Okay . . . CRO . . . Officer Version of PJ
Hello,
SRoss:
Had to "google" CRO for the correct context. At first read, I thought
cathode
ray
oscilloscope.
Anyway, I want to throw out a caveat of sorts to you,
SRoss. Before you take time out of your life to read this response: I am a veteran of the Vietnam Era, so the following information may not only be out-dated, but out-of-touch. Fair warning?
What is usually overlooked by many, while "training for the military," is a search for circumstances that mimic combat and/or rescue conditions. (One PJ I know--and RKC colleague--has shared some personal stories with me proving that sometimes there is precious little difference between the two.)
SEAL-believer asked for suggestions about GPP (I guess), so I sent him a link detailing the harsh reality of BUD/S training:
http://kbforum.dragondoor.com/kettl...en-switch-programs-military-conditioning.html.
Read S-b's answer to my post. He has problems in a cold shower?!
(I am not beating up on you
SEAL-believer, and I hope you have "googled" Silver Strand, by now.

)
Nevertheless, if the young man trains himself into a 5-minute mile run, 150 non-stop pushups, 30 strict pullups, and then cannot survive a few nights in 65-degree water off the Silver Strand, where does that get him? Not on a SEAL Team in Afghanistan taking out bad boys with his M82, but rather as a Boatswain's Mate Striker on a destroyer chipping paint for his career.
The One Mile Swim . . .
At my ARS at Coronado Island in 1969, our class ran the couple of miles down to our "favorite" beach (Designated: Green Beach, Silver Stand,
SEAL-believer). Once we arrived, we fell out of formation and took off our coral booties. Then our instructors, a UDT Chief and the Gunny, and four safety swimmers from the Chief's Team, swam us out on the perpendicular about 100 meters.
The 15 of us students were in for a surprise.
Instead of swimming
en masse for the red buoy a mile distant, one-by-one we were ducked under by the safety swimmers, until every swinging dick was gasping, coughing, and choking Pacific blue. (I think this training technique is now called waterboarding.)
Then we proceeded on our one mile swim.
We all passed . . . we did not die.
The Chief and the Gunny told us that often a recon team will be inserted into rough seas to undertake a hydrographic survey and thereby maintain a lengthy presence in the water, or . . . merely just to swim to a beach as a first stage of a mission inland.
What they said to us, became our motto for the next three weeks of the schooling:
Never Expect Calm Water. And, you had better believe that after that little ocean experiment, we had our heads on a swivel for our remaining days at ARS!
By the way: we weren't even timed.
Regards,
Peter.
PS: Good luck with your training. You probably will not be waterboarded prior to your swim test

.