Why cant you swim?

x39,it's Deer Island, right across the Old Sow from Eastport. I spend quite a bit of time there in the summer paddling the islands. great spot down there. I'm in Saint John, about an hour up the coast.
 
Boats said:
You want to hear something that might strike you as remarkable? I knew people who joined the United States Navy that didn't know how to swim. I don't know how one manages such a decision, but it would seem inescapable to me that a service regularly out on the open ocean just might embroil one in a swimming situation that could turn out lethal. . . . Joining the Navy without knowing how to swim before one gets there ought to get a person a general discharge for being an idiot.
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Careful, there were lots of folks who joined the Navy for WWII who couldn't swim, my father was one. Two of the ships he was on were sunk and he managed to not get wet.

I took lots of swimming lessons as a kid and thought I could swim until I got down to flight school at Pensacola. Those guys were/are serious about swimming and you have to pass the swim qualifications before you even see an airplane. So I relearned all those strokes (crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke and elementary backstroke -- no the dog paddle doesn't cut it) and conditioned myself for the underwater portions (enter the water from a high board feet first and without breaking the surface swim to the other end of the pool) and mile swim (any stroke, just don't touch the sides of the pool). It's not really hard, but you have to do everything. The parachute drop and helo dunker are actually kind of fun. Swimming is definitely a survival skill.
 
Okay, I will apologize to any naval veterans out there who can't swim. Patriotic fervor can make up for a lot.

Anyone in this all-volunteer age who can't swim and joins one of the "wet" services is just asking for a tragedy IMO.
 
I kinda taught myself to swim when I was late teens/early 20's. My family would go to the lake maybe once or twice a year, and hardly ever to the town pool. We tried swimming lesson's a couple of times, but they never lasted. I got in to weight lifting after high school and would lift, shower and (try to) swim after. I can swim well enough by myself and always enjoy it. When we lived in a trailer park (yeah I know, but we had access to a pool) I took my son up there, first in swimmies and a diaper, then just a suit as he got better. He's 8 now, and HAS TO swim every summer. He makes other kids his age (and sometimes older) look silly with his fearlessness.

Heck, one night I was playing in the deep end (only 8 feet...) touching the bottom and hanging out down there, when he asked me what I was doing. I told him, and he wanted to do it. So... I told him to wait for me to go down, then blow out his breath. I'd grab his ankle and pull him down. He was 3 years old when the touched the bottom at the deep end!:eek: He couldn't stay down, but he loved it. (and I love to brag about it! :D)

Also, my wife lost 60 pounds swimming laps in that pool.

We've got a 3 1/2 foot pool in the back yard now (to cut down on trips back to the trailer park) and he's in that a couple times a day BUT only if my wife or I are out there with him. He knows he'll LOSE the pool if he tries to go out by himself.
 
Boats said:
Anyone in this all-volunteer age who can't swim and joins one of the "wet" services is just asking for a tragedy IMO.
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With that I agree. Even if your ship doesn't sink, it's just too easy to end up in the water. Marine Lance Corporal Zachary Mayo ended up swimming in the Indian Ocean for 34 hours after he went overboard -- too easy (see Marine Combat Water Survival pdf, pg 1-1). Besides, survival swimming (treading water, elementary backstroke, sidestroke) just isn't a difficult skill to learn. Some things like turning your trousers into expedient flotation devices takes a bit of practice, but it ain't rocket science.
 
I wouldn't want to be aboard a ship for any length of time without knowing how to swim. That is nuts!

I swim & tread water 2 - 3 hours per week (1/2 hour to 45,in at a time mostly) but I can and have tread water for more than an hour. ...I thought that was pretty good till I was watching the history channel the other night - they had something about some fellas treading water for like 6 hours in the ocean before being picked up after an operation. One of the dudes was injured & bleeding the whole time too :eek:
 
My father was in the Navy and enrolled my mother and I into a program the Navy offered families to teach infants to swim. I was in the water before I could walk. I understand the program was brought about more to keep mothers from panicing if their babies fell into the water during send offs and returns, but I do not remember ever not being able to swim. I swim more like a bobber now, but have no problems in the water.
 
treading water: for swimming practice they used to make us kick in place, hands above our heads, for upwards of 20 minutes at a time. the smart guys would position themselves under the diving board and when the coach wasn't looking, grab on ....
 
flipe8, I'm in Jonesport. Some nice waters in Passamaquoddy and Cobscook Bays.
 
