How do you all swim in full combat gear?



With the equipment that a WWII-era Marine was armed with, could he swim?

I'm pretty sure they waded in during WWII, or sank. Maybe float if they had a life preserver. You couldn't swim with a rifle in hand during WWII. Marines nowadays do it on their back somehow, not quite sure.

Back in college, when I was in ROTC, they told us that when packed correctly, an Alice Pack would float.

I think there were lying to us

Well the Drill Instructor has you put on all the gear, then they put you on the platform and off you go... either you swim or you sink.

But really, your pack isn't that much of a detriment if you're swimming on your back with one with the air trapped inside.

With just your deuce gear on, it's a bit different, but you can swim alright... just takes a bit more effort with all the drag. Keep in mind everything weighs a lot less in the water so it's mostly drag that makes it the most difficult. Floating is easy, moving somewhere takes effort.

All you have to do is waterproof all of your clothing.  The waterproof bags with clothing inside will float.  So your pack just became a life preserver.  

Allot of Marines and Soldiers drown during WWII because of gear not properly rigged.  Because of that Marines devote a bit of the training time towards swim training.  Its really a big deal at TBS, those who aren't strong swimmers are at the pool on their time to get better.  Also the Lts are trained at how to rig their packs and gear to swim with it so they know what to inspect for if they are doing over the water ops.

I went thru half a qual once w/ my KEVLAR down over my eyes halfway.
Getting outta your pack can be tricky; especially if you are maintaining a handhold on your rifle.   I'm with the opinion that my pack would be the first to go and I would do all I could to prevent from entering the water with it on.  


eta and back to topic
Its called Survival strokes and you can swim with or without your pack strapped on.
(Theoretically) While swimming with your pack OFF, you place it in front of you w/ weakhand, and your rifle (forward) on top of the pack w/ stronghand.  Basically like a scissor kick w/ your pack/rifle leading you.  
You can swim with your pack on, but it is alot less productive IMO.  As per the above comment, I got hung up once trying to get outta my pack and drank a bunch of water, and then puked it back up