By Adam Bedell

Recent incidents of soldiers drowning in Iraq, have stressed the need for water survival training, and last week the University’s ROTC cadets took the first step.

The cadets participated in combat water survival training, a requirement that consists of four tests. Cadet Major Roger Krackow described the challenges each cadet had to perform.

The freshmen and sophomore cadets began by swimming for 10 minutes in complete uniform and then treading water for five more minutes. During this period, they could not touch the sides of the pool.

The cadets were also challenged to swim across the pool with their rifles in hand.

After swimming the cadets learned how to remove their equipment while submerged. They were pushed off the side of the pool and were ordered to remove their backup and gun before surfacing.

The final test required the cadets to walk off the three-meter diving board blindfolded, remove the blindfold in the water and swim to the wall of the pool with gun in hand.

About eight of the 60 cadets who participated in the training did not meet the requirements and will have to train and try again, Krackow said.

“It is one of the warrior skills,” Recruiting Operations Officer Gary Morea said. “All officers need to know how to swim.”

Morea’s commander at West Point, Thomas Witt, drowned in a training mission when his tank slid along a ridge in spring of 1995.

The tank flipped and Witt flew out of the hatch. The other two men with Witt, the gunner and loader, could not save him.

The combat water training has gained more attention since the reports of drownings in Iraq.

Morea and Krackow both said soldiers have drowned in Iraq, including an incident where a Humvee flipped a man into the water.

Some cadets complained, said Krackow, because they think swimming is not essential in the arid Middle East climate, but these incidents show the importance of swimming survival.