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Marine Corps Base Quantico

"Crossroads of the Marine Corps"

Marines train for water survival

By Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Luna | | March 10, 2014

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. --

Some students looked drained and some looked as if they were on a walk through the park, but they all swam the same 1700 meter warm up exercise.

Seven Marines and an airman began the Marine Corps Instructor of Water Survival School at Ramer Hall on Camp Barrett on March 10, 2014.

“The purpose of this is to give Marines the knowledge and skills to run Marines through swim qualifications…- the basic intermediate and advanced,” said Sgt. Trevor McLaren, Marine Corps Instructor Trainer of Water Survival and the chief instructor of MCIWSS. “They become instructors and they also become certified as American Red Cross Lifeguards.”

MCIWSS may seem familiar to Marines who are advanced qualified swimmers, but this course is more intense. It’s ten days longer than the five-day advanced course, more distance is swum, rescues and techniques must be perfected and a student must pass a pre-screener twice before being accepted into the course. Red Cross knowledge is also thrown into the mix.

“We have to be able to perfect the MCIWSS students to where they can teach those four rescues so they can actually spread that knowledge on at an advanced swim qualification course,” said McLaren.

The course may not come as easy as some may think. Sgt. Nicholas Weber, a MCIWSS student recommends conditioning before beginning a course as challenging as this. He said that swimming should be a part of a conditioning regimen so your joints can loosen up and get used to the water.

“It’s one heck of a break-off,” said Sgt. Nicholas Weber, a MCIWSS student. “You come here at seven in the morning and you’re not leaving until roughly 1700.

Some Marines have looked forward to this course their whole careers and some come across the opportunity when their installation is in need of an instructor.

“When I got to my current unit, we had a shortage of instructors to conduct our annual swim qualifications so the opportunity came up. We needed an instructor and I volunteered to come down,” said Staff Sgt. William Thomas, a MCIWSS student from Fort Deven, Ma.

Scheduling for this course varies with the number of Marines who show interest. For information on the next MCIWSS course, call 703-432-6601.

Correspondent: sarah.a.garcia@usmc.mil



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