Swimming at ocs

[kls]

How far do you have to swim. I have read conflicting reports on this subject. Is it fairly hard or fun. One thing I read said 500yds and another said 50yds.

 

[Thisguy]

It's not difficult. It's 50 yards (length of the pool). 500 yds is if you swim the PRT instead of running it, but that's not an option at OCS.

 

[mkoch]

The way I understood it was that everyone had to complete the swimming PRT before going to OCS.

If I recall correctly, that's for BDCP only.

 

[eddie]

Why for BDCP only?

 

[IRfly]

What about API? Read somewhere on the forum in a somewhat older post that we have to swim a mile in our flight suits for API... I've never swum a mile, and really don't think I can. Do they train you up for it pretty extensively?

 

[eddie]

You can swim a mile... trust me. I don't know about that flight suit and boots part, but believe me, you can swim a mile.

 

[lthackston]

What about API? Read somewhere on the forum in a somewhat older post that we have to swim a mile in our flight suits for API... I've never swum a mile, and really don't think I can. Do they train you up for it pretty extensively?

Yes you swim a mile in API while wearing flight suits. You do it in week 3. But, they do train you up for it pretty good and you've got plenty of time to complete it. Don't worry about it. But, if you are an aviator, you will do additional swimming during OCS. I can't remember how much extra we did, but we headed to the pool a few times for some additional tests.

 

[IRfly]

Trying not to panic...

Oh boy...I just about died doing a quarter-mile swim for Boy Scouts, and I was probably in a lot better shape back then (ten years ago...wow). Thanks for the forewarning.

 

[ben]

Don't panic at alll... they build you up for the mile swim. It's not hard, you will be fine.