MEDIA CONTEST: Castaways - For aircrew members, surviving a water ditch is just the first step Published Dec. 26, 2006 By 2006 Media Contest Feature Entry 8 ACC MEDIA CONTEST -- It's August in Nebraska, and all around the state ponds, lakes, streams and rivers are teaming with recreational swimmers getting one last dunk before Fall creeps in the door. But for 17 Offutt Airmen and this reporter at Branched Oak Lake near Lincoln Monday, summer swimming was about more than just enjoyment - it was about survival. "The Air Force requires flyers to take a refresher course on water survival every three years," said Capt. Rhett Murphy, commander of the 55th Operations Support Squadron's aircrew protection flight. "We take the crews out to Branched Oak Lake, give them a chance to try out the survival equipment, then run them through a scenario simulating a water landing." Like the other courses the flight offers, the water survival course has undergone significant improvements over the past few years. "We used to teach this course in the base swimming pools," said Tech. Sgt. Tom Boyer, a course instructor. "It wasn't very realistic. At any time the students could just put their feet down and walk along the bottom." The course is certainly more realistic now. The only thing that was missing from Monday's training was the airplane itself. Water survival basics Before our class could hit the water, we had to spend some time in the classroom, going over basic aspects of surviving while adrift. There are many things that can kill you on the ocean, according to Sergeant Boyer, a plane crash not being the least among them. Assuming aircrew members survive the initial ditch, they've got their work cut out for them. Primary among the unintended sailors' concerns is keeping the environment from doing them in, Sergeant Boyer said. Low temperatures that normally wouldn't be harmful to humans turn deadly when you add water and wind to the mix. Since there's no way to avoid getting wet while going from the plane to the life raft, flyers need to be able to recognize and deal with hypothermia or frostbite the moment they appear. After they survive the crash and the cold, flyers also need to be able to sustain themselves until help arrives. That means obtaining a sustainable source of food and water. Especially water, Sergeant Boyer said. Each of the life rafts the class trains on comes equipped with a water filter capable of producing 35 gallons of fresh water per day. Food would be a more difficult proposition, but could be found either by fishing (with a net or hook) or by trying to snag a bird on the wing. The class ended with a review of dangerous sea life, animals more likely to consider the aircrew food than the other way around. Animals to watch out for include jellyfish, barracudas, eels, anything with spines, sea snakes, certain octopi and, of course, sharks. On that uplifting note, the class piled into the bus and departed for the hands-on portion of their training. At the lake After a brief stop at the base obstacle course for a quick lesson in the proper use of nautical flares, our class departed for Branched Oak Lake. Branched Oak is the largest of the man-made lakes in the Salt Valley area of Nebraska, covering more than 1,780 acres (Offutt's base lake, by comparison, covers 113 acres). It is a particularly intimidating sight for people about to jump in as part of a water survival program. The class was given a few more vital bits of instruction, including the proper wear of automatically inflating life preservers and thermal suits designed to keep floating Airmen warm in cold waters. The correct way to don the suits was demonstrated by Master Sgt. Tim Kemper, a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape trainer, who vividly described the dangers of not using equipment properly and losing track of entangling bits. "Now, what happens if you're getting this suit on and this thing gets tangled on a two-ton piece of metal that's rapidly sinking?" he asked the class, holding up an accessories pouch attached by a six-foot tether to the rest of the suit. "Cut it off? Yeah, right. You'll panic and then you'll drown." Thus encouraged, we fitted on our life vests and prepared to get wet. In the water The training cadre had positioned our objective, a 20-man inflatable raft, about 300 yards out from shore. Getting to it required several minutes of swimming, which was made substantially slower (although probably safer) by the inflatable vests we were required to wear. The raft's upper ring sat about three feet above the water's edge, meaning anyone who wanted to move from the lake into the raft had to pull themselves aboard using one of two ramps. On a perfectly clear day on a calm lake this was only a mildly difficult task - on a rough sea, at night, with injuries, it would be far harder, said the instructors. A 20-man raft seems spacious until you try fitting 20 people inside it. Even with only 19 Airmen, including the trainers, the raft was cramped. The life vests, which had seemed very useful in the water, suddenly became a bulky annoyance, nearly doubling the amount of space each person took up. Our group of castaways was commanded by the senior ranking member in the raft, Col. Curtiss Petrek, 55th Wing vice commander. To the colonel fell the task of accounting for the survivors, coordinating our equipment and organizing our side of any rescue effort. As part of the simulation we had to assemble a tarp to cover the raft, protecting us from the elements. Since there weren't any elements to speak of on Monday, the inside of the raft rapidly changed from a merely cramped environment to a hot, dark, and cramped one. For a while in there I couldn't have told you what was going on more than two feet from my face, much less who was sitting on my legs. We could still hear the colonel, though. He ordered the radio, signal mirrors and bailing bags distributed, and all three were quickly put into use (it turned out the raft wasn't perfectly waterproof). Using the radio and GPS, we were able to coordinate with our simulated rescuers. They had us reverse the tarp, read them our coordinates, and attempt to signal them with the mirrors. After losing one mirror overboard (despite its lanyard), we were able to make visual contact with our rescuers, and proceeded to simulate being dragged out of the water via helicopter. After the rescue and a swim back to shore, the simulation was over. After a bit of equipment packing and a quick change of clothes, we were all ready for the bus ride back to base.