combat water survival training | Leader's Training Course

Second Lt. William Reed of Atlanta instructs Cadets in the fourth platoon of Charlie Company on how to tread water. Photo by Sammy Jo Hester/LTC PAO

By Noelle Wiehe
Staff writer

Second Lt. William Reed finds it hard to believe the strength and dedication he saw in his mentors when he attended the Leader’s Training Course he now sees in himself.

Just two years ago, Reed was not far from the barracks he is staying in now as a cadre member with the combat water survival committee. He remembers his old battle buddies and the squad tactical officer who helped him pass water survival training when he was struggling, then-2nd Lt. Tyler Rosenecker.

“My old lieutenants walked on water in my eyes,” Reed said. “(Rosenecker) turned out to be a normal guy, and it was a very big realization for me.”

Reed, 22, is a graduate of Lipscomb University where he majored in law, justice and society, with an emphasis on conflict management. He also double minored in criminal justice and general business. Reed commissioned, however, through Vanderbilt University.

At the Leader’s Training Course, he is a leader at the pool where he once struggled, serving as the executive officer of Gammon Pool. He also acts as a lifeguard rescuing Cadets who wind up underneath capsized rafts at another training venue known as Call of the Wild.

Throughout high school and college, Reed, an Atlanta native, bounced around to different jobs. He was a landscaper, a butcher and a physics tutor. His most interesting job outside the Army was as an intervention agent, helping co-workers take charge of troubled youth and shuttle them from their homes to a behavioral facility.

“You have a 16- or 17-year-old kid who is out of control, and his parents decide to ship him off to military school,” Reed said. “He is not going to want to go, so for a fair amount we come in at 3 in the morning and we force him out.”

Originally, Reed had no interest in joining the Army. He was set on becoming a police officer.

“During Will’s high school years, he was very involved in an active explorer’s program with a local police department,” said Reed’s father, Carson. “The varied experiences of public service through that program with many police officers who had military experience was a strong influence on him.”

Reed was sworn in as an active duty officer May 21 and branched ordnance.

Despite previous transgressions, Reed is passionate about being a part of the Army and working with Cadets in LTC.

“The fact that you know that those people around you aren’t going to let you fail, they’re not going to let you down and they’ll always be there for you is a fantastic thing,” he said.

Having been home-schooled by his mom with his sisters as his only classmates until college, he said he had never “conceptualized the social aspect of public school before.” Now, Reed lives with more than 100 other men in the cadre barracks.

“It is kind of like family – you may not like everyone all the time, but they are around you so you are going to take care of them,” Reed said.

When Reed was in LTC, he had a cadre who worked on taking care of him. Rosenecker was there for Reed when he was struggling in, of all things, combat water survival training.

At the time Cadets were not allowed to perform the training with glasses on, but Reed couldn’t see more than two feet away without his. He tried everything he could to succeed, but was still not progressing through any of the stations. Finally, Rosenecker asked him what was wrong.

When Reed told the squad tactical officer he couldn’t see, Rosenecker, standing a couple of feet away, asked, “Can you see me?” Reed could, and Rosenecker walked him through the entire training, which he ended up passing.

While being a frustrating event in Reed’s life, it also earned him praise. After he passed the training, Reed was awarded a commander’s coin for his persistence.

“(Will) has always been a person who found ways of helping other people as well as a person who likes challenges,” Carson Reed said. “The Army is proving to be an excellent match.”

While Reed looks forward to what is next in his life and his career, such as Ranger School and possibly a more-permanent relationship with his girlfriend of seven months, he will never forget the cadre he had alongside him when he was a Cadet.

“Constantly, I am looking back and saying, ‘Wow, I’ve had really great lieutenants at LTC. Am I that good of a lieutenant? Do I need to be better?’ ” Reed said. “These Cadets are going be looking up to me. If I am a bad example, then they are going to be bad lieutenants. I need to be as good as I can possibly be.”

Alpha Company Cadet Christopher Baker, from Penn State University, participates in the equipment removal station of combat water survival training. Cadets must remove a vest of supplies and drop their weapon while still submerged to complete the station. Photo by Heather Cortright/ LTC PAO

By Noelle Wiehe
Staff writer

No one would question sailors being put through combat water survival training. After all, there’s always the risk of their ship sinking in open waters.

Soldiers don’t normally set sail on military vessels. Still, such training is relevant.

Combat water survival puts Cadets in realistic situations a Soldier might experience in combat, while, at the same time, building up Cadets’ belief in their ability to tackle any challenge.

“Being in the Army, we don’t necessarily have to be strong swimmers, but we have to be able to get ourselves out of situations or help our buddies out of situations,” said Lt. Col. Eric Roberts, officer in charge of CWST for the Leader’s Training Course. “It’s important to have those water survival skills.

“It’s all a confidence-builder.”

Cadets face five stations during the training that takes place at Gammon Pool on post. They receive different colored wristbands when successfully completing each, gathering a “rainbow” at the end.

Of the seven stations in the training, Cadets must complete four and participate in two others.

Time is built into the training to allow Cadets another chance at stations they fail. Those who aren’t successful even after additional attempts must attend a remedial swim session on a different day to complete the tests.

“I’m giving up all my evenings for these Cadets,” said 2nd Lt. William Reed, a member of the CWST committee. “We’re very serious about this. This is a key task, so it’s something they have got to do.”

Cadets perform a 15-meter diagnostic swim across the pool so cadre can see whether each Cadet can swim. If able to swim, Cadets swim 15 meters while holding an M-16 rifle partially above water.

At the equipment release station, Cadets are pushed off the edge of the pool and release his or her rifle and ammunition, which is around the waist. Some Cadets had trouble sinking and were unable to get their equipment off before they floated back to the surface.

Master Sgt. Shane Stamper, the company tactical non-commissioned officer for Alpha Company, taught Cadet Dominic Miceli to let the air out of his lungs as he began to sink by blowing out bubbles. Miceli was more qualified than he seemed, however.

“I’m scuba-certified. I usually wear 20 pounds of counterweight to help me sink,” he said.

At the last required station, blind-folded Cadets stepped off the 3-meter high diving board and, without releasing their weapon, swim to the side. Cadets with a fear of heights faced the most trouble.

The two stations Cadets had to attempt were the survival float and the five-minute tread water. At the float, Cadets tied off and blew air into their uniforms to convert them into floatation devices.

“I taught my kids this when they were a young age,” Roberts said. “My fear was always that they would fall in our pool, so I had them dress in jeans and sweatshirts and I pushed them in the pool and they had to make a floatation device.”

Cadets were not required to complete the final station, the remedial swim, unless they were obviously struggling in the water. There, 2nd Lt. Jessica Morris taught the basics needed to be able to swim and pass the stations. Some Cadets spent the entire training time at Gammon under Morris’s tutelage.

Cadre watching over the training provided motivation when Cadets had trouble. Medics positioned themselves along the sides of the pool to tend to any Cadets who needed assistance.

“We had to do everything the Cadets did like a week prior,” said 2nd Lt. Jeffery Lewis, a squad tactical officer for Alpha Co. “We’re familiarized with it, so we can help them with everything they have to do.”

The number of Cadets who needed assistance stayed low. No Cadets became frustrated enough with themselves to quit.

Alpha Company Cadet Michelle Shoffner saw the training as a simple test of her talents.

“I swam professionally for 16 years, so this is easy,” she said.

Committee cadre were impressed with the success of the companies throughout the training sessions.

“They had a lot of heart and they had a lot of discipline. They demonstrated to me they had what it takes to be an Army officer,” Reed said.

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