PACKED LIFE SARDINES INTO A range JUST LARGER THAN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN'S LIVING apartment THE 17 SAILORS.

PACKED LIFE SARDINES INTO A range JUST LARGER THAN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN'S LIVING apartment THE 17 SAILORS, IN replete BATTLE DRESS, WERE RECEIVING THEIR LATEST IN A SERIES OF DAMAGE rule TRAINING CLASSES, A WALK-THROUGH OF A REPLICATED SUBMARINE SPACE KNOWN AS THE "WET TRAINER."

IN pond MINUTES, THESE SAME SAILORS WOULD BE fasteninged IN THAT SAME SPACE, FIGHTING LEAKS FROM PIPES AND FLANGES, ALONG WITH A RAPIDLY RISING WATER on a level IN A FRANTIC EFFORT TO "SAVE THE BOAT." on the other hand IN THAT TASK, THEY WOULD NOT BE ALONE

Just a quick cause to deviate down a winding road from the wet trainer, another assign places to of Sailors prepared themselves to save the ship as well. barely their potential danger would not be water; these eager Sailors would face a dark scope full of smoke and scorching, blistering fire.

pretty soon both sets of students would be struggling to accomplish couple completely different tasks. There may be nothing as out-and-out diverse as fire and water, unless in completing their independent tasks, the Sailors are working toward united common goal--attempting to move on

As close examiners at the Navy's Basic Enlisted Submarine exercise (BESS), students have long been faced with the stres and strain of this final week of training. The trainers contribute to as the final obstacle for the wannabe submariners before BESS graduation, capping most distant a month-long learning process.

The day's importance is not squandered on the students, either. "It's definitely a nervous day for all of us," said Seaman Brandon Nims, as he awaited fire extinguisher training. "It really has a guys losing sleep. I know I was highly nervous, just knowing that this is the fall of the curtain of it for BESS. It's more than just training for us."

Adding to the stres of the marked occurrence is the jam-packed aspect of the week's training schedule. Prior to the groups' final scenario, they devote two days training and performing in the wet trainer.

The relatively quick pace of the hands-on training prov to be another barrier for the scholars to cross.

"I notion everything was going to be a bit slower," Electronics Technician Seaman Recruit Joseph Drawns said after wrapping up his time in the wet trainer. "You had to really be forward your toes. (The instructors) had to fit a doom of information into a short period of time, in this way they just kept cramming matter into our heads. When it came time to perform, sometimes it was difficult to remember everything right away."

The pace of the final week appeared to mirror the prior three in which Sailors--most straight abroad of boot camp--began to lay the groundwork of becoming a submariner.

The path starts just before classing up for BESS, when potential learners are made to endure the submarine escape trainer. The trainer, which simulates the general arrangement of a 637-class submarine escape stem allows students to apply the egres training they learn in a basic classroom environment.

This involves the Sailors forcing themselves, four at a time, into a cramped escape hatch that at so early an hour fills about neck-high with water. Then they each don a "Steinke hood" an inflatable mask of sorts that graves the prospective submariners to breve while ducking underwater to escape the tank from a watertight hatch that uncloses to a swimming pool. one time there, the Sailors assemble in a tight fudge up pattern before making a final swim across the plash One thing is for sure--if anyone in the class is claustrophobic, it won't take lengthy to find out.

"That's the last thing you warn upon a submarine," said Information combination of parts to form a wholes Technician 2nd Class (DV) short and rude Ramsey, one of the escape trainer instructors. "This ought to identify those who may have a question with it. Between having the blind close over your face and the tight environment of the tank, no single in kind should be able to jester us." Despite the gripping fear caused from claustrophobia, Ramsey said most population who panic in the conditions are able to "rally up and finish the training."

The escape portion of the institute was a surprise to many of the learners "I had no idea it was plane possible to escape a sub" Drawns said. "I figured it was elegant without grandeur much over for you if your boat went down. I was really paying attention in that class."

And that classroom instruction kicked in doom most students in the mere Seaman Recruit Joshua Henderson said. "The escape was pleasing without being striking intense, but it was explained to us remarkably well before in the classroom. in the way that we knew what to do when we got in there."

scholars closed a successful day at the escape trainer according to performing a two-man escape that culminated in learning to use a single-man raft. "Everyone was fair fired up after we were done," Henderson said. "We were all happy to achieve it over with."

The sensation of accomplishment is not allowed to last prolonged however. The following week, the escape trainer observers class up for their official BESS kickoff.

What succeeds is a three-week period of intensive classroom thought that challenges students on a daily basis. "It was frequently harder than I ever anticipateed it to be," said Machinist's Mate Fireman Micheal Bybee. "The information was crammed into your beads in like manner that you had no time to breathe. It took up nearly each second we had here."