Water Survival

Every month the unit participates in a safety meeting to discuss current procedures and conduct training. With summer half over, this was the ideal time to review water survival techniques.

Although you wouldn’t expect it, Iraq contains several large lakes. Our tactical flight routes frequently require crews to over fly water for 5-10 minutes. In addition to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the following areas can appear as an oasis in the Iraqi desert;
Lake TharThar, located west of Balad, has a surface area of 1,316 miles (62 miles long by 21 miles wide).
Lake Habbaniyah, located south of the towns of Ramadi & Fallujah, has a surface area of 155 miles (10 miles long by 15 miles wide).
Lake Razzazah is located southeast of Baghdad and has a surface area of 888 miles (37 miles long by 24 miles wide).
Hamrin Reservoir, east of Bald near Baqubah, has a surface area of 89 miles.
Also, aircraft arrival procedures for Kuwait International Airport will route us over the Persian Gulf, followed by a descent over Kuwait City.

The training focused on how to survive if ditching the aircraft was the only option. So we jumped into the pool in our uniforms to practice removing our gear...the goal was to use our uniform as a flotation device by securing the limbs. We also refreshed on CPR and conducted a review of the items contained in our aircraft survival kits.

The training was concluded with a raft relay race…won by 2nd Squad. This photo captures the victorious squad members, as they meet with the media, following the awards ceremony :)
A special acknowledgement to PA Pat for organizing the event and then destroying all challengers in the individual freestyle competition…somehow he forgot to mention he was on the high school swim team---until after the wagers were placed.