on. I was also feeling a broken nose coming on from his flailing boots if he didn't get the heck out. I thought ok, calm down; this is just going to shorten the time you can hold your breath.

So let me take you through a run in the dunker while blindfolded. In seat three I assumed the crash position, which is bent over at the waist with my head on my knees, my left hand on my seat and my right grabbing my reference point (the seat in front of me) which will help me maintain orientation when things get upside down. Without warning, the dunker is dropped and we hit the water. Once we hit the water, the dunker started a slow roll which initially I couldn't really discern the direction of. Then things really get tilted and I knew. Since it is rolling to my right I didn't have much time to hold my breath. I inhaled deeply and waited. I didn't realize until a second or two later that I had inhaled too early. I could feel the water working its way up my right arm and angling towards my face. It was too late to exhale and inhale again so I just held. Right before my face went under I felt the coolness of the water rush up to meet my face and then I was underwater.

Once underwater the noises of the surface stopped but it was not quiet. The water rushed into the dunker from all angles, creating turbulent currents which tossed me around against my seatbelt. After the water calmed I could feel the dunker continuing its slow roll. You want to release your lap belt and get the fuck out but you can't just yet. You must wait until all movement is stopped before you release your belt so you wait. It felt like forever. Once the movement stopped, I pulled the release on my lap belt and begin to pull hand over hand along the seats toward the exit.

Once you are on your way, many things conspire to confuse and disorient you. Your helmet is buoyant, so through this roll it has gone from trying to choke you to death with your chinstrap to forcing your head towards the floor as the dunker rolls completely upside down. Your flight suit is full of trapped air as well, and as you pull your way along the seats facing the floor (now up) this trapped air rolls you over. If you didn't have a good grip on your reference point this will really screw you up.

After pulling yourself along three seats you are supposed to find a window which was left open by the man that exited the door before you. I say supposed to because that is not what I found. I mentioned before being dunked the third time to my buddy Burns that he should be looking out for a window which was closed when he got there because the divers might close it just for shits and giggles. Or as they call it "good training value." I was a little surprised to find the window closed when I got there but not panicked. I grabbed the window latch, pulled it open, grasped the frame and pulled myself out. For the final ride we had to swim clear of the wreckage, pull the release on our LPUs and then orally inflate them. They are supposed to inflate automatically but these are training LPUs and they want us to know what to do if they malfunction. Not really a big deal, just time consuming.

It was a little scary building up to the dunker and a little scary doing it, but looking back on it, it was kinda fun. Well I say that now, but my N-1, N-11 swim quals are only good for 4 years so I'll be back at least once more.

// posted by Josh @ 1/27/2006 04:03:00 PM