Water Survival

From USAFA Folklore

Water Survival (sometimes referred to as "Water Haze") is a physical education class taken by all cadets that teaches cadets various techniques for survival in a water situation, or in the event of a water crash. The highlight of the course centers around the 10-meter diving platform in the cadet gym: Each cadet must jump off feet first, wearing BDUs and sneakers. Once in the water, the cadet must kick off his shoes and swim underwater (approximately 25m) until he clears the bulkhead. Upon breaking the surface on the other side, the cadet must then clear imaginary burning fuel from the water, then remove his pants, inflate them, and use them as a flotation device.

The 10-meter platform is the main focus of the class from the cadet perspective. It's either very fun or very frightening, depending on the person. Some teachers require cadets to stand, toes curled, on the edge and look down. Some teachers let their cadets get a running start to help make it more fun. The view always appears higher than 10 meters because you can see all the way to the bottom of the pool, creating an illusion of greater height. Some men also forget keep their legs together and quickly learn to fear doing the 10-meter jump incorrectly.

It is said that completion of water survival is a graduation requirement, and there are many cadets who had to take it more than once. Some people cannot easily overcome their fear of heights and step off the 10-meter board. A person can still pass the class, even if they refuse to do the 10-meter jump, if they score exceptionally well in every other event. It isn't known if any cadet has ever failed to graduate because he couldn't pass water survival.

[edit] Basic Water Survival

There is another class for weak swimmers and those afraid of heights called "Basic Water Survival". A cadet can get into this class if he was in the Basic Swimming class due to his inability to swim well or if he failed the normal swimming or water survival class. The normal Water Haze classes usually have to wait on the Basic Water Haze cadets for their turn on the platforms. If you were scared of jumping, watching the Basic Water Haze cadets awkwardly jump/fall off and hurt themselves was discouraging, to say the least.

[edit] WHITLY

In the "early days" of USAFA (1956-1961), when the Earth was cooling and dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Water Survival consisted of the following events (done several times until you got it "right"):

1. Swim 400 yards and swim 25 yards under water.

2. Do a “dead man float” with either your hands or your feet tied (some cadets had both the hands and feet tied)

3. Jump from the 10 meter platform with a 25 lb pack, touch the bottom of the pool with your feet and propel yourself forward. This was repeated until you reached the shallow end.

4. Same as above but you had to make a flotation device from your shirt and from your pants and stay afloat for 10 minutes.

5. For recreation, we played water polo at the end of the period. By this time, everyone was exhausted.

Like every other course we took in the early years, survival swimming was a credit course as was dancing and decorum.