News

By Tonya Burgoon

The Longhorn Battalion woke up before the swim team on Wednesday, 19 MAR and opened the Texas Swim Center early so that they could perform their Combat Water Survival Test (CWST).

CDT Robinson observes as a cadet departs the 3-meter platform

For MS IIIs, this is a requirement that they will have to complete this summer at Warrior Forge, a five-week leadership assessment course that is a requirement for commissioning. For MS Is and IIs, the CWST was a chance to be exposed to and complete this fun and challenging requirement.

To begin the event, CDT Bierschenk demonstrated each of the four events. First, all cadets were required to complete a 30-meter swim in their ACUs and tennis shoes to ensure that nobody was a weak swimmer. Once everybody passed this with no problem, the fun events began. One station was the 15-meter swim with rifle and LBE, in which the muzzle of the rifle was required to remain out of the water for the duration.

The Longhorn Battalion enters the Texas Swim Center

The second station is named the "Don 'n Ditch," in which cadets, wearing an LBE and carrying a rifle, must enter the water and, while still completely submerged, remove all of that equipment. The most popular station was the 3-meter drop, in which a blindfolded cadet holding a rifle must step off of the 3-meter platform, enter the water, and swim to the edge of the pool.