NIFE Water Survival

[Pags]

Full gear swim in boots sounds pretty intimidating. I've done some training in full Marine cammies with boots and kicking with those suckers on is hard. Very inefficient. For me it was almost all arms. I'm comfortable in the water but adding gear is no joke. Does it weigh you down a lot or is it just a lot more drag? Are you neutrally buoyant?

It all floats. You float (we all float down here ?). Added together it all floats, just in an awkward way. They'll teach you how to handle it.

 

[Waveoff]

For the platform jump and swim, dont hesitate to jump forward too. Just dont over exaggerate and be sure to hit the water properly and they wont be cross with you. Jumping straight down pencil style earns you no initial forward progress. I've also heard people say "fill up your boots with water before you climb the ladder to avoid an air bubble and them getting heavier once you start swimming" but I was comfortable in the water and it wasn't a problem.

 

[Gonzo08]

Also, while you're sitting on the sidelines waiting for your turn in the pool for the full swim, give yourself a breath or two of air in the LPU when your instructors aren't looking.
This serves two purposes:

1. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.
2. This Ops checks your LPU so you don't swim 50 yards, take a great big breath and blow it into your LPU, only to see a bunch of bubbles come out the back and side of said ripped LPU on your brick-like path to the bottom of the deep end.

That won't work everywhere: at the pool in Whidbey they give you the fully assembled LPU so you have to swim out, pull the beads, and it "simulates" that your CO2 cartridge didn't go off. 2 drowning sessions ago I pulled my beads and couldn't find the manual inflation tubes so I had to grab the wall. Turns out that they had put the LPU on my vest backwards and the tubes were pinned between the bladder and my chest.

Pro tip for that scenario: blow some air into your G-suit. Why?

See #1.

 

[jointhelocalizer]

What does the requal look like for fleet aviatiors? I know it varies a bit based on what class aircraft one flies.

 

[scoolbubba]

That won't work everywhere: at the pool in Whidbey they give you the fully assembled LPU so you have to swim out, pull the beads, and it "simulates" that your CO2 cartridge didn't go off. 2 drowning sessions ago I pulled my beads and couldn't find the manual inflation tubes so I had to grab the wall. Turns out that they had put the LPU on my vest backwards and the tubes were pinned between the bladder and my chest.

Pro tip for that scenario: blow some air into your G-suit. Why?

See #1.

Oh, I like that technique. I'll have to remember that.

 

[BOMR822]

How high is the tower jump? We talking 20 feet or more like ten? Just curious. Thanks.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

What does the requal look like for fleet aviatiors? I know it varies a bit based on what class aircraft one flies.

Requal is super easy. Takes less than a day, in the morning you swim the length of the pool in gear a couple of times, do the tread and float in gear, and then do some survival stuff (parachute drag, chopper hoist, getting into rafts, etc.). Then in the afternoon you do the build up to the dunker ending with one day and one night ride. This is from the ejection seat perspective, not sure how it’s different for the other communities.

 

[jointhelocalizer]

How high is the tower jump? We talking 20 feet or more like ten? Just curious. Thanks.

12 Feet.

 

[sickboy]

Requal is super easy. Takes less than a day, in the morning you swim the length of the pool in gear a couple of times, do the tread and float in gear, and then do some survival stuff (parachute drag, chopper hoist, getting into rafts, etc.). Then in the afternoon you do the build up to the dunker ending with one day and one night ride. This is from the ejection seat perspective, not sure how it’s different for the other communities.

No parachute stuff, and multiple dunker rides with the bottle for us rotor trash.

 

[Gonzo08]

Requal is super easy. Takes less than a day, in the morning you swim the length of the pool in gear a couple of times, do the tread and float in gear, and then do some survival stuff (parachute drag, chopper hoist, getting into rafts, etc.). Then in the afternoon you do the build up to the dunker ending with one day and one night ride. This is from the ejection seat perspective, not sure how it’s different for the other communities.

It's a day and a half in Whidbey. Day 1 is all the lectures in the morning followed by a light drowning in the afternoon a.k.a. pool work. Day 2 morning is all the other practical stuff not involving the pool: PLFs, first aid, CSEL usage, etc.

 

[Birdbrain]

Honestly bro if I can pass the swim qual then you can pass it. I basically learned how to swim at API. I just pushed myself during remedial swim with lots of freestyle and “rested” with breaststroke.

 

[rymo96]

Requal is super easy. Takes less than a day, in the morning you swim the length of the pool in gear a couple of times, do the tread and float in gear, and then do some survival stuff (parachute drag, chopper hoist, getting into rafts, etc.). Then in the afternoon you do the build up to the dunker ending with one day and one night ride. This is from the ejection seat perspective, not sure how it’s different for the other communities.

Do you do the tower jump/tower to line again for requals?

 

[Gatordev]

Do you do the tower jump/tower to line again for requals?

No, but you will do a 25y (or maybe it's 50y) swim underwater, periodically clearing the "fire" on the surface to get air. I think they need to see you clear the water 3 times, so you can do it quickly, and then just swim the rest of the way underwater to make it faster.

 

[x_Juya_x]

Hey everyone,
Here is some gouge about the water survival portion of NIFE. Nothing too crazy, but I thought people would appreciate some prior knowledge. Happy to answer any questions too.

Day 1:
Begins with introductions, an outline of the course, and a 15 minute video on how to do the strokes for the course
Pool portion:
No flight suit work. Practice tower to line jump in a swimsuit (underwater swim), 2 minute tread and 5 min prone float in a swimsuit, swim around the pool doing American crawl (freestyle), breast stroke, elementary back stroke, and sidestroke. This is a screening. It determines if you stay in the class or you go to remedial swim. If you get rolled to remedial on this day, you don’t get a pink sheet. If you get rolled after Day 1, you get a pink sheet. I believe swim hold is a minimum of 10 days.

Day 2:
Back in the classroom to learn about some more specialized skills (surface swim, HELP position, surfacing in an oil/fuel slick, etc.
Pool portion:
2 minute tread and 5 minute prone float in a swimsuit, get out, put flight suit and boots on, get back in and do the 2 minute tread and 5 minute prone float all over again. Practice tower to line jump from the side of the pool. 10 minute endurance swim (a little bit of crawl, breaststroke, elementary back stroke, side stroke, and a stroke of your choice). All further days begin in the pool.

Day 3:
Practice tower to line jump off the tower (if you make it, it counts as a pass), 2 minute tread and 6 minute float in flight suit, boots, harness/vest, and gloves, build up breaststroke swim in full gear sans helmet (~45 yds). 15 minute endurance swim in flight suit and goggles of the same strokes as above minus backstroke. Backstroke is pretty much a no go after day 2.

Day 4:
Full flight gear (flight suit, boots, harness/vest, gloves, and helmet) 2 minute tread and 7 minute float. 65 yard build up swim in full flight gear using survival breaststroke, 25 minute endurance swim in flight suit and goggles using the three strokes as above. This is the final endurance swim. The majority of the swim was stroke of choice (i.e. the one/two stroke(s) you are going to use on the mile).

Day 5:
This was my favorite day. The day started off with a 100 yd survival breast stroke. I think it was a tested item technically, but it really just serves as a warm up to the full gear swim. Those who were still down on the tower to line jump finished up, we did the rough water submerge and surface (surface dive, swim a couple strokes underwater, then surface and block your face with your hand). Then you move onto a dive where you simulate swimming under a slick. You do a surface dive swim 2-3 strokes underwater, and then you flail your arms in all directions as you surface to create a breathing hole. Both those are done in a flight suit and boots. We also did a flight suit inflation prone float. It’ literally how it sounds. Treat for 10 seconds, prone float, inflate your flight suit orally, and then come back to the wall. After that we did the 75 yd full gear swim using survival breaststroke. Not too hard, but when you breathe, you get water in your face from the helmet. The entrance was fun as the instructors had us do cannonballs and belly flops to start. After the swim, we put PFDs on and did the surface debris swim (read aggressive breast stroke and splashing your neighbors), a surface burning oil swim (you spin and swim at the same time, kind of hard to explain, but not too hard), and the HELP (Heat Escape Lessening Posture). The last part of the day was learning trouser inflations. You roll your pair of trousers (provided) up. You tread with no hands for a minute in a swim suit only (should be easy after making through the treads all week), then at your own pace, you work through the four types of inflation (overhead, side, in front, and oral). This write up is the longest since you cover the most this day. There are a lot of skills, but they aren’t hard and are arguably fun to learn.

Day 6:
The mile swim. You can use freestyle, side stroke, breast stroke, or any combination thereof. You do this in a flight suit and goggles. I recommend wearing a shirt under the flight suit to prevent chafing. The pool is short course (25 yd) so that makes 36 laps (round trips) for a mile. You cannot push off the wall or stand up in the shallow end. Any issues with cramps/goggles, etc. have to be sorted out with treading or the prone float. There are buoys at each end you have to round. You are not responsible for your lap count. My biggest tip is just keep swimming until told to stop. Don’t try to guess how much longer you have. You’ll just psych yourself out. I also strongly recommend breaststroke. I did the survival variant (kick, glide, then arms) and it gave nice results for comparatively little energy usage. I kept it at a pace to not increase my heartrate a ton. I settled into a nice rhythm. The time limit is 80 minutes which is plenty of time for most. I was one of the slower ones in the pool and I got out at 52 minutes. I was sweating this big time since I’ve never really swum distance. The key is just not stopping.

Day 7: American Red Cross CPR course. Just sit there in the classroom, watch the videos, practice some CPR, take a pretty easy test, and viola, you have a card saying you’re certified in CPR.

The helo dunker and other survival/physiology classes are done after the completion of the flying portion of NIFE.

Thanks for explaining the water survival. What’s a pink sheet?

 

[Jim123]

Thanks for explaining the water survival. What’s a pink sheet?

It's a failure in your training record. Whatever event it was (academic, athletic, other/doing something really dumb out in town/being a dirtbag on duty/etc.), it gets documented on a pink piece of paper. That makes it easier to pick out from the stack of plain pieces of paper in the stack. Better yet, if somebody has a lot of them then it makes their training jacket really stands out at a glance (training jacket ~ hardcopies of everything). There are a couple other color-coded things (if _ happens then use a _ colored piece of paper) that have come and gone over the years in naval air training, but the old pink sheet has stood the test of time.

Obviously nobody wishes to have any pink sheets in your training record. Get too many and you'll be provided an opportunity to pursue success elsewhere, but if you end up one or even two from start to wings then you're be in good company. Just take it in stride, fix yourself (means work hard and ask for help), and most important prove all those curmudgeons wrong about your generation when they say disparaging things about how kids these days deal with adversity.