Yeah I just heard of a case locally where a guy went out on the lake couldnt swim and didnt put on the life jacket that was on the boat the boat tipped and his friend couldnt get to him cause he was wearing his life jacket and the guy just sunk to deep too fast. I've been able to swim for a long time even before I took lessons at Brooks AFB, I will never understand people that will go out on the water that cant swim it's asking for trouble. I also get really pi$$ed at people that allow thier kids to run around near water unattended and they cant swim and the kids dont know how to swim either.
 
I was raised in the desert, and hardly ever saw water deep enough to swim in, unless you counted the water tanks, and swimming in the house drinking water was NOT encouraged. Never learned to swim.
When I turned 18, I wanted to join the Army, and the recruiter told me I had to be able to swim enough to pass a test, 50 metres in helmet boots etc, so I went to a public pool and joined the "learn to swim" class.

Great hairy lump of a youth, 5'9". 160 lbs, splashing in the pool with all the 5 year olds :o :o

Oh! the shame!

Learned enough in a couple of days to pass the Army test, and can now swim fairly well, but I have never forgotten the embarrassment of the kiddies "learn to swim" classes :D :D
 
When I was 6, I knew how to keep my head above water, but that was pretty much it, sadly. My parents decided on getting a pool, and enrolled me in swimming classes. I remember I freaked out, but by the time we had the pool in, I loved swimming. When I go down to white trashy Ocean City (substitute rhyming word for City ;)), for our annual family reunion, I might go up to the beach once. Every day I'm in the swimming pool out back at home from May until October. Except for the fact that you don't know what you're stepping on when you're in the Chesapeake Bay, or at the ocean for that matter, I love swimming in the Bay. I'm not a fast or master swimmer, I can stay afloat, but I would probably die if I didn't have something to hang onto after staying afloat for awhile. Also, my neuroses about sea monsters cruising the Bay :rolleyes: might hamper my mental well being.

Several of my friends don't know how to swim, and are amazed that I love the family pool so much. I'm a big guy, the water is great on my rapidly deteriorating knees, and it's just calming to be in the water.

The only bad thing about being in the pool is that you can't take a knife in with you ;) :D.

Really, once you realize that you can paddle around, heck, the simple doggie paddle, staying afloat and having confidence, you're ready for anything.
 
I am a poor swimmer and I don't like the water. Does one follow the other? Of course it does. If I loved to swim, I'd have to like the water. If I loved the water, I'd have to learn to swim better.

I can't imagine joining the navy without knowing how to swim is a "great" idea, but I'm sure they will teach you how to. Lots of people join the army and don't know how to shoot a rifle, but they teach that too.
 
bulgron said:
Heh heh. Well, expect her to be able to hold her breath like there's no coming up for air ever again. I've never seen anyone who could stay underwater longer than my wife.

In fact, we met in a scuba diving class. When you first take diving, they make you swim a ways on top of the water and then swim some more underwater, just to show you're comfortable doing it. Well, on the surface swim I couldn't help but notice that she was keeping up with me. So when it came time for the underwater swim, I buddied up with her just to see how she did.

The deal was, you had to make it 3/4 of the way down the pool underwater.

So it's our turn and we take off. We get to the 3/4 mark, look at each, shrug, keep going. Then we get to the far end of the pool, look at each other, shrug, turn around and head back. Then we get back to the starting point, look at each other, shrug, turn around, and head on back down the pool.

I finally came up for air halfway down on the third length. She made it a few strokes farther than I did.

Funny thing was, the instructors almost failed us. Of the three there on deck, two weren't paying attention so all they saw was us coming up halfway down the pool. So we didn't make the distance, right? Fortunately, the third instructor was watching all of this and laughing his ass off, so we were golden.

