i want to be a coastguard rescue swimmer wen i grow up im 13 n e suggestions on how to train for a skool?

Answer 1

The Coast Guard does bootcamp in at the Training Center in Cape May, NJ. Every year my family hosts recruits for Operation Fireside at Christmas so I've had the pleasure of interacting with some future Rescue Swimmers and other recruits and discussing their training, etc. The initial requirement is only a 25 meter swim, believe it or not, and last year we hosted someone who could not swim at all and was at risk of not graduating! However, to be a Rescue Swimmer you need to have more skill than average.

Once you get out of bootcamp, you'd go to a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer School. As part of the US Military, the CGRSS has the highest attrition rate of all specialty branches with a drop-out rate of over 50%.

According to the course syllabus a the Coast Guard station at Elizabeth City, NC, rescue swimmers must have flexibility, strength, endurance, and be able to function for 30 minutes in heavy seas.

However, the 137-page operations manual includes lessons in eight different water deployment procedures; 11 ways to approach, carry and release a survivor; seven ways to release equipment for Navy and Air Force flyers; and ways to detangle the services' different parachutes and backpacks.

Rescue swimmers also must have the skills to provide basic pre-hospital life support for rescued individuals. And as part of their training, candidates must complete a four-week emergency medical training course at the Coast Guard EMT school in Petaluma, Calif.

"One of the main things we are looking for is comfort in the water under stressful circumstances," Wentz said. "Most people, if they grow up swimming, they become proficient at swimming, but when they are tasked with water duties, that's when we start to see people break down — they begin to panic.

"That's when we say, 'Sorry, you're not right for this program,'" he emphasized.

Though the overwhelming majority of rescue swimmers are men, unlike other special ops groups, the program is "all inclusive," Wentz pointed out. He said three women are rescue swimmer qualified. "This wasn't a 'gimme' for them, either," he said. "They were asked to do and did everything the men did."

The first six weeks of the four-month course is loaded with rescue swimmer training that Wentz said can be physically and mentally taxing. "They are being fed with a fire hose," he said. "They're being hit hard, it's all day long, and it's very intensive. There is no down time."

While they are going through the swimming and classroom phase of their training, candidates also must attend classes to learn about the aircraft they will serve on. Finally, before graduating, candidates are required to pass a test involving multiple rescue scenarios, he said.

Adding even more pressure during training, instructors treat candidates with a "drill sergeant type in your face" mentality. However, Wentz noted that such treatment is done professionally and with respect.

Candidates selected for the school must first go through what is called the airmen training course. The four-month-long course, which, despite its name, has nothing to do with the Air Force, helps prepare candidates for the grueling rescue swimmer course.

Wentz said that during the airmen phase, candidates are familiarized with life at a Coast Guard Air Station, but more importantly, he said, they are tested to see "if they have what it takes to become a rescue swimmer."

"We make sure they've got the mental and physical abilities to come to me for the initial part of their training," Wentz said. "Only the mentally tough stick it out."

For more info, check out this article:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/coastguard/a/cgrescueswimmer.htm

So for now, work on your skills, endurance and strength. You've got at least 5 years ahead of you in which to train and gain confidence. Get your lifeguard certification when you are old enough and think about an EMT course or something of that nature. It's not an easy venture but it IS highly rewarding!

You coudl go to the Coast Guard Academy after high school, check out their website for more info on what you would need to do by then to qualify for admission:
http://www.cga.edu/

Good luck!!!

Answer 2

Why not contact the Coast Guard station in your area (check the government or blue pages in your phone directory) and ask them.

Keep one thing in mind - the Coast Guard is a branch of the U.S. Military. Once you are old enough (18) and you enlist you will go thru basic training and then some.

http://www.uscg.mil/