MrFreefall383

You can bet your butt on that I'm sure! I could absolutely bet my butt on it. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

No more major workouts from now until Tuesday. The Coast Guard will make up for it the moment I get there, and if I forget any of my 11 General Orders. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Ha, I appreciate the confidence, but I doubt I'll be the best Rescue Swimmer they ever had. I'm not nearly as powerful a swimmer as some of the guys out there. There are some guys who made saves years ago, saves I've read about, who are more or less gods among men. No way I'll ever be that good, but I'll do my best to get close. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Hey, no reason not to take survival seriously. Self-preservation is the ultimate of human instincts. And as a former SERE instructor, you clearly know that better than anyone. Glad to hear some people take their survival seriously. As for CGAS Astoria, yeah, they've got a full compliment of 60's, and they're some tough bastards. But considering some people don't take their survival as seriously as necessary, or don't plan on the unplanned, this should be a worthy endeavor. Oh, and once a Coastie, always a Coastie. I'll probably die with Semper Paratus on my lips. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Thanks for the salute, and the joke worked for me. Thanks for the laugh! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Well I'll still be looking for my next beer, but I'll fail at that while looking for success as the type of complete idiot who jumps out of a perfectly good helicopter for a living. And shit, I hope they give me water wings, the deeper it gets, the more afraid I am of all those monsters lurking in the deep. Water wings will make me feel much safer. Thanks for all the kind words! And to psipike, you're right, I have trained pretty hard for this, so hopefully that will give me enough momentum to at least get to the Airman Program, and maybe even to A School. That will be the part where momentum alone won't cut it, so I'll have to be working even harder than I have so far. I'll definitely update you fine folks once I get out of Basic and start the real path to becoming a Rescue Swimmer. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Thanks! AST stands for Aviation Survival Technician. And to the statement that it's all mental, you're absolutely right. It is 100% mental. I know that if I fail, it'll be my own fault. Can't blame anyone but myself for falling short. It'll be a miserable situation if I fail, but hopefully I would learn my lesson and move on. To SARLDO, my only motivations are saving lives, and proving to myself that I have what it takes to be an elite lifesaving professional. Nothing else matters. Already saved one life when I was a lifeguard, promised myself I would earn that feeling of satisfaction again. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I posted this in the fitness thread a few days ago, but I figured the more interesting and colorful commentary would be found here. I leave for the MEPS Monday, ship out Tuesday afternoon to Cape May, NJ to be screamed at for 8 weeks. End goal here is to be turned into something useful wearing Coast Guard blues. I'm more than physically prepared, mentally and emotionally I should be more than fine, and financially everything is straightened out. Not much to worry about except my Company Commander. Eventual goal is to earn the rate of AST, and the Rescue Swimmer wings. It's like the Holy Grail of Coast Guard insignia to me. Realistically, there's still a chance I'll fail, and I have to acknowledge it as a possibility. After my first assignment, as long as my flight physical clears, I have to prove myself worthy to become a Rescue Swimmer in the Airman Program by working out with current ASTs, and show that I can learn the basics of being a member of an aircrew. Then, and only then, I go down to North Carolina to the AST A School, in a class of 24 or 12, depending on the time of year, and depending on how long I have to wait at the Airman Program for my slot to open up. And out of those candidates, no more than 50% usually graduate and earn the AST wings. Then it's another 3 weeks of EMT training in Petaluma, CA... just to make sure I'm serious. Anyway, I like my odds, but I figure someone like Walt will have something creative to say about it. So on with the comments from the peanut gallery. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Was gonna say the same thing. On the other hand, there is also the HALO jump scene from Tomorrow Never Dies, the Pierce Brosnan Bond film. Doesn't look like much greenscreen in that either, but who knows for sure. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

The one with Picard was Next Generation. That was among the very best series. Though to be honest, I did think Enterprise was pretty decent. Some parts of it didn't quite fit, including the theme song, and it was a little too casual for Star Trek, but I still thought it was good entertainment. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Shipping out Tuesday. Leave Monday morning for the stay in the hotel, then some brief double-checks of vitals Tuesday morning, finalize my contract, take the Oath of Enlistment, take the bus at around noon. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Still not much working out the last few days, only now feeling fully recovered from getting sick, but at least it's right in time to ship out. I'm going to throw on my Coast Guard shirt and do a short run this afternoon, make sure that my legs are nice and limber before I go to Cape May, and do a bunch of situps so that I have the proper form. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, that. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That is a good laugh, although it makes me worry some. If by some miracle I can actually make it through Rescue Swimmer school in the Coast Guard, I could be stationed in Sitka or Kodiak. Jesus that would suck. Not only would I have to learn to love the cold air, but I would have to love the much colder water even more. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yes... they do. Nothing more to say. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Lesson one: DON'T HYDROLOCK! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

WOO-HOO!!! WOO-HOO indeed. It's a damn good feeling, regardless of how nervous the bootcamp video made me. First impression was a Company Commander jumping on the bus, screaming at the new recruits for about 10 seconds, and then saying, "You had 15 seconds to get off this bus, you just wasted 10 of them, now MOVE!!!!!!!!" And to selbbub78, thanks! Yeah, recovery is good, except when you waste breath and recovery energy on some stupid fight with an insane sister. It'll probably take me at least another day or two to be fully recovered now, because my voice is gone and my throat is sore from yelling. My own stupid fault though, maybe being in the Coast Guard will teach me a little more self-control. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Been sick for the last few days, so I can't swim, can't run, but I've been working on situps, because my form kind of sucks, and that won't cut it for Basic. On the plus side, I'm about to turn the page and recover by the end of the weekend, and my name is now officially on a Coast Guard contract. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, that wouldn't have been my prediction. Engine could be pulling the plane, but that doesn't mean there's airflow over the wings. I simply would not have called it like that. Amazing though. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Sounds like a fun run. Nice job! I did a nice little run today, ran for 30 minutes continuously on local hilly roads. Probably did about the same, 3.25 miles, maybe a little more. Just finished 500 situps as well, giving the arms a short rest. Legs aren't hurting all that much after the run either, so I might use 4 lbs in a weight vest next run to put a little extra strain on my legs, condition a little more. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

You're in luck, I just watched a program on the strength of Spec Ops soldiers. The guy who wrote the book I used to work out from, The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness, was on there, and was doing a physical test after being in an tub of 50 degree water for an hour. They couldn't get him to become hypothermic, because his resistance training taught him how to prolong the onset of hypothermia. Basically, he methodically tenses his core muscles, and keeps the blood flowing as much as possible. Shivering is normal, it just doesn't feel great. So fill up your bathtub with the coldest water you can get out of the faucet, dump a bunch of ice in it, and sit there as long as you possibly can, doing anything you can to keep the blood flowing. LI Sound will feel like nothing when you've completed that. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Sweet, rock on! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Tack on 400 flutterkicks in sets of 50 to my routine for today. Might do some pullups later as well, but that means I don't swim tomorrow, or I'll blow out my shoulders. Guess that means I put myself on the clock for another half hour of running around the hilly streets of my neighborhood tomorrow. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Oh my gosh now that you mention it I did use that stroke in the army when we did 'drown proofing'. Didn't work. I nearly drown. They had to pull me out. Apparently I don't swim very well with BDU's, boots, an LCE, and a weapon on. Yeah, it's hard to stay afloat with full gear. That's why I'm glad I've taken a lifeguarding course, and I had to stay afloat for 5 minutes with a 10 lb brick extended over my head. When you lose the use of your arms, your legs get in damn good shape. And right now, my legs are twice as strong. Today was some front crawl, hypoxic laps, and a bunch of underwater laps and serious lung building. No way I'm going to Basic with any less than a 2 minute lung capacity even under stress. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

At some point I did heavily consider becoming a Navy SEAL, but I didn't think I had the heart to put myself in the line of fire, or to shoot to kill. But physically, I'm still convinced I could have done it if I tried. As for the training, there's a multi-episode documentary on the beginning to end of one BUD/S class which originally aired a couple years ago, "Navy SEALs: BUD/S Class 234." And the acronym translates to Basic Underwater Demolition and SEAL Training. The classic statement about SEAL training and lifestyle is, "The only easy day was yesterday." If I keep that in mind, I should be more than ready to become a USCG Rescue Swimmer. Though I still need to find a way to hold my breath underwater for more than 2 minutes without freaking the hell out. Edit: Noticed your other post about swimming. When I was training by a former Navy SEAL's guidelines, I was swimming the sidestroke almost exclusively, also known as the CSS, or Combat Swimmer Stroke. High efficiency, very quiet, and your head is largely to one side. Keep a straight line by tilting head backward every few strokes to keep the lane line centered. If you want to find it, check a bookstore for The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness by Stew Smith. Then search for his video on the CSS on YouTube or Google. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche