If an accident occurs the ship s rescue swimmers spring into action. With swim fins, mask and snorkel, they are always ready to react. Rescue swimmers serve aboard every major surface vessel in the fleet, but their role is especially important on a large ship like Peleliu because of the high operational tempo during a deployment. While at the school, student s spend most of their time in the water learning how to rescue downed pilots and people who have fallen or been blown off a ship. They learn how to disentangle a pilot or aircrewman who has become immobilized by their parachute.
Students also participate in pool conditioning on a daily basis.
A buddy tow is a training evolution where one student will act as a survivor and another will tow him through the water for a specific distance while being timed by the instructors. Students become first aid and CPR-qualified while at the school because the chances of a survivor sustaining injuries after an ejection or fall are very high. Attending surface rescue swimmer school is voluntary and the school s attrition rate is very high. It challenged me both mentally and physically. There were students there who were in excellent shape but couldn t hack it.