CWST

I'm down at South Camp again. This time for a whole weekend. I'm going to have 2 whole days to play in the Red Sea at Herb's Beach-- and I'm absolutely ecstatic.

Of course, the official business I'm on is to conduct Combat Water Survival Training (CWST), otherwise known as Splash For Cash. I took it just a step further today, and went ahead and got qualified to teach/observe CWST.

Herb's Beach.

 

I had to swim out to the buoys wearing ACUs and boots and tread water for five minutes, then float on my back for five minutes and then swim back to shore. Then I had to go back out to the buoys again, but I had to drag a person wearing ACUs and boots and a ruck sack with me. It was pretty simple considering something was placed in the ruck sack to make it buoyant. At the buoys, we switched out and I wore the ruck sack and was dragged back to shore. Then we swam out one last time to the buoys, tread water again for 5 minutes, floated on our backs again for 5 minutes and swam back to shore. We did all this without breaks. It was tiring. And it's hard to swim in boots. But now that I am qualified to teach/observe, I never have to wear ACUs or boots in the Red Sea again. When I splash for cash the remaining months I am in the Sinai, I can wear a bathing suit and be barefooted. It's going to be a beautiful thing! Well... maybe not the sight of me in a bathing suit.... but the ease of training will be excellent.

The ACUs available to train in.

 

After we trained this morning, my battle buddy and I decided to stay at Herb's Beach for a few hours and swim around and lay out in the sun. It was absolutely wonderful. I love the beach so much. I had a perfect day bumming around on the beach.

In case you need directions...

 

Living at North Camp is kinda like living in a prison in the middle of the desert... actually that's exactly what it is. So getting to come down to South Camp, which is basically paradise, once a month is a great little mini vacation. Hey, Europeans pay big money to go to the resorts all around South Camp here in the Sinai. You can see the party yachts on the water every night all lit up and bumping music. I'm not used to the Army sending me to a place that is desirable to human beings. So I'll appreciate my monthly vacations to the fullest!