LOL, since we used rubber chickens and they were going to get wet anyway when we did the equipment drop exercise, nobody cared if you kept your weapon secured.
I passed all five events relatively easily. It's mostly a DON'T PANIC exercise. The shoes were the biggest problem, and the BDUs didn't make things convenient.
I tried to get away with the empty-canteen routine, but last night we were explicitly told not to bring ours, they had some there, and every canteen was full.
Somehow I gained buoyancy from the last time I tried, and I could have treaded water pretty much forever, even without the pants as PFD routine. We got to use them to make a waterborne litter for a casualty, which was a lot of fun, because then we'd sail around the pool on three pairs of pants. Only problem was, you'd have your pants off, and then somebody would have to slide their inflated pants under your ass, and... yeah... there are a lot of women in this unit because our schools are big on nursing and education, but my group was all guys. >.< We felt strangely... gay when groping some other guy's ass while he's sitting there in his shorts.
The 3 meter drop was a little scary, but in practice it's really easy. Sort of like the Slide for Life at basic- it's a seventy foot drop, but if you hit it right, you pretty much skip over the top of the water. I did it right, used my weapon and my arms to break my fall, and was underwater for maybe two seconds.
Ten minute swim went by fairly quickly, only problem was there were thirty odd of us in a relatively small pool, and I got kicked in the head twice and pushed underwater once. That wasn't a whole lot of fun.
Then we got pushed in with our gear and had to maintain positive control of our rifle and LCE at all times while swimming what ended up being 25m, which is evidently the new standard, not 15. Small difference. I just popped over on my back and did a really slow, really steady backstroke. Even kept my weapon dry.
I'm no great swimmer, but as long as you keep steady and don't panic, almost anyone could pass this test. I think it was at least a 70% pass rate, even for the people doing it for the first time. It's hard not to panic, especially when you're on your back and someone kicks you in the head and forces you underwater or something, or when your strokes are off for an instant and you start to sink, but if you don't panic, it's pretty easy. Great workout too, and a lot of fun.
Sorry, that was my smart @$$ comment for the day! 
