In the swim of things

Josh and the other 80-plus recruits in his platoon woke up this morning to start their fourth week of training. Up to this point, they’ve learned about first aid, Marine Corps history and ethics. They’ve battled each other with pugil sticks, gone through combat conditioning, run circuit and obstacle courses, and much more.

Today, the 18th day of training, or T18, brings a new set of challenges. Assuming the training matrix is being followed, this is the first day of Swim Week and combat water survival – essentially, learning how to stay afloat in full combat gear. It’s a necessary skill to have because Marines are transported by ship and aircraft, and there’s no telling when lessons such as these will come in handy, even on a battlefield in landlocked Afghanistan.

At a young age, Josh learned how to swim – an extremely important skill for everyone to master. When I was a wee lad – and I don’t recall how old, but likely before I entered kindergarten – I nearly drowned in the pool at the apartments here in Southern California where my family lived at the time.

I survived, of course, and learned how to swim. And much later, when I was a couple of years younger than Josh is now, I was on an AAU swim team with plans to be the next Mark Spitz. While that never worked out, too many boys and girls never have the opportunity to even think about pursuing their dreams. Nearly 300 kids in this country have drowned since Memorial Day, according to a report last night on ABC’s “World News Sunday.” Such a tragedy.

But I digress. I’m confident Josh will do well in the pool at MCRD. Before entering boot camp, he wanted to score a first class in the swim qualification. This week, possibly, is when he finds out if he achieves that goal.