....I thank God for them, one in particular.
MSG Glenn, in his last post on the US Veteran's forum mentioned UDT which was probably a predecessor to today's Navy Seals. I hadn't heard the term UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) in decades and it triggered and old memory and inspired to repeat my oft' expressed thanks to God that he had the wisdom and foresight to ignore a prayer of mine a way back when.
I went through Navy boot camp In June of 1962 and The Naval Training Center (NTC) in San Diego California. Company 319-62. Part of our training and exercise was swimming. You can not graduate Navy boot camp if you can't swim. It surprised me that they waited so long in the training process to get to that. We had several in our company that washed out and were given discharges for that reason alone. I guess it's understandable. How can you be in the Navy if you can't swim and have a fear of being in the water? I thought it was harsh at the time but in retrospect I suppose it was best for all concerned.
At one point in the swimming part they offered everyone in the company the opportunity to try out for the UDT. Those that did well in the try out and subsequent training would be in the UDT for the remainder of their hitch. I really didn't know anything about them and it later puzzled me that for some reason I can't recall now I REALLY WANTED to do this. It was all I could think about.
There were 120 men in my company and 3 other companies in my battalion. If my math skills serve me that is 480 men. I don't remember how many exactly wanted to try out but it now seems like about 100 or so. Evidently I wasn't the only one with rocks in my head.
The tryouts lasted for several days. We reported to the swimming pool the first day and I was nervous and excited. I was 100% sure that I would make it. I darn near did too. Thinking about it now I am amazed that I got so close.
First of all the UDT folks wanted to see what we could do individually. That meant lots and lots of PT OUT of the water. Then we had head to head races and endurance tests and they timed each of us on how long we could stay under water without coming up for air. We each had a "buddy" and we had to rescue our buddies and they had to rescue us. Who ever was playing the victim had to pretend to struggle and then go limp and the rescuer had to get them out of the pool. Really just anything that could happen in the water.
Me being small, at that time I was 5'5" and weighed about 120 lbs. I had some problems in the rescue part and in the breath holding part too. I also was told that I was a "slow" swimmer. But I made the cut.
I actually out did a lot of the guy's that were a lot bigger and stronger than me. In individual categories I did pretty good. But my shining strength was my endurance in the water. We had to swim the length of the pool and back and forth until we couldn't swim another stroke. I did this test twice and both times the instructor blew the whistle on me and said that was enough. He got tired of waiting. Told me I could probably go all day but he just didn't have the time to watch it. It really did feel like I could have gone on indefinitely. I wasn't even breathing hard when they blew the whistle.
On the evening of the next to last day I really thought I had it in the bag. Over 1/2 of the starting group had already washed out. The last day we were to get our physical exams. It turned out to be a "bumper to bumper" check up. Xrays to check spine and joints, blood tests, Heart and lung tests, hearing (I had excellent hearing at that time, unlike the way I am now) and...and...and...VISION.
You have to have 20/20 vision in each eye and I was close but just not there. I was shocked. Since that time I haven't been so depressed but maybe once or twice. I felt completely disoriented. I had been shooting my mouth off in my letter back home to family and friends. Yep, I was gonna be a big time UDT guy.......NOT!
I was sent back to my company to complete my basic training. I finished it alright but my heart was broken. But as I went through the rest of my hitch I heard little snippets here and there about the kind of duty those UDT guys pulled and some of the things they were required to do. And one day a few years after I returned to civilian life I met a guy that was a UDT member and as we talked I noticed that he was, well, not quite right. Twitchy, speech problems, occasional rapid eye movements.
I guess he saw me looking at him and told me that he wasn't born that way. He explained that as a UDT memeber he had been to close to a few underwater explosions and it left him like that. I never experienced the concussion of an underwater explosion but I understand that it can scramble you between the ears pretty thoroughly.
Anyway I'm very glad I didn't make the cut on all that. And I have spent some time on my knees thanking God for my 20/30 vision. In all likelihood it saved me from being killed or damaged for life.
I know that the song "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks is about women but the sentiment holds true for my situation too I think. And any situation where you thought you had to have something but never got it and it turned out for the best.
MSG Glenn, in his last post on the US Veteran's forum mentioned UDT which was probably a predecessor to today's Navy Seals. I hadn't heard the term UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) in decades and it triggered and old memory and inspired to repeat my oft' expressed thanks to God that he had the wisdom and foresight to ignore a prayer of mine a way back when.
I went through Navy boot camp In June of 1962 and The Naval Training Center (NTC) in San Diego California. Company 319-62. Part of our training and exercise was swimming. You can not graduate Navy boot camp if you can't swim. It surprised me that they waited so long in the training process to get to that. We had several in our company that washed out and were given discharges for that reason alone. I guess it's understandable. How can you be in the Navy if you can't swim and have a fear of being in the water? I thought it was harsh at the time but in retrospect I suppose it was best for all concerned.
At one point in the swimming part they offered everyone in the company the opportunity to try out for the UDT. Those that did well in the try out and subsequent training would be in the UDT for the remainder of their hitch. I really didn't know anything about them and it later puzzled me that for some reason I can't recall now I REALLY WANTED to do this. It was all I could think about.
There were 120 men in my company and 3 other companies in my battalion. If my math skills serve me that is 480 men. I don't remember how many exactly wanted to try out but it now seems like about 100 or so. Evidently I wasn't the only one with rocks in my head.
The tryouts lasted for several days. We reported to the swimming pool the first day and I was nervous and excited. I was 100% sure that I would make it. I darn near did too. Thinking about it now I am amazed that I got so close.
First of all the UDT folks wanted to see what we could do individually. That meant lots and lots of PT OUT of the water. Then we had head to head races and endurance tests and they timed each of us on how long we could stay under water without coming up for air. We each had a "buddy" and we had to rescue our buddies and they had to rescue us. Who ever was playing the victim had to pretend to struggle and then go limp and the rescuer had to get them out of the pool. Really just anything that could happen in the water.
Me being small, at that time I was 5'5" and weighed about 120 lbs. I had some problems in the rescue part and in the breath holding part too. I also was told that I was a "slow" swimmer. But I made the cut.
I actually out did a lot of the guy's that were a lot bigger and stronger than me. In individual categories I did pretty good. But my shining strength was my endurance in the water. We had to swim the length of the pool and back and forth until we couldn't swim another stroke. I did this test twice and both times the instructor blew the whistle on me and said that was enough. He got tired of waiting. Told me I could probably go all day but he just didn't have the time to watch it. It really did feel like I could have gone on indefinitely. I wasn't even breathing hard when they blew the whistle.
On the evening of the next to last day I really thought I had it in the bag. Over 1/2 of the starting group had already washed out. The last day we were to get our physical exams. It turned out to be a "bumper to bumper" check up. Xrays to check spine and joints, blood tests, Heart and lung tests, hearing (I had excellent hearing at that time, unlike the way I am now) and...and...and...VISION.
You have to have 20/20 vision in each eye and I was close but just not there. I was shocked. Since that time I haven't been so depressed but maybe once or twice. I felt completely disoriented. I had been shooting my mouth off in my letter back home to family and friends. Yep, I was gonna be a big time UDT guy.......NOT!
I was sent back to my company to complete my basic training. I finished it alright but my heart was broken. But as I went through the rest of my hitch I heard little snippets here and there about the kind of duty those UDT guys pulled and some of the things they were required to do. And one day a few years after I returned to civilian life I met a guy that was a UDT member and as we talked I noticed that he was, well, not quite right. Twitchy, speech problems, occasional rapid eye movements.
I guess he saw me looking at him and told me that he wasn't born that way. He explained that as a UDT memeber he had been to close to a few underwater explosions and it left him like that. I never experienced the concussion of an underwater explosion but I understand that it can scramble you between the ears pretty thoroughly.
Anyway I'm very glad I didn't make the cut on all that. And I have spent some time on my knees thanking God for my 20/30 vision. In all likelihood it saved me from being killed or damaged for life.
I know that the song "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks is about women but the sentiment holds true for my situation too I think. And any situation where you thought you had to have something but never got it and it turned out for the best.
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