Forgive me if I’m getting ahead of myself here, but I was wondering why there aren’t any stickies about swimming and information for anyone who isn’t capable of meeting the swimming requirements. I’m hoping we could put something together here that would answer general questions about what’s required to apply for OCS, ROTC, et al.
First of all, I’m not an expert on swimming or any such thing. I’m actually grew up a borderline aquaphobic and six months ago was capable of little more than survival floating. With that being said, here are the current questions asked on the application for commission regarding swimming ability:
Can you swim 50 yards using the crawl, breast, side, and back strokes?
Can you remain afloat for 5 minutes (prone position) without submerging or grabbing the side of the pool?
Can you jump from a 12-ft platform into a body of water?
Can you tread water?
When I first set about applying to OCS (should know in a couple weeks whether I’ll be recommended for Student Naval Aviator), my recruiter said that it’s best to wait until you can comfortably answer yes to all four questions, even though it’s indicated on the app that you can apply as long as you remedy it. On the first question it’s not clear whether it’s fifty yards each or total, but it’s safe to assume that you will have to demonstrate that you are capable of each stroke, and if you can’t do fifty yards then you probably need to work on that stroke. The prone float might be a problem to someone like me who doesn’t have much buoyancy; I guess I don’t know what exactly they’re looking for there, but I can float on my belly with a lung full of air. The next one is pretty clear. On treading water, there’s no mention of how long; I guess they assume if you’re strong enough to swim you’re strong enough to keep your head above water for a reasonable period.
As I mentioned I had zero real swimming ability not too long ago. I tried working on it on my own, but given that I had no base to work off of, it didn’t go very far and I quickly realized that I’d need the services of a qualified swim instructor. I ended up going to the YMCA and found a good instructor. Looking back on it, I might have been able to do it myself, but it would have been much harder and taken much longer. I’ve had ten half-hour lessons at a cost of $230, and it’s gotten me to to where I need to be. In my experience, I spent an hour or so in the pool for every half-hour lesson. Practice is very important, I often found myself having trouble getting down what the instructor was trying to teach me until I had time to think about it and work on it on my own. I came a long way, my instructor has commented that she was worried about whether it was even doable to begin with. Basically, except for the case of a true aquaphobic or unexpected difficulties picking up on it, the average person will have less work to do than me. If I can do it, you can do it.
Anyway, that’s my experience. Swimming was an issue that could have kept me from applying to the Navy, and when I started I was fearful that I might not be able to overcome it. I hope that no one lets their lack of swimming ability and/or fear of the water keep them from applying for the Navy as it could have done, and probably did for a time, in my case.
Hopefully others who know more than me can add on to this, it’s something that I know I could have used, and I’m sure there are others.
First of all, I’m not an expert on swimming or any such thing. I’m actually grew up a borderline aquaphobic and six months ago was capable of little more than survival floating. With that being said, here are the current questions asked on the application for commission regarding swimming ability:
Can you swim 50 yards using the crawl, breast, side, and back strokes?
Can you remain afloat for 5 minutes (prone position) without submerging or grabbing the side of the pool?
Can you jump from a 12-ft platform into a body of water?
Can you tread water?
When I first set about applying to OCS (should know in a couple weeks whether I’ll be recommended for Student Naval Aviator), my recruiter said that it’s best to wait until you can comfortably answer yes to all four questions, even though it’s indicated on the app that you can apply as long as you remedy it. On the first question it’s not clear whether it’s fifty yards each or total, but it’s safe to assume that you will have to demonstrate that you are capable of each stroke, and if you can’t do fifty yards then you probably need to work on that stroke. The prone float might be a problem to someone like me who doesn’t have much buoyancy; I guess I don’t know what exactly they’re looking for there, but I can float on my belly with a lung full of air. The next one is pretty clear. On treading water, there’s no mention of how long; I guess they assume if you’re strong enough to swim you’re strong enough to keep your head above water for a reasonable period.
As I mentioned I had zero real swimming ability not too long ago. I tried working on it on my own, but given that I had no base to work off of, it didn’t go very far and I quickly realized that I’d need the services of a qualified swim instructor. I ended up going to the YMCA and found a good instructor. Looking back on it, I might have been able to do it myself, but it would have been much harder and taken much longer. I’ve had ten half-hour lessons at a cost of $230, and it’s gotten me to to where I need to be. In my experience, I spent an hour or so in the pool for every half-hour lesson. Practice is very important, I often found myself having trouble getting down what the instructor was trying to teach me until I had time to think about it and work on it on my own. I came a long way, my instructor has commented that she was worried about whether it was even doable to begin with. Basically, except for the case of a true aquaphobic or unexpected difficulties picking up on it, the average person will have less work to do than me. If I can do it, you can do it.
Anyway, that’s my experience. Swimming was an issue that could have kept me from applying to the Navy, and when I started I was fearful that I might not be able to overcome it. I hope that no one lets their lack of swimming ability and/or fear of the water keep them from applying for the Navy as it could have done, and probably did for a time, in my case.
Hopefully others who know more than me can add on to this, it’s something that I know I could have used, and I’m sure there are others.