Of course, come time for the open water dives, all of this came back to haunt us. The first thing you do for your open water is some free diving -- you use a snorkle and no air tanks. So they take the class out into the ocean (Monterey Bay) to do our free dives and they stop everyone in about 10 or 20 feet of water. Except for me and my future wife, that is. Us, they grab by our vests and keep dragging out into the bay, farther and farther until we're in about 45 or 50 feet of water.

"OK smartass," they tell me, "go to the bottom and bring me back a shell."

So I did.

They did not expect this. So then they turn to my future wife and they tell her to go to the bottom and bring back a hermit crab. Ha ha ha, no way is she going to pull that one off.

But she did.

After that, I just had to marry her, you see. Just had to.

Sorry for running on like this, but the story still makes me laugh.
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Great Story Bulron!
 
Pietje010 said:
Around the world there are a lot of people how can’t swim. Why can’t you swim? And why not? This isn’t a joke…but a topic I’m really curious about, especially the why and where that is.

It’s a survival skill you need to be master. But it’s a forgotten one and even more important than making fire. I can swim, actually I’m a very good swimmer. I have to because I live in The Netherlands, a very water rich country and have leaned it from I was a baby. So why can’t you?
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I think that for most people its not the fact that they can't swim, Its that there not a strong swimmer
 
The college I went to had a swim test as a graduation requirement. I don't remember what it was (I placed out of it by taking a triathlon PE class) but it wasn't very difficult. Every so often you'd get editorials in the campus newpaper whining about having to pass the swim test. "What does swimming have to do with business, English, art history,....etc" :rolleyes: I'm not a great efficient swimmer, but I like to play in the water and I can stay afloat and get from point A to point B (slowly).
 
My son (now 4years old) used to love swimming with me before I took off for OIF. While I was away, he jumped in the deep end following his cousins who can swim and sank. Luckily he was immediately pulled out of the pool. On the other hand, now I can't get him in the water w/o him screaming bloody murder. Obviously this is a serious problem, and I can't seem to break the ice. Any suggestions? Or should I just consult a professional?

S/F
 
When I was a kid my dad and grandad taught me how to swim. That was just like don't accept rides from strangers, a safety thing. They taught me to remember my address and phone #

When I was 16 my Dad taught me to drive and of course encouraged me to get my first job and open a savings account.

Knowing how to save yourself (swimming) locate yourself geographically (address) be able to drive, earn money and take crap (first job) save money, all basic life skills but I run into so many kids these days whose parents never took the time and it seriously retards their development:thumbdn:
 
PTKstockton said:
My son (now 4years old) used to love swimming with me before I took off for OIF. While I was away, he jumped in the deep end following his cousins who can swim and sank. Luckily he was immediately pulled out of the pool. On the other hand, now I can't get him in the water w/o him screaming bloody murder. Obviously this is a serious problem, and I can't seem to break the ice. Any suggestions? Or should I just consult a professional?
S/F
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I used to see this all the time at the pool we went to. Parents that would grab their screaming kids and wade around the shallow end, the kid in terror the whole time, getting dunked every now and then. Do what I did with my son... take him to the pool everyday and let him do what HE wants to do. If he wants to sit on the side with his toes in, that's cool. If he wants to play Matchbox cars in the shade, that's cool as well. Every now and then, ask him if he wants to get in and BE THERE to help him if he does. Have floaties for him, and/or a ring for him to play on. Take him to Walmart and let him pick out his own pool toy. If he still doesn't want to get in, play with the toy yourself and have fun doing it. If he sees you're having fun (and not scared), he'll be far more likely to want to join you.

Or, you could throw him in the deep end, and let him fend for himself... Which I don't recommend, but I hear happens all the time.Not only would that intensify my fear of the water, but then I wouldn't truct my father as well...
 
silenthunterstudios said:
The only bad thing about being in the pool is that you can't take a knife in with you ;) :D.
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I take my Pacific Salt into every pool I venture into. I carry it IWB though and make sure that the clip isn't doing anything stupid, (my least favorite "feature" of FRN handled spydies). Never have to worry about corrosion and the only people who spot it are fellow knife owners who don't make a fuss.
 
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