Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Selvage | Maj. George Horne, a deputy support operations officer assigned to the 10th...... read more read more
FORT DRUM, N.Y. - When Spc. Vernon Griffin was a young child, he underwent a very traumatic experience while in the water. The event kept him away from ever learning how to swim.
Still, Griffin recognized that it is important for every Soldier to be able to swim. So when he found out that Maj. George Horne, 10th Sustainment Brigade deputy support operations officer, taught swimming classes, he decided that he would finally overcome his childhood fear of the water.
Every Wednesday morning at 7 a.m., Horne reserves two lanes for 10th Sustainment Brigade’s Soldiers to learn to be better swimmers.
The swim class was developed after an email went out throughout Headquarters and Headquarters Company looking for strong swimmers, weak swimmers and nonswimmers.
“I offered my services and my expertise to the HHC,” Horne said. “I said, ‘if you get the people and the pool time, I’ll show up and I’ll teach and we can go from there.’”
Horne started taking swimming lessons when he was only 3. Since then, he fell in love with the water, earned his lifeguard certificates, swam on competitive teams through high school and in college, received his scuba certification and took an instructor’s course.
“The intent was to get the nonswimmers who we knew of to get to the point where they could conduct the Combat Water Survival Test,” Horne said, “to where they are comfortable and confident in swimming.”
There are a couple of Soldiers in the class who can swim, Horne said, but to do the CWST, they need to be able to do the sidestroke with one arm occupied as if they are holding a rifle.
That can be a difficult task if not trained on it or given the experience to do it on a routine basis.
The class is not a requirement, but it is simply provided for Soldiers who want to improve their confidence in the water.
“The first week, we had four good but weak swimmers who showed up and three nonswimmers,” Horne said. “I started with an exercise and had them put their face under the water and put their hands on the bottom of the pool.”
Horne said the Soldiers who have take advantage of the swim class have made large improvements and they could see the development, even with the few classes he has taught so far.
“Nonswimmers will show their intimidation of the water just from the lack of confidence, but by the end of the lesson, they are much more confident,” Horne said. “They can stroke and glide, and they’re learning how to do it.”
He said he could build a lesson plan each week but instead he likes to gauge each Soldier’s progress and tailor the training to their individual needs.
“You can see, before they even get in the water, how they get in, and by the comments the Soldiers make afterward,” Horne said. “Like how far they can go from one end of the pool to the other. They start to enjoy it, and after only an hour of class.”
Horne said he feels it’s his responsibility to pass on his knowledge of swimming to Soldiers who never learned how to swim, but he isn’t taking on this task alone.
Cpl. Ericka Nadeau, human resources noncommissioned officer, 10th Sustainment Brigade, helps out with the swim classes every Wednesday. She spent her youth as a competitive swimmer, and now she enjoys helping others learn to swim.
“I just like being out there and helping them learn how to swim,” she said.
Nadeau said she volunteers to help teach Soldiers how to swim because she likes to see people better themselves. Horne said she’s been “very helpful,” and she continues to come to the table with confidence and a desire to teach.
“I think everyone has made a huge difference,” Nadeau said. “For example, Spc. Griffin didn’t know how to swim at all, and by the end of the first lesson, he was swimming almost all the way to the end [of the pool].”
Nadeau said teaching also makes her happy and puts a huge smile on her face knowing that Soldiers are learning something new and it is something that’s important.
Griffin said he likes the fact that Horne and Nadeau make it easy, and they have brought him back to the water.
“I want to be comfortable in the other side of the pool where it’s like 12 to 15 feet, and I can tread water and swim a couple of laps,” Griffin said. “I don’t have to be Michael Phelps or anything, but as long as I can keep myself afloat and swim a little bit, that’s for me.”
Aside from coaching others to become better swimmers, Nad-eau said what she really would like to see is a larger turnout, because it’s a great opportunity for Soldiers who don’t know how to swim to receive one-on-one instruction.
Horne said the classes are small right now, but he expects the numbers to grow each week as the word gets out.
“The idea was to simply address the [nonswimmers] or weak swimmers and help the unit’s readiness and confidence,” Horne said. “The bottom line is helping Soldiers. It’s helping to train them, to teach them and give them the confidence, especially as we are coming into the summer months.”
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2015 16:29 |
| Story ID: | 159861 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